Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Hornady ELDX results report

Reporting on the results of a 7mm Remington mag 162 grain hornady ELDX bullet, speed = 2820 feet per second. Partner shot a small bull at about 45 yards, shoulder shot, the only shot that was presented at the time. Bullet performed terribly. Bullet did not even go thru the scapula bone. It body splatted and crippled the bull. Luck was with us and with snow and leaving him sit for a couple hours we snuck in and he got another shot in him at 15 yards. Bullet did not pass thru then but did open up and was found the cup on the off side. Needless to say he will not be using this bullet for elk ever again.
Do what you want.... I'm just reporting what we found with this one time use. For what its worth this particular rifle shot these bullets extremely well and did not like anything else I tried. I'm going to start over and find another elk load for it!!!!

Glad your buddy got his elk. Thank you for reporting that. Seems like they work much better when they are slowed way down..

I think a 160gr Accubond is a better choice.

Good info here. Bought a box of the 6.5 variety, 143gr, for my Swede, but think I would prefer something stouter if I was after elk?

2820fps is kinda slow.3000fps is about ave. in the 7mag

Shot my bull yesterday. 6.5 Creedmore 143 ELDX.. Ended up shooting him at 80yds.Held behind the shoulder and punched a hole thru one rib, both lungs, damaged the liver, and broke a rib on the exit. Bull went 40yds and died.
No wasted meat, and, couldn't find the bullet. I'm working on a longer range load, but there he was.

Good Job Dennis.........

bald hunter... anything faster with that particular rifle showed pressure signs, it was as fast as I dared load it. The 7mag I use shoots a 150 grain TTSX at 2880 and thats as fast as I dare. Every rifle is different.

Shot a big cow elk at 87 yards with the 200eldx @ 2850fps, bullet penetrated scapula on entry and exited behind the off shoulder elk dropped where she stood.

Is there any chance he was shooting ELD M instead of ELD X?

If you are talking about my report the answer is NO. Unless HORNADY put the wrong bullets in the box

The ELD-M would have performed better

Returned from a moose hunt in the Yukon two weeks ago. Both me and my buddy were shooting factory Hornaday ELDX ammo, mine was 200 grain in 300 WSM and his was 162 grain in 7mm mag. He shot his bull at 70 yards. It stumbled about 50 yards and piled up. Broke a rib on entry, jellied the lungs, no exit. I shot mine at 140 yards. Lunged forward 20 yards and tipped over. No bone contact on entry, ripped open the top of the heart, and shredded the front of the lungs. I didn't notice any exit and don't think there was one but we were working in the dark and I could have overlooked it. Neither of us recovered a bullet but there was a lot a innards to hide it. We were both happy with performance as well as accuracy out of our rifles. Hate to hear your results were different.

Every situation and rifle are different I guess. I shot my elk at 242 yards and it litterally hammered the near side shoulder bone. One and done. I was happy for a "smaller" elk round. 143 ELDX

I just returned from CO and used the 143 eldx shooting at 2690 fps. Shot a bull at 750 yards and he piled up right there. Sorry to hear you had issues with the ELD Xs. Glad yall were able to harvest the bull.

Sounds more like bad shot placement than a bad bullet. The bullet did just what it was designed to do. Those were never intended to go through heavy bone at close range from magnum rifles. Everything I've read says they work great when used at moderate speeds and/or in the lungs.



I can match that with my 308 and 150's. Something is wrong with that rifle.

Mirrors my experience (though a lower velocity) . Shot a large mule deer buck last week with the 143 ELDX moving at 2250 fps (@560 yards) and it broke ribs going in and out, punched both lungs and left a 1" circle exit.

2800s for a 162 out of a 7 mag? My 338 Fed “woods rifle” shoots 160s over 3k. But on the good side, it sounds like the ELDs ought to be good for the 6.5 Creed in the 2700s.

For those of you who seem surprised at the speed of a 7mm Remington Mag.here is the load data from Hodgdons web site for a 162 grain bullet which was used.......MR IMR 4350 .284" 3.290" 56.0 2,704 49,700 PSI 60.0 2,861 58,100 PSI. Sounds like I should slow it down even more

3000 fps is easy with 160's in a 7 mag. If you only load to 2800, you are leaving a lot of velocity on the table.