What bullet/load?

[Bandit16]

I have a pronghorn hunt coming up end of August and a chamois in Romania in November. Hoping to use the same load for both. I’m using my great grandfather’s Model 70 in 30-06. I know there are better cartridges but his one is special and I want to use it because it is 80 years old this year.

I’ve been working on some hand loads and have two that shoot ragged holes .5 - .75 inch at 100.

165 grain Barnes TTSX at 2765 fps - pretty mild load
178 grain Hornady ELDX at 2725 fps - near to max load

The difference between the two is basically nil accuracy wise. At 5 shit group from either might be slightly larger or smaller than the other but is inside and inch.

Ballistic tables from AB show the drop to be about the same for either. The 178 bucks the wind slightly better but not life changing.

I’m not a super long range shooter on game I doubt I’ll take a shot over 300 unless conditions are prefect and even then 400 would be max.

Which load/bullet would you go with?

 

[Pescetism]

ELDX

 

[Idahobugler]

Either will do just fine but the Barnes will always get the nod from me.

 

[The Guide]

My vote is on the ELDX. Both species are thin skin and narrow width game. Due to these factors, the Barnes bullet may not open much due to the lack of resistance and the longer neck length of the wound channel. By the time you get your maximum expansion, your bullet will be close to exiting the animal. With the ELDX you should have a shorter neck length and earlier expansion/fragmentation in your wound path.

Both species are frequently taken with varmint style bullets due to their thin skin and light frame. With either bullet i would aim to hit on bone to get at much damage as possible and to shorten the neck length on the wound cavity.

Jay

 

[Bandit16]

My vote is on the ELDX. Both species are thin skin and narrow width game. Due to these factors, the Barnes bullet may not open much due to the lack of resistance and the longer neck length of the wound channel. By the time you get your maximum expansion, your bullet will be close to exiting the animal. With the ELDX you should have a shorter neck length and earlier expansion/fragmentation in your wound path.

Both species are frequently taken with varmint style bullets due to their thin skin and light frame. With either bullet i would aim to hit on bone to get at much damage as possible and to shorten the neck length on the wound cavity.

Jay

Thanks. In regards to bullets I was hoping the ballistic tips would work in this rifle but both the 165 and 150 grain just wouldn’t group well. The accubonds were right around an inch but noticeably larger groups than these. I’ve got some Swift Scirocco on hand to try but I’m running out of time for load development before my hunt due to some work travel. And these are grouping as well as I think this rifle is capable.

 

[waspocrew]

I’d go ELDX out of those two. I used the 145 LRX last year on 4 animals (bull elk, mule deer buck, and 2 whitetail bucks) and they all died quickly, but exits were very small.

 

[Wolfshead]

I know you asked about the two you’ve listed, but I shoot 150 grain Accubonds from my REM 700 30-06 while hunting whitetail deer and it’s a great combination.
For out to 300 yards you’re going to be able to hit in the kill zone without much problem

 

[eaglemountainman]

I'm in the Barnes camp, but I'd drop down to 130 TTSX.

 

[Matt5266]

I'd go eld. I'm not a fan of the ttsx

 

[Bandit16]

I'm in the Barnes camp, but I'd drop down to 130 TTSX.

Thanks but I’m out of time for load development. Due to some work travel I’m going to get one more short range session before the hunt and that will just be to foul the barrel and check zero.

 

[E tusk]

I have taking them with bullets ranging from 85 grain to 330 grain. They all work well. They are frail creatures and not all that robust.
In 30-06 we have used 125 150 165 and 180 gr.

Whatever works well in your rifle.

 

[Tradchef]

I’m a big Barnes fan for pretty much any situation. However, for lopes the ELD-X is about as perfect as it gets. I’m guessing Chamois would be about the same with results.

 

[E tusk]

I’d like to see the performance of the 140 or 156 elite hunter in the 260ai.

 

[OXN939]

Thanks but I’m out of time for load development. Due to some work travel I’m going to get one more short range session before the hunt and that will just be to foul the barrel and check zero.

Barnes TTSX all day long. Look up the history of the ELD-X- it was originally a target projectile Hornady had great accuracy results with, so they tweaked it to develop a "new" a huting bullet. The results in terms of terminal performance, to say the least, are mixed, as you see in this thread.

The TTSX was designed from the ground up as a hunting bullet and a 165 doing 2700ish will do the job for really anything in North America.

 

[rookieforever33]

I would go with whichever shoots flatter. Or stabilizes beeter at longer range. Otherwise its a coin flip

 

[CJ_BG]

Barnes TTSX all day long. Look up the history of the ELD-X- it was originally a target projectile Hornady had great accuracy results with, so they tweaked it to develop a "new" a huting bullet. The results in terms of terminal performance, to say the least, are mixed, as you see in this thread.

The TTSX was designed from the ground up as a hunting bullet and a 165 doing 2700ish will do the job for really anything in North America.

The results aren't mixed, we know very well what the eld-x does in tissue through the entire velocity range. The only reason some people don't like them is because they think a bullet needs to exit or they don't like the meat damage that comes from a more effective bullet.

 

[CJ_BG]

Eld-x unless you're worried about meat damage. TTSX don't make wide enough wounds for me to feel comfortable shooting them at something like a chamois that can live in rough country. I would prefer to anchor them when possible and a wider wound will do that more often.

 

[OXN939]

The results aren't mixed

May want to give this thread a look. Losing a medium sized whitetail I shot with an ELD back in the day is why I personally started doing research and switched from cup-and-core bullets.

I'd venture to say there has been virtually nobody in recorded history who's had a problem with TTSX out of an '06 on something like Pronghorn.

 

[CJ_BG]

May want to give this thread a look. Losing a medium sized whitetail I shot with an ELD back in the day is why I personally started doing research and switched from cup-and-core bullets.

I'd venture to say there has been virtually nobody in recorded history who's had a problem with TTSX out of an '06 on something like Pronghorn.

A large portion of eld-x failure stories could be summed up as simply as "I used a thin jacketed bullet at high velocity and was surprised it ("blew up"/didn't exit/did too much meat damage) when I decided to put it into the shoulder of (insert animal). It's people not understanding what the bullet actually does and then being surprised when it doesn't act like an accubond or ttsx. I've shot game, or witnessed and processed game shot with 24 bullets from 60gr sierra soft points in a 223, to 210 partitions in a 338 win mag. Flat out lead core bullets, especially frangible/fragmenting ones, make bigger holes and kill animals faster, and more consistently.

If the eld-x was too thin jacketed for killing game then surely a 110vmax from a 270 at 3300 or a 70gr ballistic tip varmint in a 243 at 3400 should blow up when hitting whitetail under 50yds, except they don't. They just make giant holes and don't typically exit after hitting bone. SST, ballistic tips, Eld-x, eld-m, sierra tmk, berger hunting bullets, and DRT terminal shocks are much of the same, though accomplished through different means.


If you took 10000 people shooting the 178 eld-x, and 10000 shooting the 165 ttsx, at pronghorn, you're gonna have more lost animals, longer time to death, and longer distanced traveled averages for the ttsx. They just make smaller holes, and require more resistance to upset. In something as narrow and thin skinned as a pronghorn or chamois you're looking at fairly narrow holes except for at the highest of impact velocities or if you hit large bones. When you realize the largest deer species on earth aren't even 1.5ft wide through the largest portion of the ribs the actual need for more penetration is rare.

 

[OXN939]

A large portion of eld-x failure stories could be summed up as simply as "I used a thin jacketed bullet at high velocity and was surprised it ("blew up"/didn't exit/did too much meat damage) when I decided to put it into the shoulder of (insert animal).

Interesting how many of those ELD-X failure stories there are. Seems almost common.

ttsx. They just make smaller holes

That's also interesting...