77gr TMK or 80gr ELD-X

[justin davis]

80.5 bergers shoot lights out in my gun.

 

[kkp005]

Mine doesn't like the 80 gr. eldx either. What is your load with the 77 tmk's?

I’ll have to look but I’m pretty sure 2.500 OAL
34 or 34.5gr h4350

 

[Schmo]

I’ve killed with the 77TMK out to 440 yards from a 223. How is the terminal performance of the 75 ELD-M?

 

[Deere_Man]

I’ve killed with the 77TMK out to 440 yards from a 223. How is the terminal performance of the 75 ELD-M?

@Thegman @Pharmseller

 

[Thegman]

@Thegman @Pharmseller

I only have a sample of one, at this point, and you've probably seen this, but the 75 ELDM did very well for me, in it's own way. Compared to a 77 TMK, it was more of a "controlled expansion" bullet and retained about 66% of it's weight, but still did ample damage on the way through and penetrated really well.

T

Post in thread '.223 for bear, mountain goat, deer, elk, and moose.'

Sep 21, 2025

A little long post, but a big bodied spike moose, at about 70 yards, this time with one 75 Fusion @ 2,770, frontal chest shot and a follow-up broadside shot with a 75 ELD-M @ 2,700. Didn't find the Fusion, but was pretty impressed with the 75 ELD-M.

Bull almost dropped from the Fusion chest shot, but regained his feet so put the next round, the 75 ELD-M through the back of the left shoulder, which ended up stopping against the offside hide behind the right shoulder. That bullet weighs just under 50 grains, so retained about 66% of its weight.

ELD-M entrance

ELD-M path...

• Thegman

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If they'll shoot for you, the biggest advantage I see for shooting further distances with them (and the 80 ELDM) is their BC. Either way, they'll hang on to their velocity better than the TMK and probably start out as fast, or faster as well. The other (possible) plus is that when I compared the down range velocities of the 75 and 80 ELDMs from my Labradar, with Strelock, I got some weird (but good) results.


The 80's velocity drops matched with a .545 G1, which is exactly what the 88 ELDM is listed at, and the 75's velocity drops matched with a .490 G1, which is pretty much what's listed for the 80 ELDM ( .485 I think). I know my testing isn't perfect by a long shot, but generally my results (with Hornady bullets) match their G1 BCs very closely. In these two cases the bullets were slowing at a considerably slower rate than expected.

FWIW, my testing usually matches up very closely with BCs listed by Hornady and Sierra. OTOH, Speer and Nosler bullets (especially Speer) usually come out a good bit lower than what they're listed at. Definitely a pattern I've noticed.

 

[Pharmseller]

@Thegman @Pharmseller

I’m 3 for 3 on Mulie bucks, 475, 100 (or so), and 277 yards. All three bucks died right now with minimal bloodshot.

MV 2915 fps.