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I have yet to see a problem with the ELD-X's failing to expand, the problem is overexpansion and bullet breakup.Hello !
This is my first post here. Hunting mostly white tail deer in northern europe. Wanted to share my real life hunting experience with the ELD-X bullet. I have been using the Hornady factory load Precision Hunter in .308 Win. Shooting it from a Steyr Scout, chrono checked MV 2500fps/750ms.
We do meat/cull hunting for management, so i've shot only fawns and yearlings 1 1/2 yrs old, 10 deer so far. No long range shots sorry, from 100 meters up and maximum been 185 meters.
But people have been wondering how the bullet opens and does it hold together, so i hope this might help.
In the beginning of the season my point of aim was middle height just behind the front leg line in the shoulder. These hits were dropping the deer on the spot, not hitting the spine but i believe there was enough shock wave to cause pressure on the spine. Also the trauma on the lungs was severe, also on a few an heart artery was cut and there was trauma on the heart it self.
On one fawn i jerked the trigger when going for a double, ie. shot one and was busy shooting one more. The bullet hit low below the heart, just nicking the point of heart. The fawn ran maybe 40-50 meters but i was amazed about the blood on the ground and it was easy to track even in the falling darkness. The bullet had hit a rib going in and also going out, very low in the brisket(?). The in and exit holes were at least an inch in diameter, so the bullet works fine and opens up. This will be proven on some of the next animals.
After being quite sure that this bullet expands reliably and quickly, i decided to move my point of aim further back. Going for clean lung shots behind the shoulder, also because our guys were complaining of blood shot meat in the shoulders !! I know, finicky meat hunters
So now i've been shooting behind the shoulder. Even when the bullet enters between the ribs, it has done major work on the lungs and exit holes are at least an inch in diameter, this happens even on a fawn. On two does i've been able to drain the blood out from the exit hole of the lung shot.
On one yearling there was pieces of lung and liver in the exit hole, even when the bullet entered between the ribs, so i would say that the bullet is doing hard work in the engine room (thorax) of the deer. With lung shots the maximum running distance has been 20 meters.
How does it hold together ? Shot a yearling spike buck at 145 meters, frontal shot approx 30 degree angle left shoulder. On impact the deer jumped up in the air and then began spinning around on the spot for a few seconds before collapsing on the ground. Exit was on the opposite side at the last rib, exit hole was almost 2 inches. The shoulder was totally mangled and i had to cut it away, nothing to save. Engine room totally mangled also, just a bloody mess.
So i would say that we have a bullet that expands reliably and also penetrates trough, at least on short ranges on animals with a 17-55 kg carcass weight (40-120 lbs ?).
Now the rut is over and we are allowed to shoot big bucks. Just waiting for days off from work to be able and test these bullets on bigger animals.
Waiting to get my hands on the new .338 cal ELD-X bullets and load them for my Sako TRG42.
Has anyone any experience with the RWS Speed Tip Pro bullet ? Especially in .338 Lapua. RWS factory loads this combination.
I had much the same results with them. More of us need to call Hornady with the same complaint and urge them to use the same bonding process on them they use with the Interbond.
You've been shooting the wrong bonded bullets then or not spending enough time working up a load.
