Hornady ELD-X Official Thread

I have fired more 178 AMAXs than any other bullet both for practice and overall ballistic testing for my own personal gratification. I don't know if that makes me qualified to offer any opinions here but I'll offer some possible evidence to support Hornady's claims.

The attached picture shows both new and fired 178 AMAXs.

308 Win 5R. 2550'/sec MV. Distance 650 yards.

What I do know is that the 178 starts strong and while all bullet's BCs degrade over time due to decaying velocity, the 178's BC decays VERY rapidly past 600 yards. Much faster than many other bullets of similar weight. Now I know that the 178 AMAX is far from sleek compared to many other bullet lines but neither is the 175 SMK, however the 175 SMK's BC doesn't decay nearly as bad as the 178 AMAX.

Between the bullet pictured here and the rapid decay rate of the 178 AMAX, I'm inclined to believe what Hornady is saying.

You be the judge.

If the info on the new 178 ELDX holds true, this could be my last 308Win bullet choice.

M
Yea Michael, mine too!
If that holds true, if my rifle like it as much as the current A-Max, with the increased BC and Interlock (though not needed yet), it would be my one and only 308 bullet choice!
 
On the topic of bearing surface, I am more concerned with Hornady consistency in manufacturing. I sort bullets and Berger VLD bullets are far more consistent in bearing surface and weight. Once sorted though the 208 Amax shoots great.
 
On the topic of bearing surface, I am more concerned with Hornady consistency in manufacturing. I sort bullets and Berger VLD bullets are far more consistent in bearing surface and weight. Once sorted though the 208 Amax shoots great.

Good thought, I wonder if that's the vertical I get at random with the 208s
 
Sorry, but back to bearing surface for just a quick question. I noticed the 212gr ELD-X has a slightly shorter (.004) bearing surface than its 200gr counterpart, does this mean I can get the same velocity with the heavier bullet compared to the 200?

I would also like to say that I was hoping to see a 6mm and a .270cal bullet option. Preferable two .243cal bullets like a 90-95gr for factory twists and a 105-108gr for tight twists. Since most .270s have a ten twist, whatever the heaviest bullet that will stabilize in a 1:10, like a 150 or 155, would be nice in my .270 Win and the new Sherman cartridges as well as the WSM and Weatherby .270s. Like most bullet lines, I'm sure we will see some additions and changes over the course of the ELD-X.

I would like to say thanks for the great conversation from all, I can't wait until we can get these in our hands and start reporting data and field experience. Thanks again you all!
 
Question back to the OP:

When do you expect to put this new tip on the 208gr AMax?

Thanks,

DocB

As gohring3006 stated, I do not work for Hornady, but I sure wish I did haha :D. I have no information or source, this is just a guess, but I think the A-MAX line will be discontinued and the ELD Match will take over. The handful of ELD Match slugs currently released duplicate the weights of current A-MAX projectiles such as the 140gr 6.5 and 208gr .30cal. The BCs are higher and I believe this is the case of Hornady completely refining and overhauling the A-MAX line of bullets and fitting them with the new Heat Shield Tips. I think they are transitioning from the A-MAX to the ELD-M so customers won't assume the A-MAX still uses the inferior polymer tip, and can be guaranteed a solid performing bullet with the ELD Match.
 
Sorry, but back to bearing surface for just a quick question. I noticed the 212gr ELD-X has a slightly shorter (.004) bearing surface than its 200gr counterpart, does this mean I can get the same velocity with the heavier bullet compared to the 200?

Since I'm the one that started the bearing surface discussion in your thread, I thought I should respond. I doubt that a 0.004" shorter bearing surface would be a sufficient offsetting factor in MV, compared to the 12gr heavier bullet.

The reason I provided the MV data on the Berger 210VLD versus the Berger 215Hybrid was because these bullets are popular with enough members of this Forum that there's been quite of bit of consistent MV data shared confirming that the heavier 215gr bullet can be safely launched to a higher MV than the lighter 210gr bullet. Not out of only one rifle, but from a multitude of different rifles and different barrels. And not just 5-10fps faster. More on the order of 50fps faster.

Truth is, I don't have such extensive documentation from examples of other bullets. I know a bullet with a longer bearing surface will create more bullet to bore friction, which will serve to reduce MV. But I can't put any numbers to the magnitude of the reduction in MV for the myriad of other available bullets, either from personal experience - or from other's posted experiences. The best you could do with the information I provided is recognize that the difference in the bearing surface lengths was much larger with the two Berger bullets, compared to the 0.004" difference that you've identified between these two Hornady bullets. So I wouldn't expect bearing surface length differences of 0.004" to have a comparable affect on MV.
 
For comparisons these are the approx bearing surface lengths for the Bergers.

210 VLD .540"
215 Hybrid .419"
 
For comparisons these are the approx bearing surface lengths for the Bergers.

210 VLD .540"
215 Hybrid .419"

The revised numbers are .510" for the VLD and .463" for the Hybrid. The length difference from the rear of the bearing surface to the Ogive is .025".
 
Since I'm the one that started the bearing surface discussion in your thread, I thought I should respond. I doubt that a 0.004" shorter bearing surface would be a sufficient offsetting factor in MV, compared to the 12gr heavier bullet.

The reason I provided the MV data on the Berger 210VLD versus the Berger 215Hybrid was because these bullets are popular with enough members of this Forum that there's been quite of bit of consistent MV data shared confirming that the heavier 215gr bullet can be safely launched to a higher MV than the lighter 210gr bullet. Not out of only one rifle, but from a multitude of different rifles and different barrels. And not just 5-10fps faster. More on the order of 50fps faster.

Truth is, I don't have such extensive documentation from examples of other bullets. I know a bullet with a longer bearing surface will create more bullet to bore friction, which will serve to reduce MV. But I can't put any numbers to the magnitude of the reduction in MV for the myriad of other available bullets, either from personal experience - or from other's posted experiences. The best you could do with the information I provided is recognize that the difference in the bearing surface lengths was much larger with the two Berger bullets, compared to the 0.004" difference that you've identified between these two Hornady bullets. So I wouldn't expect bearing surface length differences of 0.004" to have a comparable affect on MV.

Okay thank you for the information. I wasn't sure if the 212 could be pushed to the same velocity since the bearing surface was nearly the same between the 200 and 212. I'm not an expert on bearing surface, I knew that a shorter bearing surface increased MV but wasn't sure to how much of a degree. Thanks again.
 
Bearing surface vs pressure.

If you look at the ammo lineup that many of these bullets will be featured in, you'll notice that the 30 cal 212 and 7mm 175 aren't listed. The other 7mm and 30 cal bullets are set up to run in factory cartridges in std magazines.

When you get away from seat of the pants pressure testing, its pretty easy to measure the effect of different bullet shapes and construction including bearing length, the effects of varying bullet/lands relationship, and the effect of bullet protrusion into case volume. By far, case volume is the significant variable. For similar bullet shapes, the small variation in bearing surface only contributes approx 15 fps - that's inside the ES of your ammo!

I suspect that the anecdotal evidence of "faster" for different bullet designs has to do with variations in case capacity due to bullet shape and seating depth.

We've got a great load for the 300 RUM that is shooting about 3175 fps with the 212 ELD-X, but its not loaded to 65,000 psi. I'll share some real numbers from SAAMI chambers asap.
 
Tagging. Hoping to see some data on the 6.5 143gr for my 260 A.I. build. I will put up some as soon as I can...but I'm still waiting on my barrel from Krieger....
 
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