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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494 |
A pretty good (for this property) buck stepped out last night at last light and I shot him quartering-to at 90 yards with my HMR 6.5CM. I was doing my last-minute scans with my binoculars, as seeing deer that late with the naked eye was not much of an option on the big pipeline I was hunting. Deer generally are seen at 200-500 yards. I could see this guy was past his ears when he stepped out, but that was about all I could make out in the last few minutes of legal light. Flipped the illumination dial on the Bushnell LRTSi as I pointed it out the window and that made things much simpler. He bolted at the shot and I heard him crash a few seconds later. I tagged him in the forward portion of the onside shoulder (red speck in the pic). He made it about 50 yards. No blood trail, but I knew the general area where I thought he'd gone silent. ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/38J3T6Vl.jpg) Flipping him over revealed the telltale lump about 5 inches in front of his hip on the opposite side, so I sliced the hide and pulled out the bullet. It was 55.4gr of jacket. ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/VDXs63il.jpg) ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/rqGSQDgl.jpg) Impact speed should have been about 2,630fps. I imagine it would have exited on a broadside shot, but this quartering angle stopped it under the hide. I'd have liked to have seen some core retention, but dead is dead. Didn't get to see the internal damage as I ran this one to the processor 5 miles down the road. Other deer I have dressed out showed the 143ELD-X to behave much like other cup/cores at similar speeds from a 7mm-08 or .308. Good job. That one needed culling for sure. That said when you pick a bullet like that we know in advance what its limitations will be. JB says its dead. yup. We run Berger 140s in the CM. I know my limitations. Don't take quarter to shots. Broadside is by far the best. We just wait for the angle or try another day. BUT we have a few TTSX along too in case we find an animal we want dead and can 't wait for the right shot. All around the results are good and what one would expect from that. The ELDX seems a bit better at slower speeds to me. But thats my take. Trying to run them in the Grendel next. Should be happier at that speed Good job. Congrats
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: May 2017
Posts: 4,920
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 4,920 |
Congrats on the buck! Good shooting, sir.
On the bullet, it’s what I have come to expect from Hornady wares. I prefer those that stay together rather than come apart. I like the Barnes TTSX and LRX, personally.
Life Member NRA, RMEF, American Legion, MAGA. Not necessarily in that order.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 17,432
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 17,432 |
Try the 105 BTHP. I like it better than the 103 ELDx. As much as I want to be a fan of the ELD-X, I can’t allow myself to have total confidence in the bullet. I’ve only shot about 12 deer with the bullet, but results have been inconsistent. I’ve also witnessed several other deer shot with the bullet that mirrored my results.
I’ve seen pencil throughs, impact explosions, long death runs with no blood and bang flops. All of these shots have been within 200 yards to be fair. I’m not sure if it’s jacket or core inconsistencies, but no doubt results varied from bullet to bullet. I’m not talking about poor or marginal shot placement either. I’m talking broadside, double lung/heart shots.
I’ve killed my KY buck this year (not with the ELD-X), so I’m now going on doe patrol for the rest of the season. I’m thinking of whacking 5-6 with the 6 Creedmoor and the 103. If I do, I’ll share my results.
“Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils.” - General
John Stark.
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 18,933 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 18,933 Likes: 2 |
If you really need high odds of an exit with a 6.5, I've had good luck with the Accubond and the TTSX. Awesome!! Been thinking about 120 grn TTSX Pards boy won't let my bud load anything but the 100 grain TTSX in his Creedmoor. Absolute hammer on whitetails. I bet the kid has killed a dozen or more deer with that combination and 6 or 8 hogs in the last 8 or 9 years since he started hunting. Have never heard my pard complain how they perform. Funny thing is my buddy has never used them in his Creeds but the kid just keeps on stacking with his and the TTSX. He and his oldest boy tried the ELD-X but had inconsistent results. All dead deer but some pencil through at close range and some grenade at extended range while some performed perfectly at all ranges.
The last time that bear ate a lawyer he had the runs for 33 days!
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,889
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,889 |
I had almost the exact same shot opening weekend,96 yards, entered point of shoulder, broke the skin a little forward of the opposite rear shoulder.
Jacket looked just like yours just inside the skin.
6.5 CM with muzzle velocity of 2628 from a 20” barrel.
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,162 Likes: 13
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 60,162 Likes: 13 |
Killed a New Mexico mule deer buck in 2018 with the 143 ELD-X, a factory 6.5 CM load that was probably getting 2650 or so. The range was 101 yards, lasered after the shot. He was standing broadside in some oak brush, and the sensible clear shot was high on the shoulder. He went straight down. Found the bullet under the hide on the far side, the jacket and core lying next to each other, the two parts weighing 86 grains. It had broken both shoulders and the spine. Didn't get a chance to weigh the deer, but got exactly 100 pounds of boned meat, which is usually about 1/3 of whole weight.
My hunting partner killed an even bigger-bodied buck on the same hunt, with the same load. The deer was quartering away at 311 yards. At impact the buck did the little heart-shot jump, then trotted 30 yards and fell over. The bullet went from the left-rear ribs to the right shoulder, and the core was firmly in the jacket. It weighed 106 grains, 74% weight retention.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,463
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,463 |
Opening day in the UP. Right buck, 143 ELDX from a 6.5 CM. Left buck(mine)143 ELDX from my 6.5 PRC. Both were lung shot pass through shots, both with silver dollar sized exits! For me, it's the 15th deer dropped by that bullet! ![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/hP7QwTQ7/IMG-20211116-100523966-HDR.jpg)
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,233
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,233 |
Last 3 years I've dropped 3 cow elk with the 143 ELDX using the 6.5 CM & PRC and been right there to watch another 5 drop using those 2 rifles and a RPM.
In every case we made sure they were broadside, tight in the leg crease, double lung shots. Never have recovered the bullet.
I used the ELDX because when the NPT and NAB became unobtanium, I could still get the ELDX.
ELDX on big bull elk wall hangers? Nope. I now have a pile of NPT, Oryx, and Weldcores that I would use instead.
It's you and the bullet, and all the rest is secondary.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,227 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,227 Likes: 1 |
This is apples to oranges, but I shared camp with two guys in Newfoundland that were using 178grn ELDX's out of a .308 and a .30-06.
The guy with the .308 shot a woodland caribou at about 40 yards, quartering away. The bullet barely made it through one lung.
The guy with the 06 shot a decent bull moose perfect broadside, at about 60 yards. Hit it 4 times and had time to get in his backpack and reload before it dropped and then had to finish it with another round.
Very poor penetration in all cases.
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