Anyone using Hornady ELD Match for LR hunting?

[joelbiltz]

Is there any links to read on their findings? Esp. interested on the -M vs -X findings.

Not that I am aware of. I went to their shooting school at the end of May and talked extensively with Mike and Jeremy. They both basically said the same thing. Aaron was in Africa at the time shooting a lot of animals and testing the M's performance with a bunch of other guys.

 

[Neverenoughhntn]

I've used the 162 ELD-M (.284) and the 147 ELD-M (.264) quite a bit.... deer, elk, bear, pigs, and of course coyotes, all DRT.... nothing real long range, but 3 elk and one deer between 500 - 700 yds. I've been very pleased with terminal performance. The farthest one went was an elk, and it tipped over in less than 20 yards..... closest shots were 2 bear and 1 pig at 50 yds or less, and all those were bang, flop. ... matter of fact, I like the ELD-M enough as a hunting bullet, I built my 6.5 SAUM around the 147.....moral of the story, I have complete confidence in the ELD-M as a long range hunting bullet, and still have the confidence in its ability if I have an up close opportunity.

 

[HellsCanyon]

I've used the 162 ELD-M (.284) and the 147 ELD-M (.264) quite a bit.... deer, elk, bear, pigs, and of course coyotes, all DRT.... nothing real long range, but 3 elk and one deer between 500 - 700 yds. I've been very pleased with terminal performance. The farthest one went was an elk, and it tipped over in less than 20 yards..... closest shots were 2 bear and 1 pig at 50 yds or less, and all those were bang, flop. ... matter of fact, I like the ELD-M enough as a hunting bullet, I built my 6.5 SAUM around the 147.....moral of the story, I have complete confidence in the ELD-M as a long range hunting bullet, and still have the confidence in its ability if I have an up close opportunity.

How big were entry holes? Did they penetrate a few inches before opening up or were they pretty explosive on impact? Any shoulder shots? I think I'm going to try and build a load for my upcoming 338 Norma around the 285 grain, or it's very tempting at least

Mike


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[Neverenoughhntn]

They seem to penetrate a bit before they shed... bears and pig under 50 yds were all t&t. (1 bear, entry point of right shoulder & exited left mid chest cavity. Other bear, double lung broadside. Pig middle left shoulder entry, exited mid chest cavity right side.) Caliber sized entrance, exit somewhere between quarter and silver dollar.....
2 elk high shoulder shot (1 @ 625, 1 @ 696): caliber sized entrance, bullet under hide on opposite side. (When I say bullet I mean majority of pieces. Usually a wad of jacket and the core, seperated but not too far away.) Other elk was double lung (550 yds): caliber sized entrance, bullet stopped under hide on far side.
Buck through center left shoulder, bullet under hide on far side mid chest cavity. Caliber sized entrance (510 yds)

 

[CaNINE]

I have one data point on game with the ELD-X. I used a 200 grain out of a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 to kill a large Wyoming bear at 530 yards. The bear was quartering slightly toward me. The bullet impacted in the rear portion of the shoulder and exited rear section of offside ribs. Bear went about 50 yards. The only thing I'm curious about is that the exit hole was not much over bullet diameter. I would have expected a larger exit. Looking forward to more field data this fall.

 

[FURMAN]

I'm running them in my 7LRM for next season but have yet to take a game animal with them. I did come across some videos and an article Nathan Foster from Austriallia who is owner of Terminal Ballistics Research. He does extensive testing on bullet performance/ killing power in game. This is what he had to say about the 180 ELDM.

"By now, many of you will be aware of Hornady’s new 7mm 180gr ELD-M. It’s the A-MAX that many of us waited several years for. Lately I have been using this bullet in the 7mm Rem Mag and 7mm Practical. Please take note that this bullet can develop higher pressures than the Berger VLD. You’ll get the velocities but you need to drop powder charges when starting out. If you are switching from a 160-162 grain bullet to the 180 grain, go down at least 6 grains, not simply 2 grains (based on 1 grain per 10 grains bullet as is common in the manuals and proves safe when using start loads). Start way down low, then come up. You may find that the sweet spot is 4.5 grains lower than where it was when you were using a 162 grain pill.

It is also important to understand that being such a long bullet, the tip (rather than the ogive) may contact the button of the seating stem within your seating die. If the button touches the bullet tip rather than the ogive, it will play merry hell with concentricity during seating and you will see fliers downrange. If you have such issues that need to be remedied, the options are to contact your die maker and ask for a stem suitable for match style bullets or failing this, you may need to have your existing stem altered (drilled) by a gunsmith.

The 180 grain ELD-M is a hard hitting pill. All I can say about its performance is wow. That should be enough for most of you. It meets and exceeds all of my expectations as predicted in the Cartridges book second edition which was released just before this bullet became publicly available. - A gentle stroke of the trigger results in a horrendous thump followed by two sets of hooves pointing straight up in the air. It doesn’t get any better than this.

This bullet will still deliver the goods and boy oh boy does it cheat the wind, putting a lot of other combos to shame. Dave Emary and his team at Hornady really have made an outstanding bullet.

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Where did you read this quote from Nate?

 

[DEW0341]

Used amax last year, zipped right through deer at 275 yards DRT. I plan on using it the ELD-m this year for 2 tags I have.


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[odin0226]

I'm thinking about going from,230 berger to 220 eld x. Lost a nice bull this year with the 230, MV 3030 FPS , shot was 1275 yds. Impact velocity was 1900 FPS and it dropped the bull instantly. Hit him perfect, right behind the shoulder. We were doing high 5 victory,celebration and a,few,minutes later he was on his feet but staggering. Hit him again In the shoulder @1170 yds and same thing(dropped,him instantly).

It got,dark the wolves moved in and no bull.

I have had good results with the,215. But,I think the nose cone is so long on the 230 it failed to expand. Of note: through the spotter we confirmed exit wound on 1st shot.

 

[odin0226]

View attachment 60751

230 top, 215 bottom

 

[odin0226]

If anyone has experience / opinion I'm all ears

 

[Ryan Avery]

That seems very odd.

I've seen/shot a pile of elk shot with the 230s out to 1400 plus yards out of 300 RUM. I love that bullet.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Anyone using Hornaday ELD Match for LR hunting?

Do you have a video of where you hit it? I️ have found spotters can be very wrong on where a bullet impacted, myself included.


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[danmayland]

Where did you read this quote from Nate?

On his Terminal Ballistics website.


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[WRO]

Yeah, the M is not for hunting, so they tell me. But berger tells me the same thing about their target bullets that I have killed well over 50 animals with zero animals lost. The .796 BC on the 180s has me very intrigued. My wife shot her bear with one at 50 yards and it killed it but she hit the shoulder and it grenaded. But I figured it would at that range. Just looking for longer range reports.

My buddy is up to 10 kills with the 285 eld-m at an average of 600 yards, he's in love.

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[FURMAN]

On his Terminal Ballistics website.


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Link? I asked because I couldn’t find it.


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[danmayland]

I shot a doe antelope using the 180 ELDM 250 yards. It was a head shot so I can’t comment on performance. I’ll just say the exit wound was epic.


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[Ryan Avery]

Anyone using Hornaday ELD Match for LR hunting?

Shot two animals with the 180 match. This mule deer at 440 yards. The damage was crazy!

 

[DEW0341]

Just got back from successful mule deer hunt, 6.5 creedmoor 140ELD-m. Quartering away shot at 160 yards. Broke the ribs on entrance, shards of bone on the ground where he got hit, turned one lung into a jumbled mushy mess, severed an artery to the heart, clipped the other lung exited opposite ribs. Filled to the brim with blood inside the cavity, blood trail was insane. Hit him, he bucked like a bronco 4ft or so into the air, hopped once, took about 10 half ass steps and tipped over. Still have one more deer tag I'll let know how that one goes. All following images are entrance wounds. The last one is exit

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[wind gypsy]

I have had good results with the,215. But,I think the nose cone is so long on the 230 it failed to expand. Of note: through the spotter we confirmed exit wound on 1st shot.

Interesting. Berger's quick reference sheet shows that the Nose length on 215s is 0.872" and the 230 is shorter at 0.859". The 230 OTM is shorter yet at 0.794"

 

[odin0226]

No video, I was the spotter for the first shot ( my gun was used) and I did all the dope for my brother (the shooter). I watched the trace /vapor trail through impact, 100% sure of it. After the bull got up, I kicked him off the gun and became the shooter; only because I can dope for myself without a spotter and the animal was staggering down the mnt so the follow up shot was a bit challenging.
He saw the blood on the off side through the spotter.
2nd shot dropped him like a rock, but he managed to leave the country.

We searched a 2 mile radius over the course of 3 days but never found it. Brother punched his tag, we ultimately fed some wolves in the frank.