Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game ELDX bullets and close shots

Eldm's did fine at 40yds with a muzzle velocity around 2700fps. Wouldn't worry at all.

Good information. Following along. I wonder if Jordan Smith's observation about "high-SD" models explains the difference between the performance of the .284 180 on his moose and Teeder's account of the .30 178's? Makes sense that a longer bullet is going to hold together better.

I wonder if they have a different ratio of jacket thickness that keeps them together better?

162 eldx 28 Nosler, 3,245 fps at muzzle. one deer was a neck shot at 47 yrds. deer dropped at shot, wound damage looked no different than a 150 Gr Sierra from a 308 another was the same load info on a frontal chest shot at 2'63 yards. bullet entered front chest and exited left side behind last rib high on the body

Very close to your question with the 7 PRC; I shot a WT buck with a 7mm Rem Mag and 162 ELD-X at about 30 yards. MV was ~3,000 fps. No exit, bang-flop. Thoracic cavity was soup. Shot just behind shoulder.


I shot my buck (WT) last year at about 350 yards with a 6mm Creedmoor and 103 ELD-X about two feet of penetration on a quartering shot, no exit. Last weekend, I put down a third WT buck with the same combo that was wounded after jumping it at about 50 yards, Texas heart shot, took out a foot of spine, top of liver, and stopped under the hide. I found the bullet on that one, looked like the rear half with jacket still intact. I'd guess 50-60% weight retention. They are coming out around 3050 out of my 26" barrel with suppressor.

Planning on the 168 Berger out of my 7RM for my buck this year. It launches them at 3,000 fps with a SD of 15 and five shot groups well under an inch.

For what it's worth, here are three that I have recovered. Should point out that generally they pass completely through with a nice ~1" exit.
6.5 CM 143gr ELD-X, Hornady factory ammo.

From top to bottom:
1. 38 yards blacktail buck. Facing me, shot under chin. Broke neck.
2. 168 yard Antelope buck . Again facing me, shot in brisket, penetrated to right side ham.
3. 286 yard blacktail buck. First shot was a pass through just behind the heart. The buck, however, stood up afterwards and started awkwardly making it towards the woods from the clear cut. This poorly placed bullet broke both femurs adjacent to the pelvis.

I know of one elk outfitter that recommends clients don't shoot their factory precision hunter ammo.

I had one bad experience with an elk at 320 yards and then moved on, mostly because of convenience.

I shot a few small whitetails at 80-100 yards, but mostly used them at longer distances.

Personally, I would listen to Hornady on eldx. It is their bullet after all. As for ablr, not used the 175 ablr but have used the 165 ablr in 6.8W at closer ranges and it has exited on several good sized pigs this past summer. I expect 175 ablr would be good to go.

My impression with all the long range bullets is you are giving up some toughness/penetration at close range to get some extra expansion at longer ranges. The bonding of ablr and thick jackret at base helps with that but it also a more expensive bullet. As Craig Boddington likes to say bullet weight covers sins in bullet construction so if using a heavy for game bullet probably ok

Lou

"As Craig Boddington likes to say bullet weight covers sins in bullet construction so if using a heavy for game bullet probably ok"

Isn't that essentially what Elmer was doing with those 300 grain .338 bullets?

Just what I was thinking. I wonder if we would have the Nosler Partition if Cup and Core bullets worked every time.

The higher the impact speed of C&C bullets, the less predictable their terminal performance tends to be. Which is why heavy, high-SD C&C bullets launched from standard-velocity cartridges tend to work quite well. I try to stick with a sub-3000 fps launch speed, but 2700-2800 fps may be even better for C&C terminal repeatability. With monos, it seems to be the opposite.

Maybe not gospel, but I tend to stick with that. Nosler Ballistic Tips seem a touch beefier and can be fine a little higher, but I still don't try to hurt them with speed most of the time.

I agree with that notion also. Even moderate-weight cup/cores at 2800 or less are generally great killers and don't tend to want to come completely apart on game. They can be fantastic killers at high velocity too, but things start to be far less predictable with regards to penetration and overall performance. If you ask the average hunter around here about day-in, day-out, reliable performance over the decades, most will likely point to the boring old 308 and 30-06 with cup/cores at standard velocities. When we start adding case capacity, bullet construction becomes more of a topic.

Jordan,

So I shouldn't have bought 2 boxes Precision Hunter 110gr ELD-X, for my TC 25-06, to be used on Whitetails ?

Occasional 200 metre shot, but most are 50-100 in our boreal.

Well, at least they were on special !

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TEST BARREL (24") 3140fps

Product Features
Featuring the radically superior ELD-­X bullet with Heat Shield tip, Precision Hunter is the ideal load for ANY hunting situation because of its effective terminal performance at ALL practical ranges.

Featuring ELD­-X® Bullets with Heat Shield® tip

DEVASTATING CONVENTIONAL RANGE PERFORMANCE
With high velocity, 0-­400 yard impact, the bullet continually expands throughout its penetration path. The thick shank of the jacket and high InterLock ring keep the core and jacket together providing 50­-60% weight retention.

************************************************************

None of this suggests, blow up upon impact !

Maybe, I'm just naive !

That's not to say that they don't work outside of that regime, but IME the predictability of terminal performance tends to drop as C&C muzzle speed rises beyond about 3000 fps.

Jordan, including the M version?

I'm not talking specific bullets here, just a general trend that I've noticed with C&C bullets. I've had predictable and desirable performance from AM and ELD-M bullets fired at 2950-3150 fps on a couple handfuls of animals at fairly close range, but I don't kid myself into believing that such an operational window results in terminal results that are as reliably predictable as when the same bullets are fired at ~2700-2800 fps at the muzzle. Individual C&C bullet designs result in varying terminal reliability, but as a rule, more stress placed on the bullet means a higher chance of integrity failure, especially if there are no design features (a mono shank, a partition, etc.) to prevent disintegration.

What I'm wondering, too. Probably academic at this point. The 175 X has the thicker base jacket but a much bigger cavity in the nose. Where the 180 M doesn't have the thicker copper at the base but has a smaller cavity. And, I guess if you're shooting factory loads the 180 M Hornady at 2,812fps is going 64fps slower than the 175 X Hornady load and 115fps slower than the 175 X Federal load if you're getting the same numbers I am. Maybe the ELD M at factory speed is the best of both worlds - fantastic way out there and perfectly adequate up close. Thank goodness they didn't load it too fast!

Killed 2 moose with eldx 200 gr at 2875fps. Both moose under 50 yds. Flopped both one shot. Just as effective as nosler accubond IMHO.

I used a bunch of early soft NBTs on deer only. I haven't killed anything with them since they are made tougher, but have shot them. I always considered the 7mm 150 ELDX like an accurate "soft" NBT. Jacket is just too thin, but the bullet is excellent for accuracy! So for me, out of my long barreled 7x57 loaded hot, I think it would be excellent of coyotes, deer and antelope, lung shots always.
My last elk outfitter shot the 6.5/300Wby and loved the 143? ELDX on elk! He shot many at very long range, but some shots were close. Go figure!