Hornady 143 gr ELD X Terminal Performance Report

[WildRose]

Seriously?

Seriously. If you're destroying the heart/lungs/spine/running gear etc they're dead within a few steps in all but the rarest of occasions.

That being said, I saw two bucks shot today with devastating behind one shoulder, exiting through the other turning the lungs to goo each walk more than 50yds before cratering.

Both had golfball sized exits through the shoulders but in both cases the bullets failed to hit the humerus.

 

[WildRose]

I thought the same until that experience. The presentation was broadside, standing. Based on the evidence I presume impact was very near the shoulder joint itself. Pretty weird to disable only one leg and see him tricycle away.

I have made similar shots with 60gr ballistic tips (presently my bullet of choice for fur) and taken out both legs and a bit of sternum.

I've seen better performance from 45gr varmint bullets.

I acknowledge my case is isolated and flukey. Obviously shot placement was poor, but the resuls were SUPRISINGLY poor.

With the right shot placement, any bullet will do. What interests me in terminal performance discussions is what happens when placement is imperfect. How well does a bullet expand when it encounters only soft tissue? Does it hold together when encountering bone?

I accidentally shot a running away coyote in the hind leg all but severing it. He went to spinning circles grabbing the dangling part then tore it off and kept running while I put two more .223's through the thorax in him before he cratered. Sometimes I think the adrenaline just makes them do crazy things before going down.

 

[Buck Buster]

140 eld m's arrived today. Will be prepping brass this week and hopefully shoot a little before the weekend in hopes of testing them out this weekend. Fingers crossed that they behave like the A-Max....I'd be tickled to death.

Check around the web; I thought I was out of luck too. I have a 308 Norma Magnum that shoots 2 & 1/2 inch groups at 300 yards off a rest that could be more solid. The bullet is a 178 gr. Amax. Tried the 178 ELD-X Opened up to just under 4" at 300 yards. Started searching the web, found some at a place called Dunns . I also bought a box of 250 - 168 grain Amax, that I use in my 30-06 and my 300 Win. Mag. The Norma is not used as much as the other two guns, but I think the 168s would probably shoot well out of it too. Its worth a try, you could even put something in the add section, as a want ad some one may have changed what they use and be willing to sell you some 140 Amax. I would bet someone has a couple of boxes setting around that they would be willing to part with if you can just locate them. Good luck and Happy new year.

 

[bbraden]

Put my 6.5 Creedmoor with 147 ELDM @ 2650 MV through the paces this deer season so I'll give my experiences:

Kill #1 - young coyote @ 305 yds - hit low and back in the lungs, ran about 15 yards, went into the death spin and then laid down and died. Bullet passed through and left about a softball sized exit with a big chunk of stomach hanging out the hole.

Kill #2 - 130 to 150 lb buck - 90 degree broadside lung shot at about 120 yds. Clean pass through. Made a tremendous amount of bloodshot on the near ribcage & shoulder, jellied the lungs, nipped one of the arteries on the heart, exited with golfball sized exit wound on far side. Deer jumped and ran about 10 yards before expiring. Blood trail was tremendous! Wasn't looking all that hard, but didn't find any schrapnel from the bullet.

Kill #3 - coyote @ 250 yds or so, through the lungs, coyote ran about 100 yards and then started doing the death circle. Clean pass through, softball sized exit.

Kill #4 - 200 lb feral hog boar @ 175 yds. I was at his 11 o'clock. Bullet entered on the left side of his neck and went straight in traversing the length of his abdominal cavity. He dropped in his tracks but kicked a couple times. I didn't get a chance to examine this one so I don't know exactly what happened; had to get to kill #5.

Kill #5 - Big doe @ 120 yds or so, looking right at me. Dome shot. Went in just between the eyes and basically removed everything from behind the eyes to the back of the skull. It was way more explosive than I could have imagined. Very graphic kill!

Kill #6 - Coyote @ 320 yds. Hit broadside in the shoulder area. Didn't get a chance to examine this one either, but the coyote dropped in its tracks and didn't move again.

Ending thoughts - the 147 ELDM fired at moderate velocities is adequate for game up to medium size (deer, antelope, etc.) It works for light skinned varmints like coyotes but lacks explosiveness for DRT kills. I believe it to be inadequate for anything but "perfect" boiler room shots on elk sized game and I would not trust it to break front shoulders on anything larger than a mule deer. It is, however, a very accurate bullet with a very high BC.

 

[Greyfox]

I'm surprised that there is rarely much talk about the 140 VLD JLK's, BC .323. I have been using them almost exclusively for about seven seasons on whitetail, mule deer and antelope with over 50 animals taken from 100 yards to 1188 yards, impact velocities from 2850 down to 1650. Always, major internal damage with excellent penetration a various angles. Most DRT, 50 yards maximum distance to drop. I run a 6.5x284, 2975MV. This slug was recovered from under the hide of a big mule deer buck, rear rib cage forward angle at 500+yards.

 

[Capt RB]

I'm surprised that there is rarely much talk about the 140 VLD JLK's, BC .323. I have been using them almost exclusively for about seven seasons on whitetail, mule deer and antelope with over 50 animals taken from 100 yards to 1188 yards, impact velocities from 2850 down to 1650. Always, major internal damage with excellent penetration a various angles. Most DRT, 50 yards maximum distance to drop. I run a 6.5x284, 2975MV. This slug was recovered from under the hide of a big mule deer buck, rear rib cage forward angle at 500+yards.
View attachment 87271

Do you do anything to the meplats or just run them? Thanks in advance

 

[Hand Skills]

Seriously. If you're destroying the heart/lungs/spine/running gear etc they're dead within a few steps in all but the rarest of occasions.

That being said, I saw two bucks shot today with devastating behind one shoulder, exiting through the other turning the lungs to goo each walk more than 50yds before cratering.

Both had golfball sized exits through the shoulders but in both cases the bullets failed to hit the humerus.

Firstly, 'Grats on the good hunting! Generally my experience agrees, and I'm fortunate (or inexperienced) enough to have spent little time following up game. I was taught to wait for a few minutes before following an animal in the event it ran after the shot. the rationale being it would bed down and stiffen up, reducing the probability of being lifted on approach. This has proved good advice, and usually I arrive at the end of a blood trail to find an expired animal.

It did not go so well for my uncle one year. He shot an elk, and spent the rest of the day chasing it. High lung shot, .260, Barnes TSX, pencil hole through the chest cavity.

Shot placement could have been better, but so could have bullet performance. Examining the evidence we all agreed that it would have been a better day for those involved had the bullet expanded and caused more trauma in the lungs. Maybe I'm off base comparing a Barnes-x failure to the ELD-X results Tikkashooter contributes

Ive used the 140 amax and eldm quite a bit on antelope and mule deer. One of the most impresive bullets ive seen used on mid sized game. One of my buddies is now using the 143 eld-x and every animal he has killed i have been very underwhelmed with the eldx performance. Doesnt hit near as hard or have near as large of wound cavities and animals run quite a bit farther

I appreciate this kind of comparison. The assertion of 'shot placement' being the issue here appears overly dismissive. Could be my ignorance here, maybe there's something I don't know?

I understand that ELD-m and -x are differently constructed. I happen to like Accubonds. Based on my experience shooting accubonds through deer, the results here seem to suggest ELD-m is more frangible and and ELD-x is tougher and slower to expand than my 'baseline'.

... Or is this just my confirmation bias at work?

 

[Greyfox]

Do you do anything to the meplats or just run them? Thanks in advance

No, but from my experiences with the Bergers I do make it a point to check them when reloading. They always appear to be nice and clean.

 

[WildRose]

Firstly, 'Grats on the good hunting! Generally my experience agrees, and I'm fortunate (or inexperienced) enough to have spent little time following up game. I was taught to wait for a few minutes before following an animal in the event it ran after the shot. the rationale being it would bed down and stiffen up, reducing the probability of being lifted on approach. This has proved good advice, and usually I arrive at the end of a blood trail to find an expired animal.

It did not go so well for my uncle one year. He shot an elk, and spent the rest of the day chasing it. High lung shot, .260, Barnes TSX, pencil hole through the chest cavity.

Shot placement could have been better, but so could have bullet performance. Examining the evidence we all agreed that it would have been a better day for those involved had the bullet expanded and caused more trauma in the lungs. Maybe I'm off base comparing a Barnes-x failure to the ELD-X results Tikkashooter contributes



I appreciate this kind of comparison. The assertion of 'shot placement' being the issue here appears overly dismissive. Could be my ignorance here, maybe there's something I don't know?

I understand that ELD-m and -x are differently constructed. I happen to like Accubonds. Based on my experience shooting accubonds through deer, the results here seem to suggest ELD-m is more frangible and and ELD-x is tougher and slower to expand than my 'baseline'.

... Or is this just my confirmation bias at work?

Don't take it as "dismissive", not intended that way at all.

Shot placement is always key and varies with all sorts of things from the game sought, how it's put together, how "tough" they are known to be etc is always a big factor.

Bullet selection and caliber play a big part in deciding placement as well.

Example. You are shooting 300gr .375's at large, dangerous game.

If you go with the FMJ for punching bone and instead hit the ribs missing all of the heavy bones on an animal you're likely to lose that "Bull of a lifetime" or "XXX of a lifetime and your last memory of that animal is likely to be it's *** topping the next rise.

Hit that animal through both shoulders taking out the "running gear" you're not likely to have to search much over 50 yards diameter from where you fired.

Match your placement to the bullet and the task at hand and you'll do fine.

 

[Rymart]

Two recent data points with the 143 ELD-X and late season cow elk tags.

Kill number one was shot by my buddy with a Tikka CTR (20" barrel) in 260 Remington, 2640 fps muzzle velocity. The shot was 440 yards (angle compensated) for steep uphill at a mature cow elk. On the first hit she broke from the herd (went left about 5 yards, herd went right) and stopped, on the second shot she took a couple steps and stopped again, on the third shot she dropped and slid down the mountain. Total elapsed time from the first shot to the third was maybe 15 seconds. When he hiked up to her, she was still alive but couldn't get up and required another shot to finish her off.

Upon skinning, the first two hits were behind the shoulder in the chest cavity, slightly high-of-center. Both bullets recovered intact on the offside hide. Good internal damage.

The third shot hit the spine and passed through.

Kill number two was shot by my wife with her Custom Defiance Deviant Hunter action in 260 Remington with a 22" Bartlein barrel, 2775 muzzle velocity. The shot was 515 yards uphill at a young, but mature cow elk. The shot was at a fairly steep quartering away angle ( I told my wife to aim for the offside shoulder). On the hit the cow staggered for a few yards trying to follow the herd, but quickly fell behind and started staggering downhill, then laid down. My wife wanted to launch another round, but I told her to hold and only fire if it got back up. Within less than a minute the elk went limp and slid/rolled down the mountain.

Upon skinning, the entrance was in the 'belly' center-of-mass. The lungs were pretty damaged and there was a lot of blood and trauma in front of the diaphragm. The bullet exited the ribcage high, just below the spine, and went into the front-offside shoulder. If there was an exit hole, it wasn't noticeable. The front quarters are still hanging in the garage and I suspect we will find the bullet against the hide in the offside shoulder.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I'll post the pictures later but I had two back to back kills one using my 338lm and the other my 6.5 creed. My 338 shoots 300gr SMKs at ~2800fps my 6.5 does 2650 with the 143's.
Anyways I killed two feral goats flattened the big goat 240lbs with the 338. The slightly smaller 200lb goat I took at 250ish yards shot was quartered broke the shoulder and cane to rest in the ribs 18 or so inches of penetration. Mushroom was perfect, retained 105grs of weight for the eld-X. You guys might find it hard to believe but that goat stopped a 300gr SMK. It weighted in at 119grs plowed 25" through that goat it was roughly the same shot as the second goat but in reverse and slightly more severe angle.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I won't use anything else other than those ELD-X out of my 6.5 looking at 18 kills most of which died right there or with in 10 yards. With just a few exceptions. That said I may load some 105gr Maximus bullets from CEB for my Night time hog hunting activities.

 

[Prwillard2]

Tagging in. Excited to see more reports of the ELD performance. Has anyone done any ballistic gel testing?

 

[Capt RB]

Tagging in. Excited to see more reports of the ELD performance. Has anyone done any ballistic gel testing?

Pretty sure Elkaholic did some testing