Hornady ELD-X Official Thread

[codyadams]

Shot the 147 ELD-M in my .260 AI today.

Didn't have the best conditions, wind from 5 to 15 mph and about 15 degrees, but by timing my shots with the wind, I got some useable data.

This was a load work up for seating depth, and they do seem somewhat picky on the depth, though all loads shot under MOA. All loads were with 47.5 grains H-4831SC, and I had no pressure signs whatsoever. I shot 2 three shot groups of each seating depth, and adjusted up 1 MOA between groups, as to give two separate groups. As you can see with the .090" off groups, I'm glad I did this, as my first group was the best of the bunch, but this seems to be an anomaly. Judging by consistency, I'm going to say .050" off, or 2.865" OAL is where it is going to give me the best performance. Next, I'm going to do a charge work up over the chrono and see where I find the best accuracy/lowest SD, as well as max pressure. I'll update my findings there, but these bullets are looking promising.

I fired a group above the top left target with my current load with 140 Bergers, to compare to these. That load consistently shoots .3" every time I put it on paper, so that is what I'm shooting for with these 147 pills. If they will do that at 2900 fps or better, I will switch to the 147's.

 

[kshunter]

Anyone used the 225 eld m 30 cal yet. I just saw this on midway today. The listed BC of .777 has my interest. If anyone has do we know what twist rate will be required for this one?

 

[gohring3006]

Anyone used the 225 eld m 30 cal yet. I just saw this on midway today. The listed BC of .777 has my interest. If anyone has do we know what twist rate will be required for this one?

I have 300 of them. It says on the box 1-10 twist. I just loaded some up in my 300 Weatherby to try.
I have got conflicting answers on the stability calculator. If I run it as a total length including the polymer tip, it's marginally stabile in a 10 twist.
If I run it minus the tip, it's more than stabile. I have heard the tip has no bearing on stability. I also have heard the opposite. So shooting will tell me more.. I'm inclined to believe what it says on the box.
From left to right.
225 BTHP
225 ELD M
215 Berger
208 ELD M

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I have a strong feeling that .777 B.C won't hold up.

 

[gohring3006]

The .777 BC is at Mach 2.25.
Hornady wants you to use the Mach 1.75 number for any thing past 800 yards, which is .719..

 

[WildRose]

Well finally did some field testing. Shot a nice 10pt at 450+/- He was walking away quartering slightly left and when he finally gave me enough of a turn I put about center of the last rib and gave it a squeeze.

He hit the ground absolutely stone dead without ever even kicking.

When I opened him up I find the liver is pretty much gone, lungs too, and on the off side the shoulder is very loose and crackly and getting there it managed to nick the spine enough to apparently render him instantly paralyzed and completely dead within no more than a minute.

I found the bullet in about three pieces two of which were still mostly attached, buried on the off side of the shoulder just in the meat and under the skin.

For what it's supposed to be I'd rather it stayed together and given me an exit because without the liver and spine damage he could have made a fair effort to get off of my place barring a second shot to down him.

Shot placement was exactly what I'd hoped for though so I'm not complaining in the least.

This shot was fired from the .300Rum using the 220gr ELDX.

Sent pictures to Mario so if he sees this I bet he'll post it.


I also killed one shooting 6.5 143gr from the new Remington 5R II on a big mature doe.

She was angling away to my right but finally turned giving me a quartering shot on her left side. I aimed a bit higher because I was unsure of the range which finally proved to be a bit over 450. Bullet entered just between ribs 3-4 from the back and took out the spine for about three inches making a bigger than I"d like exit hole there.

I also realize that when you turn that much bone into high velocity shrapnel bigger holes are what you will get.

Fortunately I ownly lost maybe 3lbs of meat at most where the backstraps would have been.

Bullet is proving to fly ver well at least in my guns and while it won't always exit if you put it through enough bone, nothing I've shot with it has taken so much as a step.

I'm mostly hunting on or very near tall CRP grass that's pretty thick so if one does do some running it may be hard to find.

 

[etisll40]

good stuff

 

[kshunter]

gohring3006

Thanks for the info on the 225 eld m! Im hopefull that the 10 twist will work. Its encouraging that it states a 10 twist will work on the box I was also skeptical of the high BC claim but after reading more on hornadys web page about this and the chart Gohring supplied I understand it better.

 

[Michael Eichele]

Thank you WR. Good report. All I can report is a small caribou shot through the lungs at 225 yards with the 178 ELDX. 2576 muzzle velocity. Exit hole a little smaller than a dime. Dropped dead in his tracks. High lung hit. No spine or shoulder bones involved. I don't recall if any ribs were involved.

 

[cdherman]

Don't know if this is the place to post this, but I had a nice scare this AM while loading some .284 175gr ELD-X bullets. Manufacture date was 1/16/16, IIRC.

I have a Forster press, so usually seating bullets is almost effortless. One bullet seemed to seat harder than usual -- and when I look again, I can see that the diameter is different with the naked eye.

Turns out there was a .308 bullet in the box. It had seated with the Forster press pretty easily. Wow. Had I been paying less attention, I would have potentially blew my gun up this afternoon.

So I called Hornady. They took down the information, and offered to send me a replacement bullet!! I told them I was more worried about what the heck was wrong with their quality control process, how a wrong size bullet could have gotten mixed in.

The lady was apologetic, but acted like this was not the first time. Said bullets get "caught in the packing machinery from time to time".

This really scares me.......

Maybe deserves its own thread.... Dunno...

 

[Swamplord]

Hornady 30 caliber bullet comparison pic ........

 

[codyadams]

Don't know if this is the place to post this, but I had a nice scare this AM while loading some .284 175gr ELD-X bullets. Manufacture date was 1/16/16, IIRC.

I have a Forster press, so usually seating bullets is almost effortless. One bullet seemed to seat harder than usual -- and when I look again, I can see that the diameter is different with the naked eye.

Turns out there was a .308 bullet in the box. It had seated with the Forster press pretty easily. Wow. Had I been paying less attention, I would have potentially blew my gun up this afternoon.

So I called Hornady. They took down the information, and offered to send me a replacement bullet!! I told them I was more worried about what the heck was wrong with their quality control process, how a wrong size bullet could have gotten mixed in.

The lady was apologetic, but acted like this was not the first time. Said bullets get "caught in the packing machinery from time to time".

This really scares me.......

Maybe deserves its own thread.... Dunno...

Not downplaying your experience, Hornady needs to have better quality control than that, but anyone that wouldn't notice a 30 cal loaded round amongst a bunch of 7mm loaded rounds isn't inspecting their ammo thoroughly enough and probably shouldn't be hand loading in the first place.

Also, there is no way that loaded wound would have chambered. So it wouldn't have fired, as the gun would not go into battery. I don't see that as a safety hazard, it's our job as handloaders to inspect our loaded rounds, and you did just that and caught it.

I would have tried to get a whole box of bullets from them for that. At least a hat or something

 

[elkaholic]

Don't know if this is the place to post this, but I had a nice scare this AM while loading some .284 175gr ELD-X bullets. Manufacture date was 1/16/16, IIRC.

I have a Forster press, so usually seating bullets is almost effortless. One bullet seemed to seat harder than usual -- and when I look again, I can see that the diameter is different with the naked eye.

Turns out there was a .308 bullet in the box. It had seated with the Forster press pretty easily. Wow. Had I been paying less attention, I would have potentially blew my gun up this afternoon.

So I called Hornady. They took down the information, and offered to send me a replacement bullet!! I told them I was more worried about what the heck was wrong with their quality control process, how a wrong size bullet could have gotten mixed in.

The lady was apologetic, but acted like this was not the first time. Said bullets get "caught in the packing machinery from time to time".

This really scares me.......

Maybe deserves its own thread.... Dunno...

That is scary! I don't know exactly why that happens, but I found a .284 vld in a box of .264 140's a few years back.
Glad you were offered a WHOLE NEW replacement bullet though!!......GEEZ!

 

[Rich Coyle]

Sierra gave me an 8mm in a box of .308 bullets one time. It looks like it happens more than one would think.