Hornady ELD-X

[Wags]

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.

I've had similar results with my Tikka 30-06 & the ELDX. I consistently get .5 MOA or better out of my rifle with the factory ammo. I'm pretty sure it would shoot .25 but I can't consistently hold .25. I did shoot a 3 shot 1.13" group at 300 with it, prone & rear bag, I'll take that all day.

I've got 6 tags to fill with it coming up and will post the results and findings.

 

[jstraus34]

I've had similar results with my Tikka 30-06 & the ELDX. I consistently get .5 MOA or better out of my rifle with the factory ammo. I'm pretty sure it would shoot .25 but I can't consistently hold .25. I did shoot a 3 shot 1.13" group at 300 with it, prone & rear bag, I'll take that all day.

I've got 6 tags to fill with it coming up and will post the results and findings.

Some impressive shooting for an all factory rig Wags. Good luck filling those tags.

 

[corey006]

The best advice I have heard and would follow with Eld-X or Berger VLDs would be to develope a secondary load that is for under 300 yards or 200 yards depending on your velocity.

That secondary load should be a Barnes or a Nosler E-Tip, something that really holds together well under high impact velocity.

Save the ELD bullets for long range.

Carry with a close range bullet chambered, and IF longer range shot appears, you have time to eject that bullet and chamber the ELD bullet.

 

[jstraus34]

Its an option but why when you have bonded bullets that will work well at close and long range. The more complexity you add, the more risk for mistakes. Just my 2 cents

 

[kcm2]

The pronghorn with the 5" of penetration was shot at a measured 275. So, the new ammo is the 90 gr GMX, but I've given that rifle to my son for Texas whitetails. I don't know what I'll replace it with but it won't be shooting the ELDX, much as I love the other Hornady bullets I have tried. The GMX rocks.

 

[Coueser]

Been very impressed with 143eldx on 3 elk and 3 deer. Impressive expansion, all very quick one shot kills

 

[jstraus34]

Been very impressed with 143eldx on 3 elk and 3 deer. Impressive expansion, all very quick one shot kills

No doubt they work and can work well. The same could be said for good ol' remington core lokts but there is a degree of bullet failure that has been reported, observed enough time to give pause. Given the amount of time, sweat, money and effort etc we spend on our hunts, I would reduce risk as much as I possibly can with a bonded, partition type or even solid bullets. Too many variables to control all of them but the ones I can, I will. Just my opinion and afterall isn't that what forums are all about, sharing our experience and opinions. Best of luck to all, as we head into the woods for another season. Exciting time of year!

 

[Peakbagger46]

I shot exactly one deer with a 180g Hornady SST (similar bullet construction to the ELD) with my '06 before going back to Accubonds. The bullet deflected off a rib upon entry, pulled a 90 degree turn, and exited out the spine. Defiantly a DRT kill, but not predictable performance.

 

[roosiebull]

After watching the long range hunt shows I decided to try the sleek Hornady 162gr. ELDX in my 7mm RM. I have been fortunate to be able to hunt elk each year with some pretty good tags in my pocket. My usual bullets to use on bulls have been the 160 gr. Nosler Accubond and Parition. I don't have a lot of complaints about Nosler bullets.
The trouble started this year when the elk appeared at only 183 yards. I put him down with first shot but when I walked up to him he would flop around trying to get up. Finishing shot was at about 15 feet. Unfortunatley his leg bone was covering his ribs and the bullet didn't penetrate deep enough. I felt a sadness as I watched the animal thrash and suffer for a couple minutes. Normally I try not to judge a bullet on one trial but for me the Noslers are more reassuring. One guy asked me if the ELDX bullet failed since I killed the elk, I suppose not but it wasn't pretty. To the guys using the ELDX with good luck please continue. These are just my observations.

not very fair to even consider what a bullet does at point blank range and full muzzle velocity, bullets do weird stuff up close

 

[Crowmangler]

Update to this thread: took a bull a few days ago with the 7mm 162 gr ELDX.
Shot was just shy of 500 yards.
First shot was double lung complete pass through
Second shot was direct hit on the lower part of the front shoulder where it meets the leg bone. The bone shattered into a million pieces along with the bullet I assume. I don't think any of it penetrated into the chest cavity. He went about 150 yards.
At 500 yards the specs say 2,220 fps & 1,772 ft lbs of energy
Didn't have time to study the exit wound / internal damage or look for fragments.
Don't remember noticing major destruction of internal organs like previous examples but it did the job.
Hard to argue with ammo that flies that good. I guess shot placement can be more important than bullet construction sometimes.

 

[jstraus34]

Update to this thread: took a bull a few days ago with the 7mm 162 gr ELDX.
Shot was just shy of 500 yards.
First shot was double lung complete pass through
Second shot was direct hit on the lower part of the front shoulder where it meets the leg bone. The bone shattered into a million pieces along with the bullet I assume. I don't think any of it penetrated into the chest cavity. He went about 150 yards.
At 500 yards the specs say 2,220 fps & 1,772 ft lbs of energy
Didn't have time to study the exit wound / internal damage or look for fragments.
Don't remember noticing major destruction of internal organs like previous examples but it did the job.
Hard to argue with ammo that flies that good. I guess shot placement can be more important than bullet construction sometimes.

I don't think its without question ELDX can and does get the job done. The question is had your second shot been your first and only shot, what would the outcome have been? Probably wouldn't have gone far with shoulder blown out like that but we've all heard or seen elk/deer etc make it pretty far with 3 legs. My personal opinion is that bonded seems to perform more consistently, therefore better off taking as much risk out of the equation as possible.

 

[Crowmangler]

I don't think its without question ELDX can and does get the job done. The question is had your second shot been your first and only shot, what would the outcome have been? Probably wouldn't have gone far with shoulder blown out like that but we've all heard or seen elk/deer etc make it pretty far with 3 legs. My personal opinion is that bonded seems to perform more consistently, therefore better off taking as much risk out of the equation as possible.

Can't argue with you on that.

 

[Nillion]

I hit an antelope doe at 301 yards with a 6.5 Creedmoor shooting 143 gr ELD-X at 2650 fps. Slightly quartering away shot with a full pass through. Hit it in the back ribs halfway up and came out in the arm pit. I made sure to stay off the shoulder since I didn't want to waste any meat. She dropped in her tracks, literally not a step.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

I don't think its without question ELDX can and does get the job done. The question is had your second shot been your first and only shot, what would the outcome have been? Probably wouldn't have gone far with shoulder blown out like that but we've all heard or seen elk/deer etc make it pretty far with 3 legs. My personal opinion is that bonded seems to perform more consistently, therefore better off taking as much risk out of the equation as possible.

not trying to be too much of a bugger, but a leg shot no matter the bullet is rarely fatal. Based on the description in the post, the shot was not a shoulder shot, it was a leg shot. At best, a shot in that location will create some bone fragments that penetrate chest cavity, but the shot itself is not the bullet's fault. There are plenty of people who lose animals every year with this exact scenario you described.

Words never stated: I aim for the low shoulder/high leg and hope the animal doesn't hop away too long....

 

[Short Track]

I shoot white tails with a .243 90 grain. Anything more is overkill.

 

[madcalfe]

I’ve killed everything from elk, bears, and mountain goats with 178gr eldx. Never had to have a follow up shot yet

 

[Fatcamp]

Feel very fortunate to have found a few boxes of 143gr. Already have H4350.

 

[bummer7580]

My experience on bullet action was just the opposite. We found pieces of lead 18" from entrance in all directions. Nothing exited.

This is what is left of a 7mm 162gr Hornady eldx I used on a big bull in one of the limited hunt units this year. I shot this bullet on day 3 of the hunt. At the shot the bull exploded out of there. Shot distance was 148yds. Outfitter said I think you missed, I said I don't think so and we started searching. After hours of searching I agreed I must've missed. The next day we slipped up on another herd. The herd bull was chasing cows and bulls when I shot him. He never moved but I shot twice more as long as he struggled to get up, total of 3 shots. When skinning the bull I said to the outfitter there are 4 holes in this bull. It was the same bull from the day before. Yesterday's shot had hit higher than I wanted and the bullet was laying against the shoulder blade high after penetrating 7-8 in. of tough hide and meat. Before someone says the first shot was operator error I agree, I had hit 4-5 inches hight than I wanted. This year I had planned on using a bonded bullet but didn't have much luck finding reloading supplies. Next year I'll double my effort to find some Accubonds.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

So are you trying to say an accubond or other bullet would have killed the bull if you had hit high shoulder and backstrap with no vitals hit?
If you are, that’s a tall order for a magical bullet.
Seems your bullets did just fine when placed properly….

 

[Crowmangler]

Thanks for the post bummer... question...was the fragment in the pic from the previous day's shot?
I assume it was against the opposite shoulder blade since it penetrated 6+"?
You wrote the first shot he didn't move but shot 2x more as he tried to get up. So did he go straight down on the first shot? If so that sounds promising.
Please don't think I'm trying to be a smart A, I'm just really intrigued by this whole thread & want to learn as much as possible about this ammo cause I really don't wanna switch.