6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

[gabenzeke]

I shot a ram last week with the 108 elf-m at 130 yards from a 243 AI. Muzzle velocity 3100 fps. Neither shot exited, but insides appear to have been obliterated. I shot him late and was solo, didn’t feel like opening him up for pics (gutless). After the shot, they were bunched up so I couldn’t get a quick follow up. He went down approximately 9 secs after first shot. The rest ran away a short distance, he got up clearly sick. He was facing away so I waited for a better shot. Second shot was quartering away, dropped immediately at the shot, then got up again. He went back down before I could shoot again. 2 things; sheep are much tougher than I thought they were, that bullet absolutely wrecked the vitals and gut. Looking forward to killing a bull in a few weeks with it.

What's your barrel length? Load data?

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[Fever Buck]

Has anyone had a bad experience with the 103 ELDX? Just curious as it seems most folks use the 108 ELDM but the posts with ELDX seem to show pretty effective damage as well and it seems appealing to me due to the slightly increased velocity. Will be building my 6CM in December so thinking about picking up some ammo soon.

 

[Hurley88]

DISCLAIMER: This is a summary of everything I’ve read on this forum and heard on the Shoot2Hunt podcast. I haven’t personally shot 50 animals with both the ELDM & ELD-X and compared the data, but it has been done and this is what I gather. If in error, feel free to lambast me. I can take it like a man crying at my keyboard at home. Here goes…

You’d have to shoot 50 animals & document the wounds to really see a difference. But if you did…you’d notice a trend with the ELD-X toward a more “elongated” wound channel than equivalent ELDMs. You’d also notice that at higher impact velocities they tend to be a bit better at maintaining a football-shaped wound channel rather than a basketball-shaped one (hope that makes sense).
So if your 6CM will have a full length barrel & full 6CM velocities many would tend toward the ELD-X anyway.

 

[Fever Buck]

DISCLAIMER: This is a summary of everything I’ve read on this forum and heard on the Shoot2Hunt podcast. I haven’t personally shot 50 animals with both the ELDM & ELD-X and compared the data, but it has been done and this is what I gather. If in error, feel free to lambast me. I can take it like a man crying at my keyboard at home. Here goes…

You’d have to shoot 50 animals & document the wounds to really see a difference. But if you did…you’d notice a trend with the ELD-X toward a more “elongated” wound channel than equivalent ELDMs. You’d also notice that at higher impact velocities they tend to be a bit better at maintaining a football-shaped wound channel rather than a basketball-shaped one (hope that makes sense).
So if your 6CM will have a full length barrel & full 6CM velocities many would tend toward the ELD-X anyway.

Gotcha. So if going for a shorter barrel (18”) then the ELDM may perform better at slower velocities? Is there a specific velocity number you need to stay above for the ELDX?

 

[Hurley88]

Gotcha. So if going for a shorter barrel (18”) then the ELDM may perform better at slower velocities? Is there a specific velocity number you need to stay above for the ELDX?

1800-1850fps for either the ELDM or ELD-X.

And again, the difference is really splitting hairs. Personally (bc I have both on hand) I would just look up book max for both bullets using whatever powder I have on hand or have researched, then go shoot 5 shots in half grain increments working up to that. Velocity tells way more about pressure than other signs, though all signs are useful. Then arbitrarily pick a velocity from one of the shots and load 20 with each bullet. I’d shoot five. Then five more, and on until I have a 20 shot group. If one bullet gives 2.3 MOA and the other 1.4 MOA, then my bullet selection has been made for me. If they’re the same, I’d probably lean ELD-X.

But overall, there isn’t a definitive “this one is better” bc their wound channels are more alike than different.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Gotcha. So if going for a shorter barrel (18”) then the ELDM may perform better at slower velocities? Is there a specific velocity number you need to stay above for the ELDX?

1800 generally but some people use 2000. I have seen posts with lower than 1800 impact velocities and still acceptable performance but I believe 1800 is where you want to be.

 

[Fever Buck]

1800 generally but some people use 2000. I have seen posts with lower than 1800 impact velocities and still acceptable performance but I believe 1800 is where you want to be.

Thank you

 

[sveltri]

What's your barrel length? Load data?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

22” Peterson brass H1000 50 grains coal 2.998. I did just tweak things a bit to get the bullet of the lands .020 and tried h4831 48.2 got another 50 fps and way better ES/SD 3154 ave 9 sd