ELD-M vs Berger

I buy lots of 500 in hopes that there is as little variation as possible.

With Berger, regardless of caliber, i might see .003 difference loading lots of 100. With Hornady, I've seen as much as .030 variation, that is not acceptable to me.

Sierras are also very consitant.

I also like the performance on game better with Berger vs Hornady.
 
I have used Bergers only for 15+years have had complete pass thrus on Kansas deer even thru both shoulders at over 500yds 7mm mag and 200yds this year with 140gr vld 6.5 Sherman
 
I've tried both bullets in my 7mm Rem mag and my 338 RUM. The Bergers printed smaller groups more easily but both bc's held true for me out to 950 yards. Having said that, the 300 gr OTM dropped my whitetail buck at 550 yards. 2 minutes later he stood back up and began walking around again. I switched to the 285 ELDM and hit him again at 650, a bit high and severed the spine. Both the back straps were destroyed along with the tenderloins. I was never able to determine exactly where the Berger hit him because I only found a pinhole in his neck but no other damage aside from where the ELD nearly cut him in half. I'm switching to monos for next year
 

Attachments

  • B3506D83-C9D2-4A49-82B4-C5630B091E97.jpeg
    B3506D83-C9D2-4A49-82B4-C5630B091E97.jpeg
    127.7 KB · Views: 213
  • FDBEF465-3B02-430D-8E2A-8E45F4AAD823.jpeg
    FDBEF465-3B02-430D-8E2A-8E45F4AAD823.jpeg
    107.1 KB · Views: 187
I shot Berger 130 hvlds for years, elk, bear, mule and coues deer. Many quick kills, couple that seemed to "pencil" leading to followup shots.
Switched to the 147 eldm this year, albeit in a much faster cartridge, but really impressed with its terminal performance so far.
Far as bc value goes, I think they are off myself. Using the hornady app I ended up .75 moa low at 878 with all inputs accounted for. Even with axial form factor adjusted to the maximum value of 1.1 I still had to adjust the velocity to get the app to match my recorded drop.
Far as bullet consistently goes, I saw way more inconsistencies with the Bergers over the eldms. Bearing surface on the 130 Berger's was 0.490-0.502, 147 eldms was 0.668-0.669. 143 eldx was 0.647-0.652.
 
My old Sendero .300 RUM, I loaded a middle power load with 210 Bergers. 5 shots were right at 1/2", and the load was just a guess. So I'm not a Berger hater.

I think I'm going to order some hunting 210 VLD and try that middle load again.
Try the new 205 EHs, a lot easier to tune. I'm making the switch with my 300 WM. And I've had great results with the EHs on game so far. The little 140 EH in 6.5 is pretty devastating.
 
My only issue with Berger, is the fragmenting part. What if you need to through the shoulder? I like quartering-to shots with an Accubond, Partition, or A-Frame. Especially with a TSX.

So that's my next question. If you go through the shoulder, does anything actually make it to the heart?
I've hit the bear shoulder and had fragments make it to the heart and lungs and absolutely shred them. But again no exit. The energy dump is very substantial but I like drain holes for blood trailing animals. In my 7wsm I shoot 180 ELDm and in the event that I get down and track an animal I have a 175 grain partition running 3040 FPS. Shoots about 2" to the left at 100 yards from my eldm zero so I give it 8 clicks and go track. I've only shot one with the 175 partitions (deer my nephew gut shot) and the partition exited on a Texas heart shot.
 
I've tried both bullets in my 7mm Rem mag and my 338 RUM. The Bergers printed smaller groups more easily but both bc's held true for me out to 950 yards. Having said that, the 300 gr OTM dropped my whitetail buck at 550 yards. 2 minutes later he stood back up and began walking around again. I switched to the 285 ELDM and hit him again at 650, a bit high and severed the spine. Both the back straps were destroyed along with the tenderloins. I was never able to determine exactly where the Berger hit him because I only found a pinhole in his neck but no other damage aside from where the ELD nearly cut him in half. I'm switching to monos for next year

I had this exact thing happen with 300 gr OTMs, shot a mule deer several years ago at about 200 yards and he acted like nothing happened (I knew i didn't miss at that range), my brother followed up and put him down. Upon cleaning we found a hole straight through, no expansion. I've killed several deer with 285 eldms, they definitely work.
 
I've been using both for a while. In my 6.5 creedmoor the 147 has been working well and bc holds true. I like berger 140 hybrid for longer shots. The 147 gives me slightly better groups (+-0.3 moa) than the berger (+-0.5 moa) but the SD for my berger load is much better 3fps vs 12fps which translates to better accuracy on the longer shots.
 
I know the Berger fan boys think the VLD is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and swear every other bullet in the world has false BC values.

The ELD's seem like they are hugely popular, so I want to know from the guys that have shot them to 1000 yards and beyond. Does the BC seem to be accurate with your actual shots. In other words, do the Ballistic charts line up with your experiences?

I had Bergers for my other 300 RUM. The tip of every bullet was deformed, and all in different ways. That can not help its BC.
for cup and core bullets hornady has always been on the bottom of my list start measuring and weighing bullets and you will see why I am not just talking about different lots I have seen large differences within the same lot that said I have had to use them in guns that shot nothing else well but those rifles left the stable quickly I will not have a rifle that is that picky
 
I used the 225 ELD Match for a while. I was running it at magnetospeed verified 3255fps out of a 9 twist RUM. I discovered that the b/c was highly overrated. I was actually using Hornady 4DOF with their custom drag curve for this bullet. It wasn't close to matching their cdm either. Had to almost max out the axial form factor to get drops to match predicted. IIRC the G1 b/c landed more in the .730 neighborhood vs. the .777 that Hornady advertised
 
Try the new 205 EHs, a lot easier to tune. I'm making the switch with my 300 WM. And I've had great results with the EHs on game so far. The little 140 EH in 6.5 is pretty devastating.

These are fantastic bullets, We're running them out of a 300 Win mag at 3045fps. I can say after killing a few animals, they are more explosive than the 215 Berger. Makes sense with the thinner hunting jacket. I also wouldn't run them in anything faster than a 300 Win with how explosive they are unless shorter range shots are avoided.
 
Why guys want to shoot animals with an ELDM bullet is beyond me the bullet was designed for target shooting it is not ever intended to shoot animals that's why there is an E LDX bullet

Lol! Well, if you do a little research you'll find that many prefer the performance of the eldm over the eldx. Some feel the eldx is actually more explosive. Also, the labeling in the box means nothing
 
Warning! This thread is more than 4 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top