Hornady Precision Hunter Ammunition 30-06 Springfield 178 Grain ELD-X

[Jon Bischof]

Yeah, but Southern Boys still stick together when it comes down to it. Go Gators

 

[crashlanding]

Any of you have experience with this Hornady ammo? Performance?
I know it is sort of a newbie question and may not be of any interest to handloaders unless you are thinking of loading this .308 bullet. But there's a lot of experience on this forum, so I thought I'd run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

Any of you have experience with this Hornady ammo? Performance?
I know it is sort of a newbie question and may not be of any interest to handloaders unless you are thinking of loading this .308 bullet. But there's a lot of experience on this forum, so I thought I'd run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

I acquired a ragged husqvarna 1640 30.06 2 years ago as a project gun to keep me occupied during the winter, cleaned her up, bedded the action. My goal was to have an odd 6 that I didn't need to load for, I shot core loks, Winchester super x, federal blue box and ppu through it with good results for a rifle that was old as me, 63, it could hold groups under 1 3/4. While down in Pagosa springs Colorado I visited a local gun shop to kill some time, fellow behind the counter had an old 03 Springfield that was sporterized and swore by this Hornady precision hunter 178 eldx so I bought a box, about choked on the price. It shot well enough through my rifle that I'm currently working on re loading the same bullet using h4350 which is defeating the whole purpose of this rifle, it was supposed to shoot only factories but I am what I am, always looking to better a project. As for killing anything with it, not yet, my daughter always spots the elk first so she gets first shot, good for her, bad for me, she never misses

 

[dougduey]

I load the 178 in my 30-06 and a buddy uses it in his 308. Performance has been very good for both of us. My friend took a monster IN whitetail at right around 400 yards and dropped him. I'm in south Texas, so our small body sized deer don't stand much of a chance when hit by this bullet out of an '06. I destroyed a NM bull elk 2 years ago with the 200 gr ELDX in my 300 WSM. Shot was only 110 yards. Looked like he got hit by lightning. Was dead on the ground before I could rack another round.

 

[PAGSDIII701]

what about accuracy and performance on game? Looking for experience, not just go spend your money and try it out for us. The reason I posted the question is that I don't have the money you guys have, so I need better information before I spend my meager income.

You don't know what kind of money "we" have

 

[Jon Bischof]

crashlanding: You must be proud of your daughter. Besides that, shooting an elk with a rifle made by chainsaw making Swedes has got to get messy
But seriously, they made a pretty decent rifle. If Stihl ever makes a rifle, I might give it a try.

I acquired a ragged husqvarna 1640 30.06 2 years ago as a project gun to keep me occupied during the winter, cleaned her up, bedded the action. My goal was to have an odd 6 that I didn't need to load for, I shot core loks, Winchester super x, federal blue box and ppu through it with good results for a rifle that was old as me, 63, it could hold groups under 1 3/4. While down in Pagosa springs Colorado I visited a local gun shop to kill some time, fellow behind the counter had an old 03 Springfield that was sporterized and swore by this Hornady precision hunter 178 eldx so I bought a box, about choked on the price. It shot well enough through my rifle that I'm currently working on re loading the same bullet using h4350 which is defeating the whole purpose of this rifle, it was supposed to shoot only factories but I am what I am, always looking to better a project. As for killing anything with it, not yet, my daughter always spots the elk first so she gets first shot, good for her, bad for me, she never misses

 

[Jon Bischof]

You don't know what kind of money "we" have

I try to shoot groups I can cover with a dime and I adjust my 30 year old scopes with a quarter. I have to use someone else's business card to check to see if my barrels are floated because...well, often I don't have a dollar. My "custom rifles" are ones I put together myself using the skills I learned at Wally Thor's School of Truckdriving and Amateur Gunsmithing. If you think my scopes are old, just look at this ammo I was shooting yesterday.

 

[Jon Bischof]

Uh, oh! After looking at that photo I just posted I think I know where the Coronavirus may have really originated...Ooops, guess I'll never store ammo in that bat-infested cave again.

 

[charliewhisky]

I have done range time with the Hornady ELD-X ammo in my 6.5C (3 of them), in a 280REM and 270 WIN MOD 70 classic. Ammo was accurate enough, 1 inch or smaller groups. My son took his first deer at 350 yards with the 270 with the 145 ELD-X and the bullet performed flawlessly. I will gladly use that loading in the future, I have the 30-06 178 ELD-X ammo to try in my MOD70 but have not shot it yet.

I moved to a 200gr ELD-X, (loaded to 2695 FPS to prolong barrel life) with my Model 70LR in 30-06 because I wanted to shoot long with my rifle and still be able to take down a hog or deer at long range if I got the chance. Since then I have shot metal well at 500yds, taken three deer at ranges under 150 yds with great bullet performance, and shot a fun shoot long distance match without fully embarrassing myself.

 

[Joefrazell]

what about accuracy and performance on game? Looking for experience, not just go spend your money and try it out for us. The reason I posted the question is that I don't have the money you guys have, so I need better information before I spend my meager income.

Unfortunately all you can do is try it for yourself. Your rifle will probably not like what my rifle likes ect. And vise versa. Just the way harmonics and barrels, chambers work. Unfortunately.

 

[Jon Bischof]

charliewhisky: I haven't ruled out any bullet yet, I just got the gun. Zeroed it with 165 Sierra GameKings. But if it shoots 178's, 180's or 200's better I would be tickled and actually would like it to prefer heavier rather than lighter bullets; not only because heavier would be better long range but also because I already have a couple of rifles that shoot lighter bullets well.

I moved to a 200gr ELD-X, (loaded to 2695 FPS to prolong barrel life) with my Model 70LR in 30-06 because I wanted to shoot long with my rifle and still be able to take down a hog or deer at long range if I got the chance. Since then I have shot metal well at 500yds, taken three deer at ranges under 150 yds with great bullet performance, and shot a fun shoot long distance match without fully embarrassing myself.

 

[03USMC]

Probably one of the most expensive things to do is finding out what each rifle likes.
Reloading minimizes time trying loads out.
Factory loads can take a lot of money figuring it out what it likes.

 

[Jon Bischof]

Yes, I have done this many times. But I don't want to waste time or money on any but the best hunting bullets.

 

[03USMC]

I understand your plight, but my first hand experience with ammunition may not equal the same results in your rifle.
It may narrow your overall search for ammunition that may shoot accurately in your rifle, but your rifle likes what it likes.
Example... I've bought some very expensive boxes of ammo, only to find out it hated them but cheap Rem Corlokt shoots great. Flip that example around and that's happened to me too.
Need to buy a few boxes at a time and give them a whirl to truly find out what it likes. Otherwise if you have reloading equipment, load and tweak as needed.
My two cents...

 

[cohunt]

funny thing is, plain ol core-lokt ammo usually shoots pretty good in darn near any rifle I have ever tried it in--go through lots of expensive factory ammo to find out that wally world factory core-lokt is a pretty good bang for the buck-- but darn it, they suck on BC -- now i reload, I do shoot the 178 eldx from my -06 but I doubt the load will be the same as yours