Hornady ELDX inconsistency in construction

[VinceMule]

Magnum, I was forced to use Hornady and I was able to come up with viable solutions. As with most manufacturers, lot# will vary, so it is wise to buy 10-15 boxes of a particular lot#. I am so ****ed at Nosler and Sierra, I am ready to swear them off.

My biggest fear is that if we go to war, supplies will dry up entirely.

 

[bultinkle]

We were just at war for 20 years?

 

[VinceMule]

All of the politics you hear About China and Russia is worse than you would want to know about.

 

[Rosebud]

Sad thing is that Hornady can produce fine ammunition when they have to. I have a, or had a case of Hornadys TAP ammo in .223 50 grain Vmax. This is the most accurate.223 ammo I've ever seen from a factory. It's made to be police use only. Took me months to get a load that would shoot as consistent as this stuff. If they can make it for the cops and military they can make it for everyone. TAP stands for tactical application police. Their sniper ammo. Still have half the case I'm saving for when I really need it.

 

[Raider4044]

I've had some inconsistencies in bullet lengths with Hornady, but it's never been enough to cause any issue with how they shoot.

 

[wyomingboy]

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

 

[Rosebud]

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

That's a pretty mangled bullet for sure. I've switched to Hammer bullets for all hunting applications. Still shoot cup and core for practice.

 

[bultinkle]

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

This is probably fits better on the "are eldx really that bad" thread

Would be nice to hear more about what happened with each shot, velocity, etc.

 

[sable tireur]

First of all, I am not a fan of sorting bullets. It's time consuming and I simply don't have this kind of time anymore.

Sorting bullets is like rediscovering the Bell-shaped curve (normal distribution) all over again. (This is not a math lecture)

A bell-shaped curve, also known as a normal distribution or Gaussian distribution, is a symmetrical probability distribution in statistics. It represents a graph where the data clusters around the mean, with the highest frequency in the center, and decreases gradually towards the tails.

Note that in the OPs original photograph that the majority of the bullets fall into the length category of 1.871 - 1.874 or only 0.003" difference. When I was shooting a lot of long range benchrest, this sorting was deemed to be required for consistency at 1,000 yards or further. The bullets falling into the extreme differences at the beginning and the end were reserved for fouling shots while the majority were used to shoot the match.

You can get disturbed over the variations or choose to work with it. Or dump that manufacturer or bullet type and move on to a manufacturer who uses more consistent manufacturing techniques.

Enjoy the process!

 

[nksmfamjp]

Isn't it amazing that manufacturing from Hornady NEVER matches the advertised HYPE!
Simply why I don't use Hornady…

Cheers.

Interesting. I never recover bullets because they generally exit. I have had bad luck with Hornady SST's at higher ~2800 fps impact velocity into big bone? I'm trying Hornady SST 125gr @ 2260fps this this year. I expect impacts under 2000fps, so I think the too soft blow ups should be a non-issue. We'll see!

I killed my last Buck with Berger EH 180's and found them fine, but a bit to explosive even at ~2600fps impact velocity.

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

I looked at the picture closely, I think that is ideal max expansion. How am I viewing this wrong? My guess is this was relatively high impact velocity? ~3000fps

Maybe a mono is a better choice?

 

[DustThroughaFan]

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

I shot a gallon of water the other day with a 212eldx out of a 300winmag with a muzzle velocity around 2880fps. Jug was at 184 yards. I went down to pick up the trash and paint up my steel again and when I looked at the jug, I was kind of surprised at what I saw.

most of us here have probably busted a jug of water or two with a high power rifle. Pretty basic. Big splash as the jug splits wide open. This jug was just shredded on the back side. Like it was fragged. Usually you can kind of fold the plastic back around and find the entry/exit, but on this one, I'm not sure a solid chunk of that bullet made it through. Wish I had gotten a pic.

Not real scientific I know. Just an observation.

Kind of has me wondering if I'm going to be picking bullet parts out of the meat if I hunt with it. All I've killed with them so far is steel.

 

[LongBomber]

View attachment 500389

First of all, I am not a fan of sorting bullets. It's time consuming and I simply don't have this kind of time anymore.

Sorting bullets is like rediscovering the Bell-shaped curve (normal distribution) all over again. (This is not a math lecture)



View attachment 500391

Note that in the OPs original photograph that the majority of the bullets fall into the length category of 1.871 - 1.874 or only 0.003" difference. When I was shooting a lot of long range benchrest, this sorting was deemed to be required for consistency at 1,000 yards or further. The bullets falling into the extreme differences at the beginning and the end were reserved for fouling shots while the majority were used to shoot the match.

You can get disturbed over the variations or choose to work with it. Or dump that manufacturer or bullet type and move on to a manufacturer who uses more consistent manufacturing techniques.

Enjoy the process!

Whats even worse is when the manufacturer is blending production lines in a box and you get two defined peaks in the distribution and much more variation in bearing surface length and weights.

 

[willfrye027]

Here is a Hornady 230 grain eldx that I just harvested from an elk I killed September 21st. It took three shots I was very disappointed in how much the bullet fragmented and dropped in weight this 230 grain bullet weighed just under 125 grains and left shards of bullet material along the wound Channel. I will not hunt with ELDX anymore yes they will kill and it was accurate but I don't like the amount of decomposition of the bullet through the animal. I've killed many elk with Sierra 250 grain sbts and they do a much better job.

I would call that perfect bullet performance but to each his own