Hornady ELD-X Official Thread

[MrPerry]

Hi Axl
Yes I will probably try 4350 (AR2209) as well but I have used the 2213sc with sierra gamekings in 140 with great result and I still have a fair bit of powder left. I found that 56 gr was a great charge in my rifle wih the GK just of the landings. Most people seems to shoot 130 gr projectiles or 150...I couldn't make up my mind so I went in between. The only problem I've had is the lead tip getting flat on the next round as it hits the magasine wall on the recoil. Obviously not a problem if you load single shots on the range but a bit annoying in the bush. Never the less even wih the tips a bit flattened the groups has been very nice and tight and I've only had 1 victim getting away. I shot a dog on 25 meters. He kneeled and jumped in to some dense bush on he other side of the creek. It was too dense to follow once I got there and hardly any blood. I know he would not have gone far but the projectile was a bit too hard for the thin skin. I scored 1/4" from the tip down on 4 sides on the next bullet with a knife and next dog had an exit hole the size of a tennis ball after being hit on 200 meters. He hit the ground so hard you could have seen it on the richter scale. A so called natural death in a cattle paddock.
Heading down to Brisbane to pick up the new bullets tomorrow so hopefully someone will find some data and post it here.
Cheers
Perry

 

[Capt RB]

Hi
I'm new here and kinda struggling to work out this forum (posts etc) but getting there.
I have a 270Win 1-10 twist and I'm about to reload some ELD-X 145 gr but I can't find any reloading data. I'm thinking about using ADI 2213SC and if I cant find data for a 145 gr then use the data for 150 and work my way up. Has anyone got any experience with the ELD-X in270Win? Looking forward to hear back
Cheers

Not the eldx however with Rl 26 I hit pressure at 3240 with eh 140 accubond. It was shooting low .3's or better from 3100fps til I got to a swipe on my brass. This was in 25-35 degrees(F). I also shot some 150 gamekings with Rl26 with 3130 as far as I have pushed so far. These are shooting into a ragged hole 1/2 grain down from 3130. Iwas using the data from the Berger sight as my starting point and just did a ladder. I have a good length for both bullets in my gun and Dad's shoots the same seating depth well too. I only bought a pound to try. I will get 8#'s or more next shopping session though. If you can get some I would highly recommend it for a 270. This from a H4831 hoarder

 

[Jud96]

Not the ELD-X, but I got out this past weekend and got to shoot twenty rounds from my new build loaded with 208gr ELD Match bullets. They shot very consistent and printed some great groups out to 700 yards. I used the BC of .683, which is the middle number Hornady gives for the 208, the high being .690 and low being .670 G1 BC. I went with the middle number because it was a good average and it worked great at 500 and at 700yds. I also recovered some bullets at 700 yards that went low when I was testing data.

I will attach a picture of my 3 shot group at 700 and the recovered bullet. I am very happy with these new Hornady bullets and they have been awesome in my rifle and many rifles that my friends shoot. I did not get a speck of copper fouling with these bullets either, like some have reported with the ELD-X, and I am running them at 2965fps. And as you can see in the pictures, these bullets not only shoot well but are opening up at distance. This was one of three bullets I recovered that day. All jackets looked like this but I didn't recover the intact cores from the other two. Retained weight is 128 grains.

 

[Colcalcipherol]

I am always curious to see the experiences others have with new bullets. I am very puzzled when there are posts that say they cannot get a bullet to shoot well. I am not going to tell someone their methodology is wrong but I have had no problems getting any of the newer bullets to shoot not only well but in some cases phenomenally well including the ELD-X and the LRAB.

When I first started testing Berger VLD's the common suggestion was that these bullets had to be jammed to shoot well. Even with that being said I stayed with my normal load method and was able to find loads that were sub half moa in customs and half moa in factory rifles without much effort. These tests were done with 6mm's, 7mm's and 338's with multiple samples. EVERYTHING was jumped and none were jammed.

When I first started testing the Nosler LRAB the common opinion was that this bullet will not shoot at all. I bought 7mm 150, 168 and 175 and decided to see for myself. The only samples I have so far for these are out of two customs. The 150's I loaded in a 7mm-08 AI mountain rifle and this load is a consistent half moa load. The 168 I loaded in a standard / sporter weight 7mm RSAUM and this load shoots in the 1's as in .1" ( My 3 Gre'tan Rifles are one holers ) No factory rifles tested yet with these bullets but I have no doubt they will shoot well.

When the ELD-X came out, as with all new bullets they were hard to get a hold of. But finally I got a hold of some 6.5mm 143's. I tested these in a semi custom Savage 11 6.5 CM mountain rifle and the load is sub half moa. I have the 7MM 175's that I will be testing in a 28 Nosler and the 30 cal 212's I will be testing in a 300 WM once the builds are complete and will eventually switch over to the 7mm 162 ELD-X's in my son's 7mm-08. He is currently shooting / hunting with the 162 Amax with great success and I am anxious to do a head to head comparison. The 162 ELD-X will be a whole new load work up.

So, I often get asked what seating depth each of these bullets like and the answer is simple - they are all different. I shoot more Bergers than any of the others but the jump ranges from .020" to 120" and everywhere in between. And this goes with the other bullets as well. I have found in my limited testing that all rifles are different and they have to be tested individually. Maybe I'm just unlucky but I have never been able to get one load that worked equally as well in another rifle. It may have been ok but never as precise as the rifle it was worked up in. I remember when I bought my GAP NT 6.5 4s and I was making notes to what everyone was using as load data out of the same GAP built rifles with same reamer or reamer specs and their loads were only just ok - usually in the .6" -.7" range. When I did my normal load work up I was able to get it shooting 1/4 moa. So now when I am asked for load data the only thing I give out is Quickload data based on the ideal powder burn rate for the given bbl length and what the max velocity / pressure will be for that bullet, powder and bbl length combo will be. The rest is up to them and their chronograph.

All of this being said, be patient and methodical in your load work up and you will find a good consistent load for the ELD-X or any of the other great bullets we have at our disposal.

Coyotezapper,
It seems that you have a really nice system for load development. Although it sounds like it should be a fairly trivial process, load development tends to drive me bonkers at times. This is especially true with a new barrel--get everything just right then 50 rounds later it all falls apart. Get good groups but the ES is bad. Get good ES and the groups suck. So on . . .

Given that you have such a succesful system, have you published any articles on your load development technique?

 

[Greyfox]

I was wondering if amyone can comment on the lot to lot consistency of the 200 gr ELD-X. I acquired a couple of boxes that were the same lot. Results have been excellent and was looking to pick up some more. This aspect proved to be a problem when I had tried the Nosler LRAB's. I was never able to duplicate the accuracy of the initial lot.
Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Greyfox]

I was wondering if amyone can comment on the lot to lot consistency of the 200 gr ELD-X. I acquired a couple of boxes that were the same lot. Results have been excellent and was looking to pick up some more. This aspect proved to be a problem when I had tried the Nosler LRAB's. I was never able to duplicate the accuracy of the initial lot.
Thanks for any feedback.

 

[waveslayer]

I was wondering if amyone can comment on the lot to lot consistency of the 200 gr ELD-X. I acquired a couple of boxes that were the same lot. Results have been excellent and was looking to pick up some more. This aspect proved to be a problem when I had tried the Nosler LRAB's. I was never able to duplicate the accuracy of the initial lot.
Thanks for any feedback.

I have run several different lots of the 212's, I have seen the same results out of two different rifles

 

[coyotezapper]

Coyotezapper,
It seems that you have a really nice system for load development. Although it sounds like it should be a fairly trivial process, load development tends to drive me bonkers at times. This is especially true with a new barrel--get everything just right then 50 rounds later it all falls apart. Get good groups but the ES is bad. Get good ES and the groups suck. So on . . .

Given that you have such a succesful system, have you published any articles on your load development technique?

The closest method that I have seen that is very similar to mine is the Chris Long OBT / Quickload method. Techshooters Shooting Pages

On a new cartridge load development ( one I have never used before ) I use a Oehler 43 PBL to measure chamber pressure to establish max pressures for that given powder. I then input this data into Quckload to adjust burn rate and then begin the actual load development. The remainder of the development is done with OBT, QL and a Oehler 35 Chronograph at one set cartridge OAL. I do not adjust seating depth for fine tuning until my powder node is established. I also don't address ES issues until the very last step and is usually done with just primer change.

Most loads that are good one day and crap the next is because the powder node window is not wide enough and small things like temperature or even inconsistent seating depth can affect performance. I like to have a charge that is at least a half grain wide where there is no change in velocity within that half grain. For example if my selected charge is 40 grains then 39.8-40.2 grains have to shoot the same as the 40 grain charge. This .5 grain window is where there is a flat spot in the velocity increase. Powder is increased but velocity stays the same - powder node. A good powder node will make loads not as sensitive to exact seating depth and if you throw a charge a tenth light or heavy it will not affect velocity / performance.

There are many, many good loading methods out there. Just pick one and stick with it and don't vary from its methodology until after you are producing good loads and then you can tweak or combine other methods to test once you have learned this method. The Berger method is a good solid method to start with and will work if you are patient and follow the steps as outlined.

 

[waveslayer]

A proper OCW test will test all of the above variances of done properly. That's why you take the middle ground of the node, gives you wiggle room for temp, neck tension changes, environmental conditions.

 

[Greyfox]

I have run several different lots of the 212's, I have seen the same results out of two different rifles

That's good to hear! Thank you!

 

[Don Titus]

I was wondering if amyone can comment on the lot to lot consistency of the 200 gr ELD-X. I acquired a couple of boxes that were the same lot. Results have been excellent and was looking to pick up some more. This aspect proved to be a problem when I had tried the Nosler LRAB's. I was never able to duplicate the accuracy of the initial lot.
Thanks for any feedback.

I've been shooting the 200 ELDX in my Rem. 700 in 300 WM for about a year with good success once I got the load doped out: 73 gr. H4831sc at .008" off the lands. Groups are sub 1/2 MOA at 200 yards. That said, I always weigh my bullets and I usually get about 30% right on the "money" @ 200, with the majority of the remainder no more than .3 gr. below that, rarely do they exceed 200. I just weighed a new batch and all but 5 out of 100 were between 199.3 and 199.7 with 4 @ 199.8 and 1 at 199.9. I know it all depends on machine settings and where my "batch" is in the "run" for a particular machine setting, but I am a bit disappointed. For hunting big game, I like to
load a "perfect" bullet, I.e. 200 gr. and I make sure as many of the other variables (powder weight,
LOA, crimp, etc. are "dead on".

 

[Don Titus]

I was wondering if amyone can comment on the lot to lot consistency of the 200 gr ELD-X. I acquired a couple of boxes that were the same lot. Results have been excellent and was looking to pick up some more. This aspect proved to be a problem when I had tried the Nosler LRAB's. I was never able to duplicate the accuracy of the initial lot.
Thanks for any feedback.

I've been shooting the 200 ELDX in my Rem. 700 in 300 WM for about a year with good success once I got the load doped out: 73 gr. H4831sc at .008" off the lands. Groups are sub 1/2 MOA at 200 yards. That said, I always weigh my bullets and I usually get about 30% right on the "money" @ 200, with the majority of the remainder no more than .3 gr. below that, rarely do they exceed 200. I just weighed a new batch and all but 5 out of 100 were between 199.3 and 199.7 with 4 @ 199.8 and 1 at 199.9. I know it all depends on machine settings and where my "batch" is in the "run" for a particular machine setting, but I am a bit disappointed. For hunting big game, I like to
load a "perfect" bullet, I.e. 200 gr. and I make sure as many of the other variables (powder weight,
LOA, crimp, etc. are "dead on".

 

[aj427ci]

Anybody notice the tips of the bullet deforming under recoil in a magazine? Started load development
And after two shots I droped the magazine and noticed the remaining 3 had the tips kinda mashed. It's great they don't melt but I'd figure they'd hold up better in a magazine. It's a magnum pmag.

 

[waveslayer]

Anybody notice the tips of the bullet deforming under recoil in a magazine? Started load development
And after two shots I droped the magazine and noticed the remaining 3 had the tips kinda mashed. It's great they don't melt but I'd figure they'd hold up better in a magazine. It's a magnum pmag.

Yes! Very frustrating. I even did my own drop test of the bullets to test the tips. The dent erythromycin easily!

I placed a strip of 3M thick electrical tape on the inside of my mag, it helped a bit. I just single load it, which sucks when hunting... so that's not really an option. I requested some info from Hornady about it, no response