nodakhunter
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
Just thought I'd post my experience with this bullet on a game animal since there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on it. My long range deer hunting rig is a Desert Tech SRS A-2 in .338 Lapua. Last year (2018 season) I loaded up some 300 grain Bergers to try. Ended up sending one through the heart of a whitetail buck at 442 yards, but unfortunately it seemed to have "penciled" through without expanding, or didn't expand very much. Not to knock Berger at all, they make fantastic bullets, this particular one just didn't quite expand like I want a hunting bullet to. This year, I decided to give the Hornady ELD-X a shot. I developed a load with H1000 that delivered a consistent 2805 fps and printed .3" to .5" groups at 100 yards. On opening day, I spotted a nice mule buck at 390 yards and sent a Hornady thru his vitals. Shot felt good, heard the thwack of a solid hit, deer was pretty much DRT. When we hung the deer and skinned him out, we discovered a 6" entry hole thru the left side of his rib cage. I am 100% sure this was an entry and NOT an exit hole. The bullet (or what was left of it) was found stuck in his right shoulder. The jacket was completely separated from the core and retained about 40% of its weight. My questions from all of this are:
1. What caused the bullet to blow up on entry like this? Seems like pretty violent expansion for a hunting bullet - more like what you'd expect with a varmint bullet
2. Would this bullet be suitable for tougher game such as moose, especially if it comes into contact with bone?
P.S. I know .338 LM is way overkill for deer inside of 800 yards, but it's by far the most accurate gun in my collection, which is why I use it for longer shots.
Just thought I'd post my experience with this bullet on a game animal since there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on it. My long range deer hunting rig is a Desert Tech SRS A-2 in .338 Lapua. Last year (2018 season) I loaded up some 300 grain Bergers to try. Ended up sending one through the heart of a whitetail buck at 442 yards, but unfortunately it seemed to have "penciled" through without expanding, or didn't expand very much. Not to knock Berger at all, they make fantastic bullets, this particular one just didn't quite expand like I want a hunting bullet to. This year, I decided to give the Hornady ELD-X a shot. I developed a load with H1000 that delivered a consistent 2805 fps and printed .3" to .5" groups at 100 yards. On opening day, I spotted a nice mule buck at 390 yards and sent a Hornady thru his vitals. Shot felt good, heard the thwack of a solid hit, deer was pretty much DRT. When we hung the deer and skinned him out, we discovered a 6" entry hole thru the left side of his rib cage. I am 100% sure this was an entry and NOT an exit hole. The bullet (or what was left of it) was found stuck in his right shoulder. The jacket was completely separated from the core and retained about 40% of its weight. My questions from all of this are:
1. What caused the bullet to blow up on entry like this? Seems like pretty violent expansion for a hunting bullet - more like what you'd expect with a varmint bullet
2. Would this bullet be suitable for tougher game such as moose, especially if it comes into contact with bone?
P.S. I know .338 LM is way overkill for deer inside of 800 yards, but it's by far the most accurate gun in my collection, which is why I use it for longer shots.
