338 caliber 270 grain ELD-X vs. Mule Deer

[MZmoose]

I tried 178gr eldx in my boys 30-06 and it blew up on a Muley buck with a neck hit at 200 yds. Didn't break the spine and only stunned the deer, had to finish him off. Core came out of the jacket and the biggest piece of jacket was 20 grs. Shot a doe at 35 yds in the ribs just behind the shoulder and fragmented so bad the guts were shot gunned with frag. Went back to actual controlled expansion bullets.

 

[mindcrime]

I know .338 LM is way overkill for deer....

"Maxim #37: There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload."
— Schlock Mercenary, "The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries"

 

[nodakhunter]

I tried 178gr eldx in my boys 30-06 and it blew up on a Muley buck with a neck hit at 200 yds. Didn't break the spine and only stunned the deer, had to finish him off. Core came out of the jacket and the biggest piece of jacket was 20 grs. Shot a doe at 35 yds in the ribs just behind the shoulder and fragmented so bad the guts were shot gunned with frag. Went back to actual controlled expansion bullets.

That's some disappointing performance. I've recovered several 150 grain GMX's from deer and they mushroomed perfectly, about halfway down the length of the bullet. Hopefully if enough reports like this come out, Hornady will tweak the ELDX to perform like a hunting instead of a varmint bullet.

 

[nodakhunter]

nodak ,,, for Alaska Moose in 338 bore stick with the 250gr Nosler Partition or Swift a-frame ,, stay clear away from the exotic heavy weight VLDs like the Berger and Hornady VLD-X ,,,, as while those can fly well and be very accurate to 1000Y ,,,,, bullet performance on a large animal like a moose can be inconsistent ,,,

Thanks for the advice. Will probably try the A-frame if I ever get lucky enough to draw a moose tag (fingers crossed).

 

[jrock]

Swamplord has en extensive background on 338 bullets.

 

[jamiebolseth]

I tried 178gr eldx in my boys 30-06 and it blew up on a Muley buck with a neck hit at 200 yds. Didn't break the spine and only stunned the deer, had to finish him off. Core came out of the jacket and the biggest piece of jacket was 20 grs. Shot a doe at 35 yds in the ribs just behind the shoulder and fragmented so bad the guts were shot gunned with frag. Went back to actual controlled expansion bullets.

This surprises me. I shot a fairly big mulie buck with a short barrelled 300 WSM and the 178 ELDx (2900 FPS) this year. He was moving almost straight away at 475yds and I needed to shoot, or let him go over the hill. I was confident I could hit him, but had to shoot hind quarter, so I was glad I'd brought the 300 WSM. The bullet went in one hind quarter, broken the pelvis, continued forward and broke the spine about half way up his body, and exited behind his off shoulder (so no bullet recovery).

My hunting buddy also used my rifle to shoot his buck at 165 yds, and got a full penetration on two shots. One through the ribs, and another through one shoulder.

I was pretty impressed with that penetration, but I guess more data is needed.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I tried 178gr eldx in my boys 30-06 and it blew up on a Muley buck with a neck hit at 200 yds. Didn't break the spine and only stunned the deer, had to finish him off. Core came out of the jacket and the biggest piece of jacket was 20 grs. Shot a doe at 35 yds in the ribs just behind the shoulder and fragmented so bad the guts were shot gunned with frag. Went back to actual controlled expansion bullets.

wow...crazy. Im hunting this weekend whitetails with ELDx bullets. Hope I don't get this experience. Ill remember to stay off heavy areas and target just lungs

 

[elkaholic]

This surprises me. I shot a fairly big mulie buck with a short barrelled 300 WSM and the 178 ELDx (2900 FPS) this year. He was moving almost straight away at 475yds and I needed to shoot, or let him go over the hill. I was confident I could hit him, but had to shoot hind quarter, so I was glad I'd brought the 300 WSM. The bullet went in one hind quarter, broken the pelvis, continued forward and broke the spine about half way up his body, and exited behind his off shoulder (so no bullet recovery).

My hunting buddy also used my rifle to shoot his buck at 165 yds, and got a full penetration on two shots. One through the ribs, and another through one shoulder.

I was pretty impressed with that penetration, but I guess more data is needed.

Thanks for the info.

I too have seen very good results with the 178 out of my '06.
several deer dropped with pass through rib shots and one large buck downed with a Texas heart shot! The buck was running straight away and the bullet entered, ya, there! It tore the pelvis apart and took out a couple of vertabrae with the base of the jacket with some lead still included up in the back strap.

 

[ramrod79]

This morn we went out cow elk hunting my buddy used my 338SS with 230X. One shot 868 high shoulder in and out both small entrance hole 2" out back side. Elk tipped right in its tracks.

 

[elkaholic]

This morn we went out cow elk hunting my buddy used my 338SS with 230X. One shot 868 high shoulder in and out both small entrance hole 2" out back side. Elk tipped right in its tracks.

Thats great news and results! Send pics to [email protected] and we'll put you; n the customer gallery on my website

 

[JimmyCP]

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.

The eldx has the Amp jacket like the amax. They,re better shot behind the shoulder turning the organs to jello with the hydrostatic shock. Usually find the results under the hide on on mid range shots the exit side dumping all its energy on the animal without hitting anything but a rib.
I shoot the 270 with retumbo. But to get it to group it's so long it won't fit in the mag.

Funny thing, some where in this form is a thread on the 225 grn sst not being acurate. I was using them on new brass because they are cheap. Started playing with them for accuracy and was kissing holes at 500 yards.
Long story short, it's now the deer 1000 to 1350 and elk load out to 1350 yards behind the shoulder.

Wife took a cow elk last year at 665 and spun the elk landing on its back.
86 grns left of the bullet on the exit side under the hide.
I've stopped hitting in the shoulder years ago. Been using 140grn sst in the 6.5 x284 and they do the same thing out to 600 and don't punch through the ribs on the exit till around 750 800 yards.

In the 6.5 x284 seen the eld match explode on the entrance hitting a rib at 380 yards. One piece of frag left in the rib meat on the exit. To soft for me at high velocity.
Here's what I'm getting with the 225 sst.

 

[highdrum]

@Swamplord you have any input for us? 270 eld-x vs 285 eld m or 300 elite hunter? I know you've shot em all.

 

[dreamhunt]

230 should be good, it's going slow enough, you should have no problems. I had a poor experience with a 162 ELD-X on a cow elk last season in my 7mm Rem. The factory ammo shoots very well in my gun, but I have since switched to 168 ABLR loads. My ELD-X shot on a cow was at 285yds, as she was bedded. The bullet hit the shoulder blade and only made it into the near-side lung. Impact velocity shouldn't have been an issue at that distance, but apparently it was. Complete jacket/core separation.

 

[Rumup]

Shot a muley this evening with my 338 Lapua improved 285 eld-m muzzle velocity 3047. Deer was shot @297yd quartering a way dime size entrance 2 ribs missing chunks liver destroyed half the heat missing bottom of lungs gone no exit no bullet recovered. This red blob was the heat.