Anyone Kill with A-Tip's yet?

[Journeyman]

What's happening fella's, I'm curious if anyone has killed with the A-Tips yet and how they performed.

I ran ELD-X's this year out of my PRC and wasn't happy with their performance, inconsistency namely. ELD-M's last year and was slightly happier with those. 3 animals with the ELD-M's and 5 with the X's. Not enough to make a definitive statement about them but enough to tell me I want to try something else.

I'm going to change it up for next season and am considering my options.

It'd be good to hear your experiences with the A-Tip's good or bad.

Thanks!

 

[bluetick78]

Are you shooting the ELD-X's in the 300 prc or 6.5 prc? Just curious, I just got a 6.5 prc and am dreaming up hunting loads for it.

 

[Clrems77]

If your asking about the Hornady Amax, I’ve used them for several seasons hunting pigs in TX. The 168’s worked well out of my AI .308 from a blind between 100-300 yards. Had a few run 20-30 yards but most were DRT.
As tough as pigs are, I’m sure they’d do well on deer.
Handloads were 2800fps with good expansion. Only had one through and through in half a dozen pigs last year.

 

[Journeyman]

If your asking about the Hornady Amax, I’ve used them for several seasons hunting pigs in TX. The 168’s worked well out of my AI .308 from a blind between 100-300 yards. Had a few run 20-30 yards but most were DRT.
As tough as pigs are, I’m sure they’d do well on deer.
Handloads were 2800fps with good expansion. Only had one through and through in half a dozen pigs last year.

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/a-tip-match#!/

 

[Journeyman]

Are you shooting the ELD-X's in the 300 prc or 6.5 prc? Just curious, I just got a 6.5 prc and am dreaming up hunting loads for it.

6.5 PRC, the ELDX’s shoot great out of my rifle both factory and handloads, but I’m not confident that they’ll perform the same way everytime.

 

[rhusby28]

Factory ELD-X shoot about 1.5 - 2 MOA out of my Sauer 100. Factory ELD-M shoot about 0.6 MOA. I’ve never had good luck loading ELD-X in any rifle. I bought some Berger 156 Elite Hunter bullets to try. If they don’t stabilize in my 1/8 twist barrel I will just load the Berger 140 Elite Hunter. They are rock solid in my 260 Tikka.

 

[Clrems77]

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/a-tip-match#!/

Oh Thanks. I haven’t seen these yet.

 

[Jacack]

Lots of guys over on a 6.5 Facebook page have been using them with good results.

 

[Journeyman]

Factory ELD-X shoot about 1.5 - 2 MOA out of my Sauer 100. Factory ELD-M shoot about 0.6 MOA. I’ve never had good luck loading ELD-X in any rifle. I bought some Berger 156 Elite Hunter bullets to try. If they don’t stabilize in my 1/8 twist barrel I will just load the Berger 140 Elite Hunter. They are rock solid in my 260 Tikka.

I’m not to familiar with the Sauer but if it’s a short action and depending on mag/chamber length you may not have enough case capacity to push those 156’s fast enough for your liking.

The ELDX’s (and M’s for that matter) have shot excellent out of everything I’ve run them through, mind you that’s mostly match grade barrels.

This is 5 shots of factory 6.5 PRC precision hunter with the ELDX from a fresh cleaned barrel. First shot higher was the fouler and the next 4 stacked on top of each other. I wish I could trust them on game.

 

[mt100gr.]

I’m not to familiar with the Sauer but if it’s a short action and depending on mag/chamber length you may not have enough case capacity to push those 156’s fast enough for your liking.

The ELDX’s (and M’s for that matter) have shot excellent out of everything I’ve run them through, mind you that’s mostly match grade barrels.

This is 5 shots of factory 6.5 PRC precision hunter with the ELDX from a fresh cleaned barrel. First shot higher was the fouler and the next 4 stacked on top of each other. I wish I could trust them on game.

View attachment 142804View attachment 142805

What were your on-game eperiences that are keeping you looking at alternatives?

 

[rhusby28]

I’m not to familiar with the Sauer but if it’s a short action and depending on mag/chamber length you may not have enough case capacity to push those 156’s fast enough for your liking.

The ELDX’s (and M’s for that matter) have shot excellent out of everything I’ve run them through, mind you that’s mostly match grade barrels.

This is 5 shots of factory 6.5 PRC precision hunter with the ELDX from a fresh cleaned barrel. First shot higher was the fouler and the next 4 stacked on top of each other. I wish I could trust them on game.

View attachment 142804View attachment 142805

The Sauer 100 has a standard single length long action for all cartridges same as a Tikka T3. I’ve already bought and tested the long action magnum magazines. They function fine with factory 6.5 PRC cartridges. The only problem I see is getting the Berger 156’s to stabilize in a 1/8 at 1,300 ft.

I have never owned a match grade barrel so I can’t say that the ELD-X bullets wouldn’t group out of one. I can say that I’ve never gotten better than 1.5 MOA groups out of any rifle I’ve loaded them for. I’ve loaded them in 5 different rifles and have finally given up on them. The ELD-M’s on the other hand have grouped awesome, and have proven to harvest everything I’ve shot them at. Honestly I’m a big fan of Berger Elite Hunter, and Target bullets. I’ve had zero failures and have harvested many animals since I started loading them.

 

[Journeyman]

What were your on-game eperiences that are keeping you looking at alternatives?

I'll preface this by saying that I am NOT making any definitive statements about the bullet or it's performance and this is based solely on my limited experience with them on game this past hunting season. I'll also note that I hunted with Barnes TTSX's for several years before last season when I ran 147 ELDM's and then trying the 143's this year.

My brother and I shot 5 animals this season between 330 and 780, 4 deer and a coyote. The longest shot was a buck quartering away and the bullet entered behind the shoulder and crossed through the chest cavity leaving an exit wound only slightly larger than the bullet. The deer stood on his feet for nearly a minute before tipping over.

I made a mistake and wounded a doe at 395, she was hit but not mortally and spun in place after the first shot. My only option was a back to front shot to try and put the poor girl out of her misery and the bullet never made it into the chest cavity. After tracking her for a long ways that day, we didn't find her till 2 days later when my friend was able to finish her off.

The situation with the doe was a bad situation that I'm hoping to learn from. I don't blame the bullet at all but I do feel that my experiences with barnes bullets where I felt that I would always get a passthrough skewed my decision making on taking that back to front shot. After a couple animals that were shot broadside and left minimal exit wounds I was under the assumption that the ELDX would be a deep penetrating bullet.

Again this is a very small amount of data but it made me uncomfortable continuing to use them as I view them having inconsistent expansion. I'm considering the 127 LRX, 140 Elite Hunter, 142 Accubond LR or the 147 ELDM. I haven't actually seen any results on the A-Tips which is why I asked about those.

 

[mt100gr.]

I'll preface this by saying that I am NOT making any definitive statements about the bullet or it's performance and this is based solely on my limited experience with them on game this past hunting season. I'll also note that I hunted with Barnes TTSX's for several years before last season when I ran 147 ELDM's and then trying the 143's this year.

My brother and I shot 5 animals this season between 330 and 780, 4 deer and a coyote. The longest shot was a buck quartering away and the bullet entered behind the shoulder and crossed through the chest cavity leaving an exit wound only slightly larger than the bullet. The deer stood on his feet for nearly a minute before tipping over.

I made a mistake and wounded a doe at 395, she was hit but not mortally and spun in place after the first shot. My only option was a back to front shot to try and put the poor girl out of her misery and the bullet never made it into the chest cavity. After tracking her for a long ways that day, we didn't find her till 2 days later when my friend was able to finish her off.

The situation with the doe was a bad situation that I'm hoping to learn from. I don't blame the bullet at all but I do feel that my experiences with barnes bullets where I felt that I would always get a passthrough skewed my decision making on taking that back to front shot. After a couple animals that were shot broadside and left minimal exit wounds I was under the assumption that the ELDX would be a deep penetrating bullet.

Again this is a very small amount of data but it made me uncomfortable continuing to use them as I view them having inconsistent expansion. I'm considering the 127 LRX, 140 Elite Hunter, 142 Accubond LR or the 147 ELDM. I haven't actually seen any results on the A-Tips which is why I asked about those.

I appreciate you taking the time to write that up. I too have a pretty small sample of the 143 eldx on game (all of mine from creedmoors) ....I can't say that I am sold on that bullet but given how well it shoots in my rifles, that confidence keeps me shooting them. Bullets that hit their mark have worked very well. All of the varying reports tho keep me wondering if I will have my underwhelming experience the next time I put one in a critter. I'm in to hear reports on the a-tip as well! I shoot the 147 eldm in one of my rifles and it was impressive on deer - lots of good reports of their effectiveness, too.

 

[Broz]

Watch the 230 Atips with high impact velocities. We took several elk with them this year. 6 or more. Man they are explosive even over 1K yards. I was sending them with a MV of 3285 fps from a 8 twist. I fear short range high velocity impacts could get ugly.

Jeff

 

[wind gypsy]

Watch the 230 Atips with high impact velocities. We took several elk with them this year. 6 or more. Man they are explosive even over 1K yards. I was sending them with a MV of 3285 fps from a 8 twist. I fear short range high velocity impacts could get ugly.

Jeff

Ive gotten the impression that how fast the bullets are spinning has a meaningful impact on how violently they fragment. An 8 twist @ 3285 FPS is spinning them real damn fast, do you think it may have something to do with how explosive they are?

 

[Broz]

Ive gotten the impression that how fast the bullets are spinning has a meaningful impact on how violently they fragment. An 8 twist @ 3285 FPS is spinning them real damn fast, do you think it may have something to do with how explosive they are?

That's why I included twist rate in my post. So, yes to some degree. The most documented data I have for any bullet's Terminal performance is the 215 Berger. Litterally 100's of big game kills. When I went from a 10 twist at 3035 fps, to a 9 twist at 3100 fps with the 215, I was concerned at first. But a few dozen elk later, some very close with high impact velocities, I could not conclude any difference in terminal performance from the 215. Making the 215 the most forgiving bullet at any twist and impact velocity I have tested to date. I also know Ryan is running the 230 A Tips a bit slower and we have seen same results. I had impact velocities in the 2200 fps range, and still saw the elk die quickly, but nothing made it past the far ribs. For sure my hand full of elk are not enough to conclude how any bullet works in a variety of scenarios. ( I know some will draw conclusions after one kill with any given bullet, but I know better) But I feel it is enough for me to at least raise and eyebrow and offer that we might want to be careful and observant untill we know more.

 

[6mm Remington]

I've had good results in accuracy and on game performance using Nosler Accubonds and Nosler E-tips. Both seem to shoot very well and perform very good on animals.

 

[Broz]

Anyone know the price of eggs in China?

 

[Northernpiker]

Anyone know the price of eggs in China?

16 £¥

 

[tdhanses]

I've had good results in accuracy and on game performance using Nosler Accubonds and Nosler E-tips. Both seem to shoot very well and perform very good on animals.