ELD-X issues

[S-3 ranch]

.308win 130gr ttsx @ +/- 325 yards on a big old queen cow elk on our property in Colorado, did exactly what I expected & DRT

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

This is a deer scapula. Note that it is thin enough that light passes thru it. Its covered by a muscle that is roughly 2” thick, if that. I dont discount that sometimes bullets do odd things that may be hard to predict. I simply am posting this to say that in the vast majority of cases no centerfire bullet is going to be slowed down by 1/8” thick bone. Could it hit the knuckle? Sure, but its still a relatively thin bone that shatters, and based on size the odds are thats not where it hits. I would chalk up the one weird experience as a fluke until you have at least 2 or 3 examples that all line up. You may or may not like a given bullet, I just dont see how that particular experience is anything but an anomaly.

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Indeed. And you want to know what happens when you place these with fur/hide over them immediately in front of 10% spec gel and shoot them with ELDXs, SSTs, and ELDMs?

Nearly the same thing that happens inside animals. Excellent killing wounds.

Guys shooting one or two shots on animals in a year and then blaming a certain bullet or making a general statement regarding a bullet is like guys cherry picking 3 shot groups. You don’t have enough information to know what’s really happening. Same goes for an animal that was DRT.

I’ve had similar experiences to OP with what most here would say is “a good tough hunting bullet”. I’ve also had experiences similar to OP with the bullets I’ve mentioned above. 95+% of hunters aren’t killing enough and doing good enough necropsies to make informed decisions. Sorry to make folks upset but it’s reality.

I will say this, since I started doing my own testing and started killing lots of animals with tipped style bullets, going back to 2013 with SSTs and others since then, the average distance travelled after being shot is far lower. The amount of animals I had to track long distances is far lower. The amount of lost animals due to a “tough bullet” penciling through and the animal goes for miles is far lower. Despite over that time being told that the bullets I’m using bounce off of animals from hundreds of hunters, guides, etc.

 

[SloppyJ]

I was dyed in the wool of controlled expansion bullets growing up in the south and that's all I used. It wasn't by choice but it's just what was given to me and what had always worked. The go-to was a corelokt. I still have a half box of original corelokts from the 80s that my grandpa gave me with my first rifle in .243. Even though they are bonded and have a tapered jacket, some of the wound channels I've seen from them are on par with match bullets. That's what really made it click for me when I started to think outside of what I've always done.

When I started actually caring about what bullets I shot I went more towards accubonds and then I tried a partition. This was the 2nd phase of it "Clicking" with me. The partitions just straight up worked. Everything I shot got their dick knocked in the dirt, quickly.

Then I branched way out and tried some Bergers and I fell in love. They shot so much better and they were devastating even at close range. On that front I've taken game with Nosler Ballistic Tips, ELDMs, Sierra TMKs, Berger Elite Hunters and Classic Hunters.

The results speak for themselves and out of more than 15 deer that were shot with match bullets, only one fell down out of sight. I can count on one hand the number of animals that actually went down in sight with a controlled expansion bullet. More than just bullet construction goes into that but with heavy match bullets and all of the practice that we've been getting in over the past few years, I've never felt more confident when an animal is in the cross hairs.

I think it's extremely important to point out that my case is a bit different because in the thick woods down here, most of my shots are going to be 100yds and under. Mostly under. So if anyone were to have a problem with a bullet "exploding" I think that I would have seen it with the higher velocity impacts but I've yet to see it. I've heard it used a ton when speaking with friends but it always comes down to them making a shitty shot.