Experience with Hornady ELD-X bullets?

[kentrek]

had a bull this year take a solid shoulder shot @ 400 and i didnt get passed the shoulder...this was a 178 @2980...had to give him one more about 30 min later

Year prior i had a bull with the 200s and they preformed much better but still inconclusive

Great accuracy and velocities

Im moving on

Not to hijack but you should try the 200 grain barnes TSX. It doesn't have the super high bc but it has amazing weight retention and will punch that shoulder really well.

Yeah im a sucker for the bc tho....i dont do much long distance killing but im pretty capable out to 750 in the field and the barnes just doesnt do it for me out there

Im switching to the hammer line.....check em out

Back on track, yes the eldx definitely has its place....i very well could have  killed 30 more bulls and not had a bad experience

Id think the eldx would be ideal for longer distance deer sized game

[buglebuster]

Shot my washington buck at 512yds with the 178gr out of my .300 WM this year. Shot was right behind shoulder and didn't exit. I had to shoot him again to finish him, tho he was dead after first shot. Montana nick at 160 with same round, devastated him. Didn't go 10 feet.

[CaNINE]

Last spring's bear was taken at 530 yards by a 200 ELD-X from a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 fps. The bear was slightly quartering toward me. The bullet entered just aft of the shoulder and exited rear ribs. The bear went approximately 50 yards before piling up. The exit hole was about 2X bullet diameter which left me scratching my head a bit. It got the job done. I went back to Bergers for this year's deer season with great results. I'll still be using the ELD-X in my WSM because it shoots them very well.

[Karl Blanchard]

Last spring's bear was taken at 530 yards by a 200 ELD-X from a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 fps. The bear was slightly quartering toward me. The bullet entered just aft of the shoulder and exited rear ribs. The bear went approximately 50 yards before piling up. The exit hole was about 2X bullet diameter which left me scratching my head a bit. It got the job done. I went back to Bergers for this year's deer season with great results. I'll still be using the ELD-X in my WSM because it shoots them very well.

  I'm impressed you got an exit at that distance, especially on a bear of that caliber! 

[CaNINE]

Last spring's bear was taken at 530 yards by a 200 ELD-X from a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 fps. The bear was slightly quartering toward me. The bullet entered just aft of the shoulder and exited rear ribs. The bear went approximately 50 yards before piling up. The exit hole was about 2X bullet diameter which left me scratching my head a bit. It got the job done. I went back to Bergers for this year's deer season with great results. I'll still be using the ELD-X in my WSM because it shoots them very well.

  I'm impressed you got an exit at that distance, especially on a bear of that caliber!

I was sure not expecting to find an exit and if I did thought there would be at least a fist sized hole.  I don't have a good explanation other than the bullet had slowed down enough and only contacted soft tissue so didn't expand that much.  It will just have to remain a mystery I guess. 

[The scout]

Last spring's bear was taken at 530 yards by a 200 ELD-X from a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 fps. The bear was slightly quartering toward me. The bullet entered just aft of the shoulder and exited rear ribs. The bear went approximately 50 yards before piling up. The exit hole was about 2X bullet diameter which left me scratching my head a bit. It got the job done. I went back to Bergers for this year's deer season with great results. I'll still be using the ELD-X in my WSM because it shoots them very well.

  I'm impressed you got an exit at that distance, especially on a bear of that caliber!

The only exits I have had were on shots over 400 yds. My thought was it  still has so much velocity at short range that the bullet really expands rapidly. The best performance I have seen is 500 and out. I have shot a few 150yds and in and the entrance hole is huge with no exit.

[kentrek]

Last spring's bear was taken at 530 yards by a 200 ELD-X from a 300WSM with a MV of 2870 fps. The bear was slightly quartering toward me. The bullet entered just aft of the shoulder and exited rear ribs. The bear went approximately 50 yards before piling up. The exit hole was about 2X bullet diameter which left me scratching my head a bit. It got the job done. I went back to Bergers for this year's deer season with great results. I'll still be using the ELD-X in my WSM because it shoots them very well.

  I'm impressed you got an exit at that distance, especially on a bear of that caliber!

I was sure not expecting to find an exit and if I did thought there would be at least a fist sized hole.  I don't have a good explanation other than the bullet had slowed down enough and only contacted soft tissue so didn't expand that much.  It will just have to remain a mystery I guess.

I shot a bull almost with the exact same load....200s @ 2870 and had somthing similar but it was only at 150 & 200 yards...had a bullet travel allmost the entire length of the elk with no explosion effect. While other bullets performed like bergers

I had marginal stability with the 200s so that could be why i think i saw the results i did

[Karl Blanchard]

Could have been just the core exiting as well?  Guess in the end it doesn't much matter since he's dead

I'm pushing the 212's at 2,900 out of my wsm.  Only real close shot was a cow elk last year that one of my youth hunters shot.  It was about 125ish yards.  Behind the shoulder broadside.  Bullet exited but never hit anything structural so didn't make a big mess when it left.  Internal damage was awesome though!

[JBar]

Its funny to hear such different results, after I shot my doe this year I was rolling her over and searching everywhere for where I had hit her. Wasnt until I skinned her out that I found the entrance hole and it was smaller than the bullet itself. It was obvious the hide and the meat in the shoulder blade had shrunk back after it passed through so the bullet did not expand until after the shoulder blade where it lost the lead core. Had the core stayed intact with the jacket I would not hesitate to continue using them and I still may as the common result everyone is having is a dead animal. As I mentioned earlier I will be testing the standard 140g Accubond for accuracy and if they group the the Eldx I'll be switching over.

[JBar]

Pic

[buglebuster]

Internal damage was awesome though!

To say the least 

[W_Ellison2011]

Sorry to sidetrack again but I have shot the barnes tsx 200 gr out to 1,000 yards.. yes the ELD-X will do it better but it doesn't even come close in comparing on weight retention to the Barnes. Hell the highest score I have shot so far was with my 300 wby mag at 600 yards was 83/100 with the 200 gr barnes tsx and that's 10 shots with a pencil barrel hunting rifle... you get 3 rounds and that barrel is hot! If we talk custom guns and shooting long ranges.. the ELD-X will do better yes but if you are going to do that why not go Berger and have an even higher BC bullet?

[Karl Blanchard]

Well since you keep bringing up Barnes, I won't shoot them because I have seen and also read countless stories of complete bullet failure.  Also the issue of excessive copper fouling. 

People are trying the eld-x over the berger to try and find something that doesn't grenade so bad at high speed.  Doesn't hurt that they are less expensive either. I've got zero complaints about the eld-x bullets.  In fact my next build is a 6mm and I'll be running the 107's out of it.

[Mulie87]

Just started reloading them for my  Remington Sendero in 300 WinMag.  Loading 200grn bullets behind 68 grains of IMR 4831 with an average velocity of 2890fps. Once I found the right load I'm shooting great groups. I am shooting  quarter MOA groups at 100 and 200yds. Great accuracy. I have not hu ted with them yet. As some of you stated, Barnes weight retention amd penetration cannot be beat. But price and less copper fouling is a plus.

[Magnum_Willys]

I have had great terminal results with barnes TSX but no longer shoot all copper bullets - not worth the cleaning hassle.  Haven’t gotten ELD’s grouping great yet in 338 but sure just a matter of tuning.