143gr ELD-X Unreliable?

[SmalljawNH]

I understanding this is a long range forum, but please humor me. I searched around Rokslide to see if anyone posted a similar experience but didn't find anything.

Has anyone else experienced terminal performance issues with the ELD-X bullets?

Background:
A friend of mine hunts with a Proof Research Elevation MTR in 6.5 PRC. We were hunting mule deer in west TX in late Nov. and we round a bend in the trail on our way to a new glassing spot, a shooter buck was broadside at 45 yards. Buddy jumps out of the side by side and puts one shot through the lungs behind the shoulder. Deer does a mule kick, runs 10 yards and stops. Adrenaline hits my friend and his 2nd shot spined the deer, third shot misses over its back. Buddy composes himself, takes a good rest, aims, 2nd shot behind the shoulder and in the lungs.

We wait 15 minutes, the deer does not expire. We walk up and he puts a third shot behind the shoulder at close range finally killing the deer. It was tough to watch and after field dressing, all three shots in the lungs penciled through the deer without doing a lot of damage. The spine shot was catastrophic and seems to be the only bullet that expanded.

I feel my rambling story above was needed to explain that while we expected a 300 +/- yard shot, we were presented with a deer at 45 yards and this bullet didn't perform as I had expected. One guide and one experience long distance hunter in Colorado on TikTok (@rackpackofficial and @theguide970) seem to have similar experiences. Genuinely curious to hear of any experiences with the terminal performance of ELD-X. Thanks!

 

[enbhunts]

I understanding this is a long range forum, but please humor me. I searched around Rokslide to see if anyone posted a similar experience but didn't find anything.

Has anyone else experienced terminal performance issues with the ELD-X bullets?

Background:
A friend of mine hunts with a Proof Research Elevation MTR in 6.5 PRC. We were hunting mule deer in west TX in late Nov. and we round a bend in the trail on our way to a new glassing spot, a shooter buck was broadside at 45 yards. Buddy jumps out of the side by side and puts one shot through the lungs behind the shoulder. Deer does a mule kick, runs 10 yards and stops. Adrenaline hits my friend and his 2nd shot spined the deer, third shot misses over its back. Buddy composes himself, takes a good rest, aims, 2nd shot behind the shoulder and in the lungs.

We wait 15 minutes, the deer does not expire. We walk up and he puts a third shot behind the shoulder at close range finally killing the deer. It was tough to watch and after field dressing, all three shots in the lungs penciled through the deer without doing a lot of damage. The spine shot was catastrophic and seems to be the only bullet that expanded.

I feel my rambling story above was needed to explain that while we expected a 300 +/- yard shot, we were presented with a deer at 45 yards and this bullet didn't perform as I had expected. One guide and one experience long distance hunter in Colorado on TikTok (@rackpackofficial and @theguide970) seem to have similar experiences. Genuinely curious to hear of any experiences with the terminal performance of ELD-X. Thanks!

My wife uses the 143 ELDX out of a 6.5 Creed.

She's taken two bull elk,1 cow elk, and 1 mule deer buck with it since she started using them.

First bull, 290 yards, one shot in the spine and top of lungs, dropped and died right away.

Cow, 280 yards, right through the heart, died after she ran for 15 yards.

Second bull, 100 yard shot, (this was the one I was nervous about) right through the heart, dropped and died instantly.

Buck, 260 yards, shot through heart, kept walking, shot through heart again and died within 30 seconds.(this was a rutty buck so maybe he just had a whole lot of hormones that kept him going?)

A buddy of mine had told me to look out for the bullet not expanding, especially at shorter distances because it's coming in so fast it may not have time to expand and it just shatters. I've seen others with this experience too.

The one I was nervous with was the 100 yard bull. But we found that bullet perfectly expanded. This was just our experience.

 

[KU_Geo]

2 sheep, 4 mule deer bucks, and 3 antelope for me with them. All broadside to quartering shots, all exited as usual with golfball size exits. 70-530 yards.

6.5 cm sending them at 2775fps.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

do you have wound pictures? I find it much easier to believe that those bullets had rapid/shallow expansion and only a portion of the shank remained to penetrate through the lungs than it is to believe that the bullet didn't expand at all. I've seen way too many wound channels from that bullet at lower impact velocities to think that those bullets could possibly pencil with an impact velocity of 3k+ fps.

 

[Nine Banger]

do you have wound pictures? I find it much easier to believe that those bullets had rapid/shallow expansion and only a portion of the shank remained to penetrate through the lungs than it is to believe that the bullet didn't expand at all. I've seen way too many wound channels from that bullet at lower impact velocities to think that those bullets could possibly pencil with an impact velocity of 3k+ fps.

"Me too"

I had the opposite problem 2 seasons ago. The ELD-x's were splashing on impact, so the entry looked like an exit.

I wasn't impressed, switched to TMK, did OK with those but then I ran out and switched back to ELD X's for a few tags at the end of this season and they worked fine.

Maybe its a quality control thing at the factory. Too soft...too hard...sometimes just right?

 

[Laramie]

My son shot a 3-4 year old whitetail this year broadside at 70 yards - 6.5 PRC 143 ELDX. The bullet went though the lungs and clipped the front of the guts on the way out. It was quartering towards a bit. The impact side lung was completely torn up. The back of the offside lung had quite a bit of damage but not as much The edge of the liver had a hole about 1.5" and the exit was about quarter sized. The deer did travel a little ways but was dead very quickly. His bullet definitely expanded and did the job.

 

[WI in the west]

i shot one mule deer at 250 and he dripped like a ton of bricks. clipped the scapula and it basically grenaded both shoulders. on 2 white tails, 30 ish yards each broadside it completely grenaded the shoulders again cause the scapula got clipped. the last was a white tail at 60, no scapula graze, heart shot with an exit. bullet seemed to expand a bit but he ran 150 yards. he was clearly messed up and saw blood pumping out a little but it did not cause the mass damage. also shot an elk at 300 behind the shoulder. thought it was a perfect shot. but 45 mins later when i got over to him he got up and ran off 30 ish yards and had to shoot him again. again he was clearly messed up but kinda scared me if he ran further theres no telling if id of found him.
morale of the story hit them where youre suppose to they die fast but if you clip bone it makes a mess. if you dont hit bone they seem to live a little bit longer.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Here you go...

Looking for input on ELD-X bullet performance (w/ field pics)

Hey guys; I’ve just gotten started reloading and I have a question on the bullet performance and whether I should be looking for more. First, obviously it did its job because I got a bull down! But this is about maximizing performance where possible. Shooting a 300 win mag. Getting about...

rokslide.com

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The field pics are what actually speak. Anyone can type.

 

[SmalljawNH]

do you have wound pictures? I find it much easier to believe that those bullets had rapid/shallow expansion and only a portion of the shank remained to penetrate through the lungs than it is to believe that the bullet didn't expand at all. I've seen way too many wound channels from that bullet at lower impact velocities to think that those bullets could possibly pencil with an impact velocity of 3k+ fps.

I don't have photos but wish we had taken some. We got distracted when other guys from camp stopped by right after we finished dressing him. It was 60ish degrees so my buddy brough his deer to the processor straight away.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

well, you're probably safe to assume that it was a one-off occurence. look through the eldx kill thread above, or the 6.5 kill thread below for lots and lots of wound channel photos, lots and lots of animals are getting whacked with eldx and m bullets, though in general the -m versions tend to be more preferred.

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/6-5-creedmoor-260-for-deer-elk-and-whatever-else.244973/

 

[JohnJohnson]

I've had reliable results using them on four deer so far. Impact ranges were between 60-380 yards.

 

[northernalpine]

300WM w/ 200gr ELD-Xs

11 different animals in the last two years down within 8 yards. Complete pass throughs on all but the elk (shoulder to opposite hide) on a quartering toward angle. I don’t really take photos of the terminal ballistics, but below are the few I have and yardage notes from my field book. In summary, it has been a devastating round.

2023: Mule deer@391yds, cow elk@443yds, whitetails@47/191/278yds

Mulie:


Whitetail round up:

 

[DangerRanger]

No

 

[CorbLand]

410 yards on broadside cow elk. Hit right where you want to, destroyed her lungs and left a golf ball sized exit. She made it about 40-50 yards but was running dead. 6.5 CM

250 yards on a cow elk. Niece shot her and hit her spine. She bled out pretty quick. Same result as above, about a golf ball sized exit. 6.5CM

50 yards on a cow elk, with a 162 out of a 7 mag. Hit high shoulder. Shot her in the head with a pistol about 20 seconds after the initial shot but she was dead, just no reason not to finish her off. 7mag

 

[Tx_300wsm]

I have six kills with them now out of my manbun, five whitetails and a hog. Shots ranging from 60 to 320 yards. Not all have exited, one was a bang flop, the others ran at most 40 yards.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

Norma now makes a 6.5 bullet very similar to the ELD-X.

Norma Bondstrike, 143 Grain.

Might give that a shot if you are unhappy with the ELD-X

 

[Fatcamp]

Killed a pretty good pile with them, no problems.

 

[ElPollo]

I understanding this is a long range forum, but please humor me. I searched around Rokslide to see if anyone posted a similar experience but didn't find anything.

Has anyone else experienced terminal performance issues with the ELD-X bullets?

Background:
A friend of mine hunts with a Proof Research Elevation MTR in 6.5 PRC. We were hunting mule deer in west TX in late Nov. and we round a bend in the trail on our way to a new glassing spot, a shooter buck was broadside at 45 yards. Buddy jumps out of the side by side and puts one shot through the lungs behind the shoulder. Deer does a mule kick, runs 10 yards and stops. Adrenaline hits my friend and his 2nd shot spined the deer, third shot misses over its back. Buddy composes himself, takes a good rest, aims, 2nd shot behind the shoulder and in the lungs.

We wait 15 minutes, the deer does not expire. We walk up and he puts a third shot behind the shoulder at close range finally killing the deer. It was tough to watch and after field dressing, all three shots in the lungs penciled through the deer without doing a lot of damage. The spine shot was catastrophic and seems to be the only bullet that expanded.

I feel my rambling story above was needed to explain that while we expected a 300 +/- yard shot, we were presented with a deer at 45 yards and this bullet didn't perform as I had expected. One guide and one experience long distance hunter in Colorado on TikTok (@rackpackofficial and @theguide970) seem to have similar experiences. Genuinely curious to hear of any experiences with the terminal performance of ELD-X. Thanks!

Is it possible that your conclusion they penciled was based on just the entry and exit wounds as opposed to opening up the critter to look at the internal wound channel? I’m asking this for two reasons. First, lots of people use the gutless method or haul their deer directly to a processor and don’t really get into a full necropsy of the wound channel. Second, these bullets will often dump most of their energy inside the critter leaving no exit or only a small chunk of the bullet will exit. The result can be a small hole in and a small hole out with a whole lot of wreckage in between. The fact that the deer lived for 15 minutes would be odd but not impossible. If there is a pathway that is still allowing blood to the animal’s brain, they can keep on living longer than you’d think. Sometimes bullets and deer do things you just wouldn’t expect. Without a full examination of the wound channel it’s really hard to say what happened.

 

[SmalljawNH]

We field dressed the deer; Heart and liver were not damaged at all and the lungs showed minimal damage. Small entry and exit wounds through the deer. I do wish I had taken pictures and spent more time piecing the story together. Lesson learned there.