Well said!This thread is why I am shooting Hammer Hunters now. ELD-X (and SST before it), great killers but the meat loss got to be too much for me. Shot Barnes TTSX for years, they killed fine, but we had a couple of animals that basically didn't leave a blood trail even with great placement. I wanted something (preferably mono) with better performance. The HH so far have been awesome. Good performance (expanding and wound channel) without horrific meat loss. Excellent wound channels (for a copper, ELD-X would still be better) out to the mid-600s. Although, I did shot a buck in AZ last year quartering too me at 180 yards and basically lost an entire shoulder, but that was the first instance of that with the Hammers vs multiple times with ELD-X and SST's. It's all about finding something that works for your style.
Because…Starting this thread to get others to quit hijacking the 6.8 western thread.
There seems to be an argument that the ELD-X is a great option for close range hunting. I however think it's a terrible option sub 200 yards.
Looks like it worked perfectly, I wouldn't argue against that performance. It seems like really mixed reviews and depends on the conditions, caliber used etcetera.Here is what is left of 143 ELD-X out of a 6.5PRC going 2951 at the muzzle that was found in the offside shoulder of a buck shot by my son at ~70 yards. Buck was slightly quartering to and downhill at ~7 degree angle, shot through the shoulder, and came to rest behind the shoulder on the opposite side.
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I was quite pleased as I had read stories of more fragile bullets 'blowing up' on shoulders at high velocity. I have mostly shot bonded bullets (accubonds, trophy bonded tips, and terminal ascents primarily), and seeing similar entrance behavior at such close range sold me on the ELD-X even more.
While we lost some meat, It wasn't egregious and in line with what I would expect with a shot through the shoulder. Here is the entrance, and as you can see, it didn't 'blow up'. It left a nice little hole with only a couple of hairs blown out of place indicating where it went in.
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