Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5 143 Grain ELD-X Performance on Game

I've mostly been using 130 and 140 grain Accubonds in my 6.5 CM, but I'm thinking about trying the 143 grain ELD-X since it offers the benefits of a high BC.

I would probably be using it for deer and antelope but I imagine it gets used for elk too. Looks like it's a conventional cup and core design with the interlock ring. The reviews I've read vary quite a bit with some saying they get consistent performance and good penetration while others say they sometimes don't get good penetration.

What are your experiences with the performance of this bullet on game?

Limited, but good. Tipped this bull over in about 25 steps from a 6.5 GAP at around 550 yards last fall.

Dave

Nice bull! Did you get an exit?

Laying against the off-side hide as I recall.

Thanks! Sounds good.

One shot kills without any tracking on whitetail and Pronghorn for me. Nothing real far but great performance.

I've used it on some whitetails (2-3 maybe), several feral hogs, one antelope and one mule deer buck. All were one-shot kills and most of the bullets exited. With a dose of common sense, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on elk.

I have already posted on my experience with them on big mule deer (which is positive) but here's a recent post from my friend Dennis Slade, an Arizona outfitter, whose Campfire handle is dennisinaz:

"I see a dozen elk shot every year. I shot my last elk with a 143 ELD-X out of my 6.5-284. 200 yards and DRT with exit. Impressed me. Killed a dozen whitetail with that bullet the last two years, all exits and all DRT or short track jobs. IF I were hunting elk in the timber and knew my shots were going to be close, I would use a heavier bullet and not worry so much about accuracy but I can generally know the ranges I will need to shoot.

"I used to carry two loads, one loaded in nickel cases for the close stuff and the one my rifle was sighted in for in a regular brass case. I killed a lot of bulls at 80-100 yards with 200 grain soft points from my 300 wby and when I glassed one on a ridge that needed a longer poke, I would just chamber a softer, sleeker bullet. Worked very well for me.

"I have seen really good things with the ELD-X but I agree that the weight retention is not going to be 90% unless you are shooting 800 yards. The jacket is thick enough that they hold together.

"When I went to Africa last summer I got to use two loads, one with 168 TSXs and one with 150 Partition Golds. My buddies were using same 168s. Game shot with the copper bullets ran a long ways. Almost every time. The game shot with the Partition golds went down or less than 25 yards.

"I am a believer in good jacketed bullets. The Partition being the best I have used for everything but the long range stuff."

The one thing Dennis didn't mention in his post was the 143 broke the shoulder blade and spine of the bull he killed, and exited.

JB, thank you for adding the shot placement.. I tend to shoot for upper shoulder and I am always interested in penetration when the shoulder is hit with various bullets. Whenever these threads come up I think knowing where the bullet hit is a vital piece of information.

Sakoluvr,

Dunno if you saw my post on the mule deer, but broke both shoulders of a big-bodied buck (100 pounds of boned meat) with a 143 ELD-X at 101 yards.

Thanks for the detail you provided JB! Sounds like the ELD-X bullets hold together pretty well. If they perform that way on an elk they should be more than tough enough for deer and antelope.

In my experience so far, the ELD-X's work just about like the standard Hornady Interlock Spire Points, when impact velocities are similar. They expand nicely, and retain at least 40-50% of their weight, and often up to 75%. Unless you're a retained-weight obsessive, my experience is that works very well. for most big game hunting. (My experience with recent SST's is similar.)

There are no shortage of great 6.5 bullets for 2700-2800 muzzle velocities. Kind of tempted to use a 140 Partition. Or maybe a Scenar, or perhaps a 147 ELD, ...

Amazing that velocity has something to do with impact performance, isn't it? Even with monlithics.

Amen.

Several of our antelope hunters have used it the last few years. It works, but it isn't super meat friendly if it lands on a shoulder. If you punch ribs you're good.

I got impact velocity firmed up in my head especially after the book you did with a few other writers. Impact velocity at the ranges I will be hunting and what I am hunting determines my hand loads.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about losing some dry shoulder meat if it means no tracking . Shoulder punch for me unless I just can't pull it off.

TexasPhotog,

So putting a lead-cored expanding bullet in an antelope shoulder doesn't do the meat any good? I have noticed that now and then--especially when some handloader is determined to get all the zip possible, because "everybody" knows antelope bullets must start at over 3000 fps or they don't work.

On the other hand, the 143 ELD-X from a 6.5 Creedmoor factory load didn't do much damage to the shoulder meat of a big-bodied mule deer I killed in New Mexico last fall at 101 yards But that bullet actually started at a little less than the 2700 fps listed velocity.

I had to re-learn some basics building a centerfire rifle good for medium game that my tiny daughter and almost-as-tiny wife could manage. Ended up building a sub-6lb (before optics & ammo) AR-15 chambered in 6.5Grendel. WIth a 16" bbl, the Hornady 123gr SST was likely moving at less than 2400fps at the muzzle and less than 2300fps at distance when my daughter connected with a big axis doe. She made a classic behind-shoulder shot and that little pill turned that doe's lungs into chum, while punching an exit hole the size of a quarter on the opposite side rib cage. One down doe, one excited little girl, and one proud papa.

Turns out you don't need screaming velocity if you put an appropriately-constructed bullet in the right place on an animal. Go figure.