Hornady ELD-X Official Thread

[WildRose]

I don't know how I missed this thread before now but I'm sure glad I came across it.

As many of you know I've been a dedicated lifelong devotee of Hornady ammunition and bullets and was probably the first to mention the ELD-X here at LRH and have had high hopes we'd finally have another great option for high BC hunting bullets on the market if it proved up to the hype.

Unlike so many others that have come to market in the last few years it appears this one may be a real winner and I want to thank all of you guys that have put in the time and work as demonstrated in this thread.

If the terminal performance is as good as the ballistic performance you guys have demonstrated with it come hunting season this is going to be a real winner.

Thanks for all the hard work and sharing what you are finding.gun)

 

[Swamplord]

I was hoping for better weight retention with the 30 cal. 220 gr ELD-X but was extremely disappointed at the way it blew up into tiny little pieces on water jugs at 50 yards, not a bullet I am going to trust in big bear country ...... Why didn't Hornady beef up their fabled "Interlock" to really work ? moving it forward really didn't accomplish anything but place the interlock ring into the early fracture zone weakening the integrity of the rest of the bullet, looking at recovered pieces of jackets from 212 and 220 gr bullets show the Interlock is really just a slight hairline raised rib in jacket material,

Was this their "ABLR" version of a long range only bullet not suitable for typical hunting distances ?
The 210 gr ABLR actually held up much better on 50 yards water jugs .....

 

[Swamplord]

I know this bullet gets no love on this forum but this was at 3194 fps from Nosler factory loads in a 30" Bartlein, 50 yards on 1 gal water jugs, you actually get a mushroom instead of little pcs of copper and lead , similar velocity same test media, exactly the same barrels purchased as a pair, 30" 1:10 tw 5R Bartlein in light palma contour, completely different bullet performance/deformance

 

[parshal]

I was hoping for better weight retention with the 30 cal. 220 gr ELD-X but was extremely disappointed at the way it blew up into tiny little pieces on water jugs at 50 yards....

I've been wondering what this bullet would do a closer ranges. I'd like to see more testing of this.

 

[elkaholic]

I think what we are seeing is what most of us already believe. It is very difficult to make a bullet that performs at its best in every situation with every game animal. The ELDX is no exception but I think as a long range bullet, and for most game animals, it performs very well. When the big manufacturers come out with a bullet, a lot of research goes into what percentage of the public is shooting at what? While I agree that the ELDX would not be my choice for large bears, especially at close range, I doubt that 1% of the public would be hunting large bears on a regular basis. This is not to slight Swampland at all because I think he is correct that it may not be the best choice! It did seem to perform well on african game based on a previous post. The ELDX seems to have a lot going for it IMO. First of all, it is superbly accurate. Second, it has a very good b.c. which is spot on with advertised. Third, it will give very reliable expansion at longer ranges. The water tests, IMO, are a good way to tell whether a bullet will expand, but they do better holding up in meat than in water! I know I will likely get some disagreement on that, but that is my experience after testing hundreds of different bullets over the years. Another thing that I think has been largely overlooked is how much of a factor twist is involved in expansion (rotational velocity). I am in the camp that it does have a considerable affect. Also, bullets sometimes perform differently in seemingly like situations. I am going to post a couple of examples:
The first pic is of bullets expanded with reduced loads, which will illustrates the twist factor compared to the next pic.

Second pic (lower) had an impact velocity of about 1859 fps

There was also a pic I posted previously where the bullet DID NOT come apart with a full load fired at 780 yards.

 

[elkaholic]

I went back out to the range to further proof the data in the above post. I fired the same load at the identical range, only this time in to a 4 gallon bucket of damp clay. It is obvious that the bullet fired into water shed the core early (long before the locking crimp in the jacket was reached. At a little higher velocity, the jacket would have been totally ripped apart. The bullet fired into the clay expanded fully back to the crimp and retained the core. This is very typical of bullets expanded in clay, (which more closely resembles flesh) H20 is a good media to see (if a bullet will expand), but often tears it apart more.
Another thing that the pics show is how much the rotational velocity affects bullet expansion! Compare the bullet fired into the clay with a mv of 3155' and an impact vel. of 1859' vs the 2 bullets fired at point blank with reduced loads. (mv and impact are virtually the same). You can see that the bullet with the much higher rotation expanded back even farther than the one with nearly 300 feet higher velocity into identical media (damp clay) The reduced load bullets will often be larger in diameter because they do not have the rotational force to tear off the petals. This is also why high rotational velocity causes a much larger wound channel (tissue damage).For this reason, a 6.5ss with greater mv will cause more tissue damage when striking an animal than a 6.5x47 Lapua when struck at the same impact velocity. It also increases the minimal velocity needed to expand the bullet, so this extends the effective range of the cartridge even more. Hope this makes some sense when looking at the pics....Rich

 

[RH300UM]

Rich,
That is some good info. Never considered rotation effects on a bullet expanding.

 

[elkaholic]

Rich,
That is some good info. Never considered rotation effects on a bullet expanding.

Some people will argue the point, but I have no doubt!

 

[WildRose]

I was hoping for better weight retention with the 30 cal. 220 gr ELD-X but was extremely disappointed at the way it blew up into tiny little pieces on water jugs at 50 yards, not a bullet I am going to trust in big bear country ...... Why didn't Hornady beef up their fabled "Interlock" to really work ? moving it forward really didn't accomplish anything but place the interlock ring into the early fracture zone weakening the integrity of the rest of the bullet, looking at recovered pieces of jackets from 212 and 220 gr bullets show the Interlock is really just a slight hairline raised rib in jacket material,

Was this their "ABLR" version of a long range only bullet not suitable for typical hunting distances ?
The 210 gr ABLR actually held up much better on 50 yards water jugs .....

This isn't a bullet designed for close range bear defense so I'm not the least bit surprised it shelled out on you.

Even the hornady interlock bullets can and will separate at high velocity on big, heavy bodied animals.

The ABLR like the Hornady Interbond is a bonded bullet. The jacket and core are essentially soldered together. The lead allows used are also a little different andless likely to separate even under very high pressures.

The interlock ring is crimped in place and the core is not bonded to the jacket.

If I were walking around in bear country with my Long Range Rifle I'd throw a Swift A Frame in the chamber "just in case".

 

[WildRose]

Some people will argue the point, but I have no doubt!

RPM's drop very quickly with the velocity drop at range so I have no problem accepting it.

Can't say how much difference it would make as far as jacket/core separation but the closer you get to the real world in testing the better off we all are.

 

[WildRose]

For those interesting this article on the ELD-X and comparable bullets is a good read.

The ways in which some of these bullets deformed is just crazy.

 

[doverpack12]

For those interesting this article on the ELD-X and comparable bullets is a good read.

The ways in which some of these bullets deformed is just crazy.

Where is the article at or what is it called WildRose?

 

[agentcooper]

I think he is referring to the Hornady bullet testing link in the first post of this thread. Towards the end of the paper, there is high and low speed ballistic gelatin testing with a variety of bullets. Photographs and test results of the bullets themselves and also of the cavities generated in the gelatin.

 

[WildRose]

Where is the article at or what is it called WildRose?

Sorry, forgot to paste the link.

http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/resources/ELD-X_ELD-Match_Technical_Details.pdf