Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Is the Hornady ELD-X .284 150 gr. bullet a good choice for elk?

Big cow, 162 eldx out of the same 7mm Rem Mag, 375 yards I think.





Notice the entrance hole.





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Entrance on the cow





Lungs pretty much wrecked





Shoot whatever you want, I’m pleased with the eldx.





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Mature bull . 260m Rem, 120gr Barnes TSX. 207 yds. Completely penetrated both front shoulders Not a rib cage shot. The mono's penetrate.

But can they penetrate both rear shoulders?

Nice bull.

Did you notice the part where I said “shoot whatever you want?”

That’s funny as hell.




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Real nice bull...

I'm sure the ELD-X is a fine bullet and it works great..

I'm just calling BS on the 80-90% weight retention, marketing hype.

Ain't buying that from a cup and core.

Hey, I use the 150bt out of my 280, but I know it's not retaining 80%+.....

Regarding the Nosler ABLR, talking to hrnhntr, he's had, and told me of stories of pards who've had really bad experiences on elk and deer using them.

To the point of the local gunshop taking them off the shelves and sending them back to the distributors.

Tony

New elk hunters need to understand you are not going to get a soft tissue rib cage shot every time. You are very likely to get an extreme angle shot from the front or rear. This is where maximum penetration is required & can make the difference between a wounded lost elk or a successful hunt. The cost of the mono bullets is more than made up for when you consider the dependability of penetration. . Just because a certain bullet shoots little tiny groups should not be the criteria for selecting an elk bullet. Decent accuracy , yes. Tough deep penetration, should be the main consideration.

Good discussion. After much thought I'm going to regain my common sense and forget all the marketing hype of these new bullets and just fall back on what I know works from personal experience. That being the tried and true Nosler Partition.

Hesp,
I’ve always found that bullets/ammo is the cheapest part of an elk hunt, even a home state hunt. Also the bullet is the only connection between you and the elk. Don’t skimp or get caught up in a trend that doesn’t give the highest probability of optimal performance. Happy Trails

Between the ELD-X and TTSX, I’d use the Barnes without hesitation.

Same here. We use a lot of TTSX, have about 50% straight-down DRT results, none that went far and none recovered including two lengthwise through mule deer, front to back.

Dropped a mature cow with a .30-06 and 150g AB a few years ago. It was on the ground before I recovered from the recoil, broadside with no bullet recovered. Daughter #1 will be using a 150g Long-Range AB in her .270 Win this year, antelope, deer and elk..Her hubby's brother will be using the same load for elk as well.

Not a fan of Cup-and-Core bullets for my bolt rifles. They are less expensive and I us them for target practice, but for hunting it is North Fork SS, Barnes TTSX, Nosler AB and LRAB and Swift Scirocco II.

Here's my last non-deer kills, and what I've used...

Moose, 300Rum, 200ab...drt
MTN Goat....300rum, 200ab...drt, 350 yards
Bull elk....300rum, 180 Scirocco, 475 yards, drt
Bull elk.....7 STW, 160 partition...125 yards, drt... dropped him on his snoot, punched both shoulders.

I think I was more impressed with the STW/160 Partition than any other combo on elk

I use nothing but premium bullets on all of my hunts out of state

Really liking the Lapua Scenar though. Here in VA, I've killed black bear and deer with the 30 call 155 Scenar out of my 06. Really impressive performance, and super accurate.

Going on an interior grizz hunt in one month, I'll be using my 300Rum and 200 partition on that hunt

I wouldn't hesitate using the TTSX either.

Tony

It's a medium weight for caliber cup and core. Probably workable, but there are numerous better options. Consider a 160-175gr premium. I like the 175gr Weldcore myself.

I think that’s a wise decision. When it comes to hunting bullets, the Partition is never a bad choice.

FWIW- When I first started hunting elk, some 50 years ago while living in Wyoming, I used a 7mm Rem. Mag., with whatever ammo I could buy at the local store, usually Federal or Remington, obviously loaded with cup and core bullets. With that rifle, and ammo, I killed a half-dozen elk, several deer and antelope, and a moose. That 7mm dropped nearly everything in its tracks- so reliably so that I considered it some sort of death ray. I gave that rifle to my son, who continues to use it.

Fast forward to today's premium, and monometal bullets- the past three elk I have killed have been with Barnes TSX bullets, one from my .300 Wby., one from a .30-06, and one from my .257 Wby. All were hit in the heart-lung area, but two required a second shot, and the bull elk ran nearly a hundred yards after the first shot before stopping, where a neck shot dropped him.

I continue to use Barnes bullets- they penetrate wonderfully, and with less meat damage than other bullets. But, based upon my own experience over many years, and many critters, I cannot say that they are 'better' than anything else.

Spectacular stuff.

I wish my buddy had similar results.

As I've enumerated here before, I watched a 9 year old girl kill a bull bigger than any I will ever kill before I leave this life with a 55 gr swift. Shoot what you are confident in. Eldx doesn't fit that confidence quotient for me.

😜

Personally, I do not think the 6.5 Creedmore is a good elk round. It can be done and has been done, that said there are far better rounds for elk out there.

I’ll throw my 2 cents in here. My 14 year old has been shooting 150 ELDXs at for the past two seasons and so far they accounted for 1 antelope buck, a small 6 point bull and a cow. Nothing was shot any closer than 150 to 200 yards. He’s shooting a Tikka 7mmRM but he’s just a kid so they’re watered down to about 2,850 fps so that the recoil is manageable. Antelope about 200 yards, pass through, 2” exit wound. Small 6 point x broken horn about 150 to 200 yards (early morning and things were happening fast so no rangefinder used) again behind the from shoulder, complete pass through, 2” exit. Cow at about 350, one pass through and one through both rear legs which hit 2 big bones was caught in the elk. Mostly still together but it had shed may 40% of it’s weight.

My opinion of these bullets is that they’re highly accurate and have good BCs. They hold together pretty well and produce kills if the velocity is kept relatively low. I’m not sure they would hold up very well at higher velocities and short ranges. I think they have better BCs than the 150 Ballistic Tips but aren’t really any tougher. I’m a big 7mm fan and primarily an elk hunter so I think that the 280 AI is a great elk cartridge but if you’re going to be in an area where you might be shooting big elk at short ranges with full house loads, I would look at tougher bullets.

BTW, in my opinion, the 150 Swift Sciroccos are crazy good bullets. They open up well at least down to 2,000 fps or so and work well at long range and at closer ranges they smash bone and blow nice exit big exit holes. I’ve never recovered one in a critter shot at less than about 400 yards except for a whitetail buck shot in the neck straight down the spine. The bullet broke about 10 or 11 veribrate and the came to rest in the spinal column. Diameter of the bullet was about 1 1/4” and still had about 80% weight retention. The buck fell over like a mannequin.