AlaskaCub,
I have posted this before, but last fall I killed a big-bodied New Mexico mule deer buck at 101 yards (yeah, had to laser it to make sure--after the deer was dead) using the 6.5 Creedmoor and 143-grain ELD-X. The buck was standing broadside but in a patch of Gambel oak, and thelmost open path to the vitals was to aim right in the middle of the shoulder. At the shot the buck dropped and never moved.
Found the bullet under the hide on the far side, the core loose but lying less than an inch from the jacket. It had not only broken the near shoulder, but the bottom of the spine and the far shoulder. Had no means to weigh the buck, but the boned meat went exactly 100 pounds, and generally boned meat is about 1/3 of live weight. (The jacket and core weighed 60% of 143, and I could not care less that they separated at the end of the bullet's path.)
The day before my hunting partner had killed an even bigger-bodied mule deer buck with the same cartridge and bullet, but at 311 yards--lasered before the shot. The buck stood quartering away and the bullet landed in the middle of the ribs on the left side. The buck jumped a little, a definite heart-lung hit, then staggered maybe 30 yards before keeling over. The bullet was found under the hide of the right shoulder, core intact, retaining 74% of its original weight.
The year before an Arizona friend killed a 6x6 bull elk at at little over 200 yards with his 6.5/.284, using the 143 ELD-X. The bull was above him on a slope, and the bullet entered the ribs, broke the bottom of the spine, and went through the far shoulder blade. "Unfortunately" it exited, so we have no idea how misshapen it was, but the bull rolled down the hill dead.
So, three one-shot kills on 300 to 700 pound animals, from 101 to 311 yards. I would call those closer-range shots--but the fact is that the ELD-X was indeed designed for longer-range shooting, which is why Hornady brags up the BC and accuracy, before pointing out that it will work closer as well.
From what I have seen over the past couple of years, the ELD-X (and SST) expand and penetrate about like Interlock Spire Points of the same general weight, when started at about the same velocity. Whether any of the three look like the "ideal mushroom" when recovered is pretty much beside the point, as Formidilosus pointed out. What matters is sufficient penetration and damage to the vitals to put animals on the ground.
Cant argue with that performance!
