Hornady ELD-X

[sram9102]

I had fantastic experiences with the 143 eldx this season. Here is the exit wound on a big whitetail doe. 150 yard broadside shot 2670ish mv. 3 for 3 on deer from 320 to 150. Maybe 120 yards ran between the three of them. If your running them at high mv I may be leery of up close shots but they were brutal in my experience this year.

Exit photo and what it looked like under the shoulder.

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[z987k]

Both of my kids have custom 6.5 creedmoor rifles and for two years we’ve been shooting the 143 he ELDX round. During 2019 they shot several deer with them and I noticed either no blood and/or little no exit wound. On occasion they would make a shot that I know was a hit and we would find no sign of a hit. Then, I took a friend last year and let them use one of my kids rifles rifles and I witnessed them shooting a deer. The shot was a hit, the deer hit the ground then got up. Not one drop of blood. This I saw with my own two eyes. Moving to 2020, much of the same. To take their error in shot placement out of it I shot two deer with their rifle. On the first, the deer hit the ground and rambled out of the food plot. No blood and Ingrid searched for a long time. The next one I shot, knew it was a hit, based on the reaction of the deer after the shot and the report back after the shot. Again, no blood. Looked for a long time. Then grid searched. Nothing again. The next day I found the deer about 250 yards from where it was shot with a perfect entrance hole.
After all of this the gun was out away for the rest of the season until a new round can be chosen. With limited selection right now this is quite a task. We are down to having hand loads out together.
I say all this to hope that no one buys ELDX rounds for hunting. They suck.

I wonder why you had such a different experience to most people posting about them.

 

[TheCougar]

Yeah, this thread is less about the bullets not working, and more about how much damage they cause... this year I killed or witnessed 3 elk, 4 deer, and 5 antelope get dropped by ELDX bullets. They plain work. My big lesson learned is to make sure I’m behind the shoulder. They do tend to ruin more meat than the bonded bullets I’ve used in the past.

 

[mattflipper]

I wonder why you had such a different experience to most people posting about them.

Do a quick search on some of the other forums about them. I think my experience is more similar to what is common with them, minimal wound channel and poor exit wounds. I’ve spent lots of time on other forums researching this and this seems to be the “norm”.

 

[Gsquared]

I had fantastic experiences with the 143 eldx this season. Here is the exit wound on a big whitetail doe. 150 yard broadside shot 2670ish mv. 3 for 3 on deer from 320 to 150. Maybe 120 yards ran between the three of them. If your running them at high mv I may be leery of up close shots but they were brutal in my experience this year.

Exit photo and what it looked like under the shoulder.

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Seems like a lot of fat on that doe. You corn finishing them there in your area!?!?

 

[sram9102]

Central IN has a corn field or two. They were pretty healthy this year.

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[dieselchessy]

A few years back my boy shot a cow from around 60 yards. Hit was back between the last few ribs, mid body height. As she trotted out of the field you could see blood at the entrance point.
I thought back a bit but dead elk.
We had to track a bit. She went a few hundred yards then laid down. We jumped her and finished her off after a painful track with near no blood.

Shot placement was the biggest issue. But I was surprised a 175 cup and core bullet at 308 velocity couldn’t get through an elk with only rib impact. Never did find the bullet. Don’t use them for elk no more. They seem pretty soft as far as cup and core hunting bullets go.

 

[Formidilosus]

Do a quick search on some of the other forums about them. I think my experience is more similar to what is common with them, minimal wound channel and poor exit wounds. I’ve spent lots of time on other forums researching this and this seems to be the “norm”.

No. Not even close. The “issue” if there is one with ELD-X’s is too much fragmentation, not “minimal wound channels”. I don’t have to search anything, as I’ve seen a lot of testing with them, and a lot of animals shot with them and then field necropsies conducted.

 

[Outlaw99]

Both of my kids have custom 6.5 creedmoor rifles and for two years we’ve been shooting the 143 he ELDX round. During 2019 they shot several deer with them and I noticed either no blood and/or little no exit wound. On occasion they would make a shot that I know was a hit and we would find no sign of a hit. Then, I took a friend last year and let them use one of my kids rifles rifles and I witnessed them shooting a deer. The shot was a hit, the deer hit the ground then got up. Not one drop of blood. This I saw with my own two eyes. Moving to 2020, much of the same. To take their error in shot placement out of it I shot two deer with their rifle. On the first, the deer hit the ground and rambled out of the food plot. No blood and Ingrid searched for a long time. The next one I shot, knew it was a hit, based on the reaction of the deer after the shot and the report back after the shot. Again, no blood. Looked for a long time. Then grid searched. Nothing again. The next day I found the deer about 250 yards from where it was shot with a perfect entrance hole.
After all of this the gun was out away for the rest of the season until a new round can be chosen. With limited selection right now this is quite a task. We are down to having hand loads out together.
I say all this to hope that no one buys ELDX rounds for hunting. They suck.

I normally don’t hunt with these, but borrowed my buddies rifle for a quick opportunity on a mule deer doe. I experienced the exact same thing. 3 shots behind the shoulder. Closest was maybe 75 yards, last 2, right at 200.

To be completely honest though, on this same trip, my buddy dropped his mule deer buck at 420 yards, and the bullet performed perfect.

I’ve shot these a lot on paper, and they flat out shoot as accurate as anything; they just aren’t my choice for an all around hunting round.

 

[TxxAgg]

My 6.5 shoots these pretty slow...2550ish at the muzzle. I've been pleased with a few deer, an antelope, and dozens of pigs.

 

[fightthenoise]

Forum anecdotes are enriched for bullet failures. “I shot a deer and it died” is not remarkable. If something remarkable happens, e.g. the bullet doesn’t perform, you bet we’re gonna hear about it. That’s why it seems like you hear more about failures than you do about successes. Especially for a Hornady product that has tremendous market share.

 

[Hoodie]

No. Not even close. The “issue” if there is one with ELD-X’s is too much fragmentation, not “minimal wound channels”. I don’t have to search anything, as I’ve seen a lot of testing with them, and a lot of animals shot with them and then field necropsies conducted.

I've shot exactly one elk with this bullet. I'd say this totally matches my extremely limited experience with it.

It was a 143 grain eldx out of a 6.5 CM. It worked. Vitals were liquefied and bullet stopped just before the far side shoulder. Meat damage was somewhat more than I'd like.

I think it's pretty important to match the bullet to the expected impact velocity and shot placement. The eldx would not be my first choice for a fast cartridge or a steep quartering shot. A partition or mono would be.

I think it's an okay choice for a slow cartridge and close-ish range hunting IF you can stay off the shoulder. If you're looking for a bullet to expand your options on shot angles for elk I think it's probably wise to look for something significantly tougher.

 

[Rifleman86]

I normally don’t hunt with these, but borrowed my buddies rifle for a quick opportunity on a mule deer doe. I experienced the exact same thing. 3 shots behind the shoulder. Closest was maybe 75 yards, last 2, right at 200.

To be completely honest though, on this same trip, my buddy dropped his mule deer buck at 420 yards, and the bullet performed perfect.

I’ve shot these a lot on paper, and they flat out shoot as accurate as anything; they just aren’t my choice for an all around hunting round.

I also have had the exact same experience. I seriously wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes... I really get the disbelief of some, but it honestly left me flabbergasted. I will never ever use a non bonded or copper solid projectile on elk again. Still makes me sick. 143gr ELD-X...

That said it worked great on antelope the year prior, and mule deer the same trip.

I’m using ABLRs or LRX’s next time, along with a 7 SAUM.

 

[z987k]

I also have had the exact same experience. I seriously wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes... I really get the disbelief of some, but it honestly left me flabbergasted. I will never ever use a non bonded or copper solid projectile on elk again. Still makes me sick. 143gr ELD-X...

That said it worked great on antelope the year prior, and mule deer the same trip.

I’m using ABLRs or LRX’s next time, along with a 7 SAUM.

The ELDX and a copper mono are about the opposite ends of the spectrum.
The edlx is designed for longer ranges and to still expand at relatively low velocities, down to 1600fps I think Hornady says.
A copper mono is going to want 1800-2000fps minimum.

If you're shooting monos at long distance and heavy expanding at close range, you need to make sure your muzzle velocity and downrange balistics supports that.

 

[Dos Perros]

So I can't find any .30 cal 178gr ELD-X's (big surprise lol). I can find some .30 cal 178gr ELD-M though. Would it be appropriate to do load development with the ELD-M's, then refine/tweak if necessary once I can get some ELD-X's?

Also, if it comes to it, could I shoot a deer with an ELD-M?

 

[bsnedeker]

One of my buddies has shot a bunch of critters with eldms for whatever that's worth. Nothing went far.

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[Dos Perros]

Upon more research, I may have been looking at the A-Tip bullets.

 

[Z9Y9]

Well after a long summer, a new season hits alaska! I gave my 338 wind bag to my cousin and exclusively use my 30-06 now.

Hit a bull moose with factory loaded ELD-X 178gr at a touch under 200 yards. It looked like he was hit by lightning the way he dropped. He did try to stand back up but a shot to the base of the head/ upper neck ended it all right there. Not even one step. No bullets recovered and really no meat loss.

Seems like these bullets like impacts under 3000fps and it also seems like 7mm or smaller have frag problems with the slightly thinner jacket. 30 cal and up appear to result in near perfect results. The more I check other forums and gather my own data, the more I am lead to belive this bullet likes to strike at 300 yards or more. But it does the trick on game inside that, just with some frag in smaller calibers. Too accurate for me to give up. My tikka will group .25 MOA at 100 with these.

 

[jstraus34]

Go with what you shoot well as shot placement is probably just a touch ahead of bullet construction in the science of making animals dead. This video shows quite a bit of core separation which hurts a tad when you're looking for penetration especially on big animals like elk. They do one of these on Accubond bullets too, terminal performance and retention is significantly higher.

 

[kcm2]

Hornady makes a lot of good stuff. That being said, I'm shot 4x at animals with the 103 gr ELDX 6mm bullets.

2 created bullet trails like a partition. one blew up and penetrated less than 5 inches. Another hit a pronghorn at 100 yds in the rib cage, but the animal dropped, got up, spun around and ran away. Never found her. The shot was witnessed by a friend, in the lungs, a little over halfway up.

So, either my batting average is 50% or 75% with the ELDX.

No more ELDx bullets for this boy. Give me partitions, accubonds or GMX bullets. They work.