Terminal performance of the 6.5mm 140 eld-match (pics)

[Creedmoor shooter]

This is a 140 eldm recovered from the off shoulder inside of the hide of my wife's mule deer that she shot at 240 yards. It still weighs 81 Gr. Muzzle velocity is 2880 fps. It went through the shoulder on the entrance side and still mostly stayed together. Deer was laying down and never moved. Don't have pictures of the wound. The deer pictured is my mule deer shot at 160 yards while it was walking took 5 more steps. You can see that it was a pass through just clipped the top of the heart. Exit hole is in the picture. 3 years ago we both shot mules with the same bullet and recovered the bullet inside the hide on both of them. Mine was shot at 60 yards and my wife's was shot at 600 yards. Muzzle velocity was 2908 fps. Each year we shared the rifle. On deer sized and smaller I don't think you are going to have any issues hitting bone on the way in with a 140 ELDM. They were all big body deer. My kids have shot several whitetail deer with 123 Amax that I have loaded down to 2850fps. They have done really well out to 440 yards but do go a bit farther than when shot with the 140s.

Looks like typical performance of the eld-m. I rarely catch the 140 out of my 6.5 but occasionally I'll have one stop on the off side and they look similar to that

 

[sea2summit]

This is a 140 eldm recovered from the off shoulder inside of the hide of my wife's mule deer that she shot at 240 yards. It still weighs 81 Gr. Muzzle velocity is 2880 fps. It went through the shoulder on the entrance side and still mostly stayed together. Deer was laying down and never moved. Don't have pictures of the wound. The deer pictured is my mule deer shot at 160 yards while it was walking took 5 more steps. You can see that it was a pass through just clipped the top of the heart. Exit hole is in the picture. 3 years ago we both shot mules with the same bullet and recovered the bullet inside the hide on both of them. Mine was shot at 60 yards and my wife's was shot at 600 yards. Muzzle velocity was 2908 fps. Each year we shared the rifle. On deer sized and smaller I don't think you are going to have any issues hitting bone on the way in with a 140 ELDM. They were all big body deer. My kids have shot several whitetail deer with 123 Amax that I have loaded down to 2850fps. They have done really well out to 440 yards but do go a bit farther than when shot with the 140s.

How is hunting that AL chassis in the cold? I've kind of avoided them because I picture them sucking the skin off my hands through my mittens.

 

[Kerryt38]

How is hunting that AL chassis in the cold? I've kind of avoided them because I picture them sucking the skin off my hands through my mittens.

The padded cheek piece makes it nice in the cold. It wouldn't be much fun without it. It really depends on how much you are going to be holding it. If I was in a tree stand holding it the whole time I would be using a carbon fiber stock.

 

[General RE LEE]

230 yard shot tonight on a doe blew the heart right out and she didn't go 20. I'm a believer.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

230 yard shot tonight on a doe blew the heart right out and she didn't go 20. I'm a believer.

Glad to hear. They're killers no doubt

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

My son killed his first bear on his 8th birthday lastnight with the 140 eld-m out of the 6.5 creedmoor. Shot was 15 yards and the bear ran 20 and expired. Unfortunately due to the circumstances I didn't get any photos of anything. It's was raining and we were in the muck and mud trying to get this thing out of the woods. 181lb sow

 

[xsn10s]

My son killed his first bear on his 8th birthday lastnight with the 140 eld-m out of the 6.5 creedmoor. Shot was 15 yards and the bear ran 20 and expired. Unfortunately due to the circumstances I didn't get any photos of anything. It's was raining and we were in the muck and mud trying to get this thing out of the woods. 181lb sowView attachment 493318

Wow that was close!!! Outstanding congratulations!!! This would be good for rokslide's 6.5 thread.

 

[Petey308]

My son killed his first bear on his 8th birthday lastnight with the 140 eld-m out of the 6.5 creedmoor. Shot was 15 yards and the bear ran 20 and expired. Unfortunately due to the circumstances I didn't get any photos of anything. It's was raining and we were in the muck and mud trying to get this thing out of the woods. 181lb sowView attachment 493318

That's awesome. Congrats. Another success story for the ELDM

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Wow that was close!!! Outstanding congratulations!!! This would be good for rokslide's 6.5 thread.

Bullet exited too. Had a golf ball sized exit

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

That's awesome. Congrats. Another success story for the ELDM

The Eld-M is a killing machine

 

[xsn10s]

Bullet exited too. Had a golf ball sized exit

That's pretty impressive. I have some loaded for the 260 AI that I was just going to shoot up. I have more brass so I think I'll save those 140 ELDM's and start loading up some 147 ELDM's.

 

[Hugnot]

I shoot lots of 6.5 ELDM bullets. I don't shoot deers and similar size animals but like to shoot rodents & steel. I have a 6.5CM, 6.5-06 (2) & will soon have a 6.5 PRC. All are/will be 8 twist.

Fine accuracy & stability with 8 twist.





The 140 gr. 6.5 ELDM has better ballistics than the 123 ELDM at ranges over 350 yards. The 123 ELDM has about 2% more impact velocity at extended ranges. slightly flatter trajectory up to 600 and shorter TOF but gives up a lot on wind effects. The Miller data is with a 6.5-06, 6.5 PRC might have more velocity.

I have a real nice load with the 123 ELDM in a 6.5CM using 44.5 gr. of Staball 6.5 & Rem 7 1/2 primer.
My experience with shooting deers & such has been limited but everyone taken has been with a diagonal hit & I would prefer to use the Barnes 127 tipped triple shock vs. ELDM.

 

[QuietTexan]

But wait I thought Big Red was trash and actually bounced off animals while the brass folded itself inside out? That's what I get for reading the interwebs again.

I almost removed the head from a yearling whitetail with a 140 ELD-M. Terrible situation, it's the one shot in my life that eats me up after taking it, and is documented somewhere else on LRH. But someone else messed up and I had to fix the problem, and to it's credit the 140 ELD-M did the job. Explosively, but effectively.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

But wait I thought Big Red was trash and actually bounced off animals while the brass folded itself inside out? That's what I get for reading the interwebs again.

I almost removed the head from a yearling whitetail with a 140 ELD-M. Terrible situation, it's the one shot in my life that eats me up after taking it, and is documented somewhere else on LRH. But someone else messed up and I had to fix the problem, and to it's credit the 140 ELD-M did the job. Explosively, but effectively.

We've killed so much crap with that bullet it's ridiculous. By far my favorite whitetail/black bear bullet