Specific Hornady ELD-X Performance

[sendero72]

The ELDM actually is better on elk for a shoulder shot

Can you give more info. Range and caliber.

 

[Antarcticchamp]

I absolutely smoked a bull moose in Alaska quartering towards at 237 yards with a 200 grain eld-x. The bullet entered through the thoracic opening and excited the ribs behind the right shoulder.
The performance of the 143 grain eld-x in 6.5 creedmoor on smaller game has been a little less authoritative.

 

[bigngreen]

I am looking forward to move from berger 30 215 Hybrid to hornady ELDM 225g .... because it has a better BC..

In both 300 win and 300 wby mag

And close ranges with Barnes 168g ttsx..

Could you help me to find out if this is a good decision??

Thanks

I have shot a good number of elk with 215 and 168 Barnes and no longer shoot the 168 Barnes for elk, if you feel the need to shoulder shoot an elk in close I would look into Hammers as your close range bullet, they perform much better than the Barnes in close and mid range for that matter.

 

[hunter0528]

I took mine at about 185 yards with my 300 Win Mag. First shot was Lung shot, Second was Heart. Took a total of about 10 steps from the first and dropped. Round completely penetrated and was found on the opposite side, fully mushroomed. No problem with the 200gr ELDX

 

[zcarglen]

My experience with 7mm Berger 168gr VLD's around 2950ft/sec is that they all disintegrated without hitting bone at ranges from 30 yards to 400 yards. While they do shred soft tissue and are ultimately lethal, I feel our critters deserve a quicker death than in my experiences.
Now I've gunned up to a 28 Nosler with 175gr ELDX's at 3150ft/sec. A cow elk at 400yds took one behind the shoulder and dropped where she stood. There was a 3 inch hole on the opposite side, but the hydrostatic shock bloodied the whole opposite shoulder. A bull elk quartering at around 400yds was shot high through both shoulders(not where I was aiming), and while he didn't move, he required a head shot. The ELDX was found under the hide of the opposite shoulder and it had shed almost 100gr, and the lead core fell out of the jacket remnant as I was cleaning it up. Again, I'm with Randy 'The Real Gunsmith' on YouTube(he should be mandatory for any elk hunter) on the fact that cup and core bullets are not in the same league as the old Nosler Partitions. So I'm going with the 175gr Accubonds which I feel will be better when I miss my aim point the next time I have an elk opportunity. Wish me luck and thanks for reading.

 

[73driver]

On a couple KY deer at closer ranges not so much. I shot a doe at 100 yards with a double lung hit and she ran over 100 yards with no blood trail and had minimal damage to the opposite side lung. I shot a nice buck who field dressed at 200 lbs. at 35 yards right behind the shoulder and that bullet hardly touched that opposite side lung but completely destroyed the other. He ran about 50 yards and piled up. Neither of the deer had any blood trail.

I can think of two deer I shot with "thin" jacketed Sierra GK's. One a whitetail at 70 yards with a 165GK out of an 06 going almost 2900fps. That bullet smashed through the onside shoulder bone through both lungs clipping the top of the heart and punched through the offside shoulder bone, then the mushroomed slug slid down and out of the offside shoulder muscle exiting through nice ragged hole. That deer took off running for about 100 yards. The trail was easy to follow. So use enough gun
The second shot that comes to mind is a mule deer doe shot at about 50 yards with 140GK out of a 270Win at a bit over 2900fps. That bullet punched both lungs and and was up against the far side hide. The bullet lead core was half its original size and the copper jacket fell off when I picked it out. Win 270 only .013 more in diameter and same bullet weight and 100/150 fps more velocity than 6.5C ELD-X??
Lastly my son took his first deer in NOV, a whitetail at 350 yards with 270 145 ELD-X. That bullet went into the deer's ribs just behind the shoulder at an angle, through the lung/lungs, diaphragm and came out far side mid paunch. That was my first experience with 270 145 ELD-X and will use it again.
A little surprised to read that 6.5C 143 ELD-X can't punch through both lungs on a deer.

 

[Sgt W]

Brink19
My friend used my 300win on a cow elk hunt the last part of December. It was the last day he could go out. He shot his cow at 500yards with 1 shot. He for got to pull the bullet out for me. The deer i shot at 250yards i hit in the base of the skull was a complete pass threw. The 212eldx work amazing. My velocity out of my 300win is 2921fps. I love them

 

[Scottf]

I have taken several African Plains game with 208 ELDM in 300 RUM white very good performance. Killed a Kudu at 325yrs, quarting away and the bullet passed though. Internals were mush with minimal meat damage, went about 40 yards.
Look up Nathen Foster's work he has done on long range bullet performance, he prefers ELDM for quick kills in the mountains of NZ.
I have found the Load development is easier with ELDM than ELDX bullets.

 

[ncwg2boatguy]

My results with ELD-X have been brutal. Nothing I have hit has taken more that 3 steps. Everytime enternal damage was catastrophic. It does its job. Maybe too well inside 200 I would actually consider a neck shot given the opprotunity.

 

[73driver]

A bull elk quartering at around 400yds was shot high through both shoulders(not where I was aiming), and while he didn't move, he required a head shot. The ELDX was found under the hide of the opposite shoulder and it had shed almost 100gr, and the lead core fell out of the jacket remnant as I was cleaning it up.

I would say that that bullet worked fine. It made it through both shoulders, punched both lungs I guess and the bull did not move. That the core stayed in the jacket till it stoped at the off side hide sounds good to me and my experience with partitions is they dump the front half of their mass right away, so with the same MV & caliber not sure a partition would have done any different. In my limited elk hunting experience (4 bulls) the three that went down to Sierra GK's where just as dead as the one shot with Nos Partition. BTW the bull shot with partition at 250 yds was angling away where the bullet took him in the last rib went forward shattering his heart and out the front of his chest making a **** big hole and while he didn't move a follow up shot or two finally put him down.

 

[pony doctor]

I have a custom wildcat 30 caliber, based on the 338 Lapua brass. I tried a box of Hornady bullets trying to develop a load and could not get that bullet to group less than 2 moa! Neither could the maker of the rifle. I switched to the Berger VLD hunting 210 grain and it groups 1/2 moa running 3380 fps. Also have a 200 gr Accubond that groups similar in this rifle. Guess that is par for the course, not blaming Hornady, just the quirks of load development in my opinion. The Berger "anialated" a frontal shot on a Rocky, no exit but internal organs looked like they had been thru a blender.

 

[Atoyot1031]

2017 we took two elk, a muley, 3 whitetail, and four pronghorn with 178gr ELD-X (30-06 Precision Hunter rounds). No complaints on performance Shots ranged from 200-500yds. 2018 we took 5 pronghorn, three elk, and 2 muleys with 143gr ELD-X (6.5CR Precision Hunter Rounds). One elk was a mature bull at 150yds. Shot placement was back as my 13yo shot him while he was walking slowly and the shot was taken standing off a tripod. Bull went ~100yds with no blood and required a finishing shot, but he was down and not going anywhere. The other two elk were headshots. One muley buck was ~300yds hit in the boiler room. The shot was devastating; blew out both lungs with a large exit. He took two steps down a very steep mountainside before tumbling. Muley doe was shot at ~250yds. We thought he may have missed on first shot as she appeared unfazed. He hit her again ~2" from first shot. She was dead, she just didn't know it yet. I would not shoot an elk purposely in the shoulder with the 143gr. Then again, as a meat hunter, I wouldn't purposely shoot any elk in the shoulder. I pass if I don't have the right shot.

 

[HOT TUNA]

I've had nothing but devastating results with Berger's hunting bullets so much so that you couldn't really talk me into using a different bullet . If you want raw penetration I would be looking at bonded bullets not eld-x. VLD Hunting and ELD-X are going to have pretty close to the same performance as far as terminal ballistics. I bet you would have had similar results had the bullet been an ELD-X instead of a Berger putting the bullets into a shoulder like you did.

 

[bigngreen]

One thing guys have to keep in mind when shooting almost any non bonded or mono bullet is as your throat wears and without maintenance turns into lizard skin you will start severely stressing the jackets, I've seen two rifles that when deer were shot a Berger 140 and 168 left a wound that was out of norm for what we see normally and borescoping reviled a dry lake bed for a throat, switched to the Target VLD and then terminal performance was the exact same as we were seeing the the hunting jackets but we keep our throats in good shape and I have never seen one of my rifles need to be switched. A non bonded or mono bullet really means the operator has to be more conscientious of what he's doing which includes not blaming a bullet when you screw the pooch. The ELDs are in the same boat to,