Eld-x vs berger...

[Techy]

And go...

Lets throw out all we know, like, dislike, why, and how.

Info and experience on any caliber would be great and please share, but specifically I am interested in 180gr berger hybrid vs the 175 eld-x. I am a hunter and target shooter. I am curious about experiences with both these bullets. Currently I am shooting the berger and am getting close to developing a load, but I can't say I am not curious about the eld-x. My end goal is to shoot to 2000 though depending on elevation and temperature I will probably hit trans sonic around 1800. We'll have to see. But first and foremost I want to have killing power as far out as I can with the 7mm. Yes I know the limitations on distant game and no it isn't my goal to shoot at game as far as I can.

But I'd be lying if I said I saw a coyote at 1600 I won't shoot, lol

Just share any and all you can on these bullets

Thanks.


P.S.
Just saw on long range pursuit a guy shoot a bull at 1500 yards with a 300 RUM with 212gr eld-x I believe

 

[7mmShooter]

And go...

Lets throw out all we know, like, dislike, why, and how.

Info and experience on any caliber would be great and please share, but specifically I am interested in 180gr berger hybrid vs the 175 eld-x. I am a hunter and target shooter. I am curious about experiences with both these bullets. Currently I am shooting the berger and am getting close to developing a load, but I can't say I am not curious about the eld-x. My end goal is to shoot to 2000 though depending on elevation and temperature I will probably hit trans sonic around 1800. We'll have to see. But first and foremost I want to have killing power as far out as I can with the 7mm. Yes I know the limitations on distant game and no it isn't my goal to shoot at game as far as I can.

But I'd be lying if I said I saw a coyote at 1600 I won't shoot, lol

Just share any and all you can on these bullets

Thanks.


P.S.
Just saw on long range pursuit a guy shoot a bull at 1500 yards with a 300 RUM with 212gr eld-x I believe

As far as the bullet experiences, you may get more information if you post this in the Rifles, Bullets, Barrels, and Ballistics subforum, although j can certainly see why it was posted here. Good luck!!

 

[nmbarta]

7mm rem mag with 175 eldx
.060 off
1:9 27" brux #6
sub 1/2 moa
stable to 1400 have not shot it past 1400 yet
sd 6
3086fps.....same rifle shot the 180 berger hybrids at 2995
I load one more grain of retumbo behind the eldx

280 ai with 162 eldx
also .060 off
1:9 three groove lilja 25" #4
1/2-5/8 moa
sd 11
2920fps....same rifle shot the 168 berger at 2840
I load .5 grains more 4831sc behind the eldx


A friend of mine has a 300 norma and switched from the 215 berger to the 212 eldx, he said he's getting 50fps better with the same load, I don't have those velocities.
He killed a cow elk at 450, said she just dropped, the shot was not in the shoulder, just a double lung behind the shoulder.

So far this year my friends, family, and I have taken 4 muley's, 1 antelope, and 3 elk with eldx bullets ranging from 90 to 500 yards (nothing far yet) everything is just dropping in their tracks or taking a couple steps.

we're all seeing better accuracy, easier to tune, better velocity, and better terminal performance with the eldx.

Advertised BC using applied ballistics has been spot on to 1400

These rifles are all .040-.060 off, seating depth did not effect groups drastically like it does with the berger vld's, but they seem to like a little jump.

That's all I got.

Good luck.

 

[Wachsmann]

300 ultra mag
220 ELD-x
loaded to mag length.. I think I'm at 3.65 to the tip. It fits in the mag and cycle fine.
87 grains of RL26 this is a max safe load for the gun with RL 26. Acording to hornady it right at the edge of hitting pressure signs.
Shoots 1/2 MOA.
currently my chrono has lied to me on velocity..chrono velocity was 3024... At 1000yards I had to take 2 MOA out of the shot to hit the target.
Made a kill this year on a mule deer at 760 but had to take .75 MOA out of the shot and impact would of been spot on but did not hold for wind my rookie mistake. Still deer was dead on impact. Bullet was not recovered but it took out 4 ribs and left about a racket ball size hole on the impact side and no exit at all. Deer was quartering away when the shot was taken. I figured if I hit back in the ribs a little bit it would of angled up into the off side shoulder. Bullet did not even make it through to the other side of the ribs from what I could tell when gutting and since I did not hold for wind it made it farther back in the rear ribs and went into the guts/liver area and a little into a lung. I was in a hurry so I did not really care about recovering the bullet at the time but whish I could of found something.

 

[curtiscd]

7mm rem mag with 175 eldx
.060 off
1:9 27" brux #6
sub 1/2 moa
stable to 1400 have not shot it past 1400 yet
sd 6
3086fps.....same rifle shot the 180 berger hybrids at 2995
I load one more grain of retumbo behind the eldx

280 ai with 162 eldx
also .060 off
1:9 three groove lilja 25" #4
1/2-5/8 moa
sd 11
2920fps....same rifle shot the 168 berger at 2840
I load .5 grains more 4831sc behind the eldx


A friend of mine has a 300 norma and switched from the 215 berger to the 212 eldx, he said he's getting 50fps better with the same load, I don't have those velocities.
He killed a cow elk at 450, said she just dropped, the shot was not in the shoulder, just a double lung behind the shoulder.

So far this year my friends, family, and I have taken 4 muley's, 1 antelope, and 3 elk with eldx bullets ranging from 90 to 500 yards (nothing far yet) everything is just dropping in their tracks or taking a couple steps.

we're all seeing better accuracy, easier to tune, better velocity, and better terminal performance with the eldx.

Advertised BC using applied ballistics has been spot on to 1400

These rifles are all .040-.060 off, seating depth did not effect groups drastically like it does with the berger vld's, but they seem to like a little jump.

That's all I got.

Good luck.

Would you mind sharing your load data for the 175 ELD-X?

 

[nmbarta]

fed 215m
71 retumbo
nosler brass
I don't have my notes with me so I can't provide a COL at the moment but 3.98 comes to mind. That may have been with the berger. I would not recommend starting anywhere near this load. I know that this is not a safe load in some rifles. This load is showing very very slight ejector marks on nosler brass. Primers look good, bolt lift is silky smooth. Brass is on it's fourth firing and is holding primers like new. Velocity was verified over a magneto and what I believe was a chrony beta master (my friends chronograph) Velocity is about 60fps faster than what I thought it would do, but using this velocity and the applied ballistics program and advertised bc, we were very consistently hitting targets from 500-1400 yards shooting straight north with a kestrel ab providing atmospheric conditions.

I don't hunt at these ranges (first round hits aren't quite consistent enough past 1000 for me to pull the trigger on an animal past 1000) but would love to hear how this bullet performs at lower velocities.

I love berger bullets, but never cared much for how animals reacted after a hit, maybe just my experience, but I couldn't ever just drop one. That being said, I never lost an animal with a berger, and don't wan't to come across as preaching for this one. We've just had really good luck with it so far. It's nice to have another great option.

Again, I'm sure you know what your doing, but this load would probably be way over pressure in some rifles. I just looked it up, and it appears to be 3-4 grains over max

 

[curtiscd]

Thank you. I was working on a load for the 175 and hadn't found anything that I felt confident in before heading to the high country for elk. I instead chose to shoot a Berger and was not the least bit impressed. I put 3 rounds through him at 520 yards and not a single bullet opened up for me. The final shot that put him down passed through his shoulders and exited with a hole no larger than a dime. Upon walking up to him, I had to put a ballistic tip through him at 10 yards to put him down for good. So yea, as far as Bergers shoot they are incredible, but killing left a bad taste in my mouth.
My load for the 175 was at 67.4 gr H-1000 Federal 215 and Hornady brass. Pushing them at 2940 @ about 1 MOA. I wasn't seeing any pressure, but started really light and just ran out of time before the hunt.

 

[nmbarta]

2 more muleys with the 175
One at 200 did great
One at 800 with golf ball sized exit, he went about 20 yards

 

[joshua99ta]

fed 215m
71 retumbo
nosler brass
I don't have my notes with me so I can't provide a COL at the moment but 3.98 comes to mind. That may have been with the berger. I would not recommend starting anywhere near this load. I know that this is not a safe load in some rifles. This load is showing very very slight ejector marks on nosler brass. Primers look good, bolt lift is silky smooth. Brass is on it's fourth firing and is holding primers like new. Velocity was verified over a magneto and what I believe was a chrony beta master (my friends chronograph) Velocity is about 60fps faster than what I thought it would do, but using this velocity and the applied ballistics program and advertised bc, we were very consistently hitting targets from 500-1400 yards shooting straight north with a kestrel ab providing atmospheric conditions.

I don't hunt at these ranges (first round hits aren't quite consistent enough past 1000 for me to pull the trigger on an animal past 1000) but would love to hear how this bullet performs at lower velocities.

I love berger bullets, but never cared much for how animals reacted after a hit, maybe just my experience, but I couldn't ever just drop one. That being said, I never lost an animal with a berger, and don't wan't to come across as preaching for this one. We've just had really good luck with it so far. It's nice to have another great option.

Again, I'm sure you know what your doing, but this load would probably be way over pressure in some rifles. I just looked it up, and it appears to be 3-4 grains over max

I haven't tried the ELD-X yet but when I did the load work up on my 7mm mag with the 162 amax I ended up 4grains over max and still didn't see any pressure signs with 7828. Its a factory chambered rem 700 but I originally stuck with staying under hornadys max load and I was seeing CRAZY spreads, 400fps, and I got to thinking and started stepping on it and finally got it dialed in to shoot em @ 2925fps. I don't recall but I think I went 6grn over before I saw pressure signs.

 

[bigbulls]

tag on

 

[Zorack]

300 ultra mag
220 ELD-x
loaded to mag length.. I think I'm at 3.65 to the tip. It fits in the mag and cycle fine.
87 grains of RL26 this is a max safe load for the gun with RL 26. Acording to hornady it right at the edge of hitting pressure signs.
Shoots 1/2 MOA.
currently my chrono has lied to me on velocity..chrono velocity was 3024... At 1000yards I had to take 2 MOA out of the shot to hit the target.
Made a kill this year on a mule deer at 760 but had to take .75 MOA out of the shot and impact would of been spot on but did not hold for wind my rookie mistake. Still deer was dead on impact. Bullet was not recovered but it took out 4 ribs and left about a racket ball size hole on the impact side and no exit at all. Deer was quartering away when the shot was taken. I figured if I hit back in the ribs a little bit it would of angled up into the off side shoulder. Bullet did not even make it through to the other side of the ribs from what I could tell when gutting and since I did not hold for wind it made it farther back in the rear ribs and went into the guts/liver area and a little into a lung. I was in a hurry so I did not really care about recovering the bullet at the time but whish I could of found something.

My 300 ultra mag does not like the 212gr eld-x's but like.the 210gr berger vld hunters. Here is my 3 shot group with 210 vld hunters.

 

[DR 3006]

Tagging in on this. Looking for 280ai info. And people's experience with these. Currently running 180gr berger hybrid

 

[Jqnmrtz]

This is what was left of an ELD-X 175 gr loaded on a 28 Nosler, federal primer, 79.7 gr of Retumbo shot from a Proof research 26" and chronod at 3033 fps.
The bullet entered a mule deer at 150yrds behind the left shoulder.
The buck dropped in place.
The entry hole was 3" in diameter and destroyed the left lung and the liver , where it was found.

Not much mass retention

Maybe too Close?

 

[cowboy]

View attachment 68151

Not much mass retention

Maybe too Close?

Saw the same type of results at 460 yds with a 143 gr ELD-X out of a 6.5X284 on a bull elk. The entry hit the front rib and bullet recovered just under the hide on the offside. Bull never new what tit him.