Hornady .257cal 134 eld terminal performance report

Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
Finally got to test the .257 134 eld on game. These are moving at 2910fps from my 25 creedmoor. Shot was 400 yards on a big cow. Impact velocity 2540fps. Not pushing the limits by any means but nice to see good results so far!

She traveled about 30 yards after the shot, heard a crash 2-3 seconds after shooting. She was on the edge of a little clearing and bolted into the timber.

Didn’t take a ton of pics but entrance was behind the shoulder, mid body. Went right between the ribs. The jacket was lodged between the ribs and opposite shoulder. A small piece of lead made it through the shoulder meat and was against the hide. IMO, great performance. Made a baseball sized hole through the lungs, pictured below.

4B90CB19-97CB-4EEC-9333-CC2B87CEBA2F.jpeg

CBB01296-A526-4702-9626-C0F41C8E051F.jpeg50B9C32F-808B-4347-AD49-72B744FD17C4.jpeg03E2AC59-FEE7-4D5F-9C66-BCE98DC5CEC1.jpeg
C041A90E-1B8B-450F-8C79-0C7315AE53DD.jpeg3C703BA5-B43A-485D-887F-383095B4F1A3.jpeg
 

hereinaz

WKR
Rokslide Sponsor
Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
3,652
Location
Arizona
Finally got to test the .257 134 eld on game. These are moving at 2910fps from my 25 creedmoor. Shot was 400 yards on a big cow. Impact velocity 2540fps. Not pushing the limits by any means but nice to see good results so far!

Sweet quarter bore! I love me the 130 class 257 bullets going faster than the 140 class 264, with better bc. Velocity and weight seems like same terminal performance.

How long is your barrel?
 
OP
willfrye027
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
Sweet quarter bore! I love me the 130 class 257 bullets going faster than the 140 class 264, with better bc. Velocity and weight seems like same terminal performance.

How long is your barrel?
Oh yeah I love it, this is my second barrel. It’s 26”..can’t have a suppressor in my home state so I like a longer barrel helps mitigate the barrel blast and extra velocity doesn’t hurt. At hunting elevation it will have enough velocity for much much farther than I can shoot
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2023
Messages
1,530
Location
Houston (adjacent) TX
Oh yeah I love it, this is my second barrel. It’s 26”..can’t have a suppressor in my home state so I like a longer barrel helps mitigate the barrel blast and extra velocity doesn’t hurt. At hunting elevation it will have enough velocity for much much farther than I can shoot
Great write up on the performance. I need to source some of these for my next couple builds.

Hypothetically, if you could have a suppressor in your state, would you run a shorter barrel on your rifle or keep it long?
 

huntnful

WKR
Joined
Oct 10, 2020
Messages
2,357
Awesome to see! Looks like great performance and thank you for the photos. I’m really liking the ELDM line also
 
OP
willfrye027
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
Great write up on the performance. I need to source some of these for my next couple builds.

Hypothetically, if you could have a suppressor in your state, would you run a shorter barrel on your rifle or keep it long?
Hard to say, I’ve never really tried one. 26” creedmoor is nice for the velocity gain. I have no need for a PRC/SAUM sized case because of the BC at 2920 at my current elevation reaches 1800fps at 1300 yards
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2023
Messages
1,530
Location
Houston (adjacent) TX
Hard to say, I’ve never really tried one. 26” creedmoor is nice for the velocity gain. I have no need for a PRC/SAUM sized case because of the BC at 2920 at my current elevation reaches 1800fps at 1300 yards
I love shooting suppressed. It makes shooting way more pleasant for my wife and kiddo too.

At that distance those are things would be hard to mess with though. Hopefully I’ll be adding to this thread in the spring. Keep the info coming bud!
 
OP
willfrye027
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
Awesome to see! Looks like great performance and thank you for the photos. I’m really liking the ELDM line also
So far I’m liking it. I had 12ish kills with the 135gr berger, and this is the first with the 134eld. So not enough to draw conclusions but it didn’t touch a bone and opened up nice and fast in the chest cavity. I’m mostly a deer hunter so I want a bullet to open pretty violently early on and so far they seem to do that 👍🏻
 
OP
willfrye027
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
I love shooting suppressed. It makes shooting way more pleasant for my wife and kiddo too.

At that distance those are things would be hard to mess with though. Hopefully I’ll be adding to this thread in the spring. Keep the info coming bud!
Shoot me a PM if you need some load data, this is my second 25 creedmoor barrel and I’ve tried a handful of combos now. Far from an expert but happy to share what I’ve found
 
Joined
Nov 12, 2022
Messages
24
Do you mind sharing your load info? I think I’m going to building a 25 cal soon, I just can’t make up my between a Creedmoor and PRC case. I intend to do a 20” barrel and shoot suppresses but I don’t want hamstring myself when I get long shot.
 

khuber84

WKR
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Messages
1,733
Anyone tweak in the BC to get these water lined at 1k yards? HDY advertises 325g7, applied ballistics shows 315g7.
 
Joined
Nov 12, 2022
Messages
24
I finally got my 25 PRC put together and got a couple kills under its belt. I’m shooting the 134 ELDm just under 3000 FPS. A couple weeks ago we called a good bull in to 100 yards, he offered only a straight on shot so my wife shot him center in the chest. He ran about 30 yards before he died.

This week I killed a bull at 950 yards with one shot. The shot landed center on the shoulder and dumped the bull where he stood.

Both bulls were killed in country loaded with grizzly bears so unfortunately, we didn’t spend any extra time investigating the terminal performance but the bullets worked and I intend to continue shooting them.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2607.jpeg
    IMG_2607.jpeg
    798.9 KB · Views: 53
  • IMG_5431.jpeg
    IMG_5431.jpeg
    665.4 KB · Views: 52
OP
willfrye027
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
2,525
Another one to add with 134 eld.

Mule deer buck impact velocity 2200fps. He did not want to die and took three bullets through the chest/lungs. 2/3 exited, one crushed both shoulders and was caught under the hide on the off side. Great internal damage, slightly larger than golfball sized wound channel. C5334C04-4CAC-413F-B034-4CE750677402.jpeg4AFC062A-4258-4417-BD60-536326D0E355.jpeg0B5339E0-4E30-48F1-8A17-A9B5CE549667.jpeg
 
Top