New 270 bullet from Hornady- 145 grain ELD-X!!

I've always liked the 270 Win, and am always wanting a good bullet that performs well as a hunting bullet with a good BC. Finally, Hornady is coming out with a .277" bullet in their new ELD-X line to load in the 270 Win, 270 WSM, 270 Wby. I already called to get these, and suppliers do not even have a part number assigned to them yet. So, I will keep waiting. I WILL be loading these up when they become available. I am really excited about these!!!

G1 BC = .536
G7 BC = .270

http://www.hornady.com/store/270-cal-277-145-gr-ELDX/

That looks pretty slick.

I might have to get you to load me some. Keep us posted.

So how much to have my current 130s replaced with 140s

Be fore warned that the bc is only correct at the highest velocity.

http://m.hornady.com/BC

Stand on the throttle then. I don't see the problem here.

You and I both know speed only goes downhill as soon as it leaves the barrel. It needs a good scaled bc to be accurate.

Hmmm... very interesting.

will buy a box of these when they become available.

interesting

Thanks, dee, I had not seen this page. It's interesting how Berger uses an averaged G7 BC across all velocities, where Hornady uses the highest listed BC. This makes sense why their listed BC's are equal to or often higher than the Berger G7 BC's. But in reality, and not that high.

With the 277" bullet listed G7 BC is .270 at 2500+, you won't drop below 2500 fps until about 250 yards. Then the ELD-X is about even with the Berger BC of the 150 grain.

I really like the new placement of the interlock ring on these eld-x bullets. It actually serves a purpose now. On the old design if it came apart to the interlock ring it was already too far gone. May give my partition a run for its money.

Chad, how do you see these comparing to the new Berger 170 gr EOL (with a barrel with proper twist)?

The berger 170 has a better ballistic coefficient.

I think the deciding factor will be how fast you can push either of the two rounds. In a performance stand point I think the beger will come out on top. Their load data shows many loads over 2800 fps and several approaching 2900 fps with a 26 inch barrel so the capacity is there to move it.

Well, the 170 EOL will spank any other .277" bullet as far as BC goes, but needs a 1:8" twist to stabilize. I have been so impressed with the 7mm 195 EOL that I am building a rifle just to shoot this one 7mm bullet. But, 99.99% of 270 barrels will be a 1:10" twist. So, you have to cater any high BC bullet around this twist for the general mass of 270 shooters, which is the limiting factor of a 270 and high BC bullets (the same problem is had with the 243 heavy, high BC bullets and the slow barrel twist rates). The Nosler 150 grain LR AB has pushed the limit, and it is barely stable in a 1:10" twist unless pushed really hard. I have played a little with this bullet, and the groups have been so so. The LR AB bullets seen very soft in general, and I think can be a challenge to dial in and load for. But a 277" bullet in the 140 to 150 grain class weight that is not too long of a bullet (remember, bullet stability is largely based on bullet length, not the weight), should be a good ticket. I have been HIGHLY impressed with the ELD line of bullets so far, and will certainly be trying the 145 ELD-X in 270 once it is available. My customers really like the performance so far on elk and pigs with the ELD-X.

But if I were comparing a 170 grain 270 bullet to the 195 7mm bullet, the 7mm will perform better with only 15 grains more bullet weight. Plus the available cartridges in 7mm far out number the cartridges in a 270. You really need a magnum round to take advantage of either bullet high BC bullet. I'm a HUGE 270 Win fan, and really like the round. I think this 145 ELD-X would be one of the best lead, non-bonded bullets available for it.

So is the 145 ELD-X supposed to stabilize in a 1:10" twist then? If so I have the perfect rifle for it.

OK maybe not perfect, but one I would really like to try it in.

Yes, the Hornady 145 grain ELD-X will do fine in the 1:10" twist.

Chad how fast would you think you need to be able to push the 170 before it would be worth it?

Oh, I don't know. I'd have to crunch some numbers and compare them to other calibers.

Berger 277" 170 grain G1 .662 and G7 .339 compared to a 7mm 195 with G1 .755 and G7 .387, it's a huge difference. The percentage higher of the 195 is so great, I don't think you could catch up to it. I've run the numbers with the 195, and it gave me a woody! I'll be tipping the 195 (running the bullet up into a bullet tipping die) to close up the hollow point some, and increase the BC by another 3.5% to 4%. This puts the 195 with a G7 BC around .400!!! That's stupid high!! At the speeds you can push it with a 7mm/300 Win Mag or 28 Nosler (around 3000+ fps), that makes it supersonic to atleast 2000 yards! Nothing else like this comes close!

Has anyone tried these out yet? I just ordered a box from Midway this morning. Can not find any load data. Emailed Hornady this morning. I will be pushing these from a 270wsm.

I would use the 150 grain load data as your data. If you used the 150 grain SST or 150 grain SP data for your WSM, you will be fine.

Chad, are you going to load these for 270 wsm? Should be able to run them around 3150 fps or so.

Yes, I easily could. About 3050 to 3100 would be about right for speed.

Chad what are your thoughts about this bullet in the 270win be the wsm? I have both and have been happy with the 150VLD so far in my wsm.

My college room mate has already told me to get these for both his 270 Win rifles. I will be testing it in his rifles, and it should do very well. I have been loading the 140 SST for his ammo for years, and this new 145 ELD-X should be great.

That is great news! What are you expecting for muzz velocities and are you expecting them to need to be loaded close to the lands?

Do yall have a preferred powder that you would recommend for these new Hornady 145gr bullets. I have purchased some factory ones but waiting for a day the wind is not blowing much to try them. Right now I use H4831 for my 130gr partitions and get good grouping but not "tack drivers"

I also reload for my 300 RUM and get good results with H4831 and 180gr partitions. I recently bought the new Hornady 220gr ELD's and didn't change anything just shot them and 3 shot group at 100 yards all cut same hole (clover cut). Of coarse I had to adjust right to left and the up and down to center of target but grouping is what I am impressed with! After scope adjustments 3 shot group still all touched. Needless to say I am very impressed with these ELD's. I am hoping for the same results in my 270!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

I ordered 2 boxes of these today for load testing in my son's 270 Win. Rifle was built by Mike Bryant, trued Rem 721 with a Hart barrel, HS stock. I have been shooting the 140 NBT with pretty good results out past 1000, but this bullet should really be a game changer on wind. Should add roughly another 200 yards to subsonic range as well. I'm really anxious to try it!

Any update on this load for the 270 Win? I may need some if this is as good as it sounds

Sent you a pm chad.

Well I finally got around to doing a little preliminary mini-ladder test with the 145 ELD-X in my sons 270. Holy smokes it looks like this thing is going to shoot. Using H-4831 SC the last three rounds of the ladder test (57.9, 58.2, and 58.5) went into a nice little .649" group at 200 yards. Right at 1/3 MOA out of a medium sporter weight rifle, 10x SWFA scope, shooting prone.

It is a pretty accurate rifle though, I have to give props to Mike Bryant for that. He did the action work and chambering on the Hart barrel.

Now I am really excited about tweaking this load in. With the BC this bullet has, and the speed you can run it, it should be a game changer for the 270.

Congrats!

I really like the way it loads up in this 270 as well. The bevel on the boat tail stops just short of going into the neck/shoulder junction with the bullet .020 off the lands. I also have plenty of magazine room to chase the lands as it wears too. Basically, if I were going to custom throat the rifle for this bullet, that is exactly where I would have had him cut it. Just got lucky I guess since this bullet wasn't even a twinkle in Hornady's eye when I had this rifle built.

There may still be a little bit more I can squeeze out of this load by tweaking the seat depth, I haven't tried that yet. But it is shooting 100 yard groups like this very consistently just by getting on the right powder charge node. 4 shot groups in the .4's, I will take that any day for what is primarily a deer rifle in a long action cartridge.



I really like the way this bullet is setting up in the case as well. Heel of the boat tail is barely in front of the neck/shoulder junction, and I have at least .2" of room left on the magazine to chase lands. Since this is not a high volume rifle, I will probably never have to even come close to worrying about that.



Velocity is sitting right at 2920 fps with WW brass, CCI-200, and 58.5 of H-4831 out of 22" barrel with no can. The Harvester may give it a little bump, 2925-2930 or so. Bolt throw is very smooth, no swipes, no flattened primer corners, no cratering, no pressure signs of any kind. Bolt started to get just a tiny bit stiffer at 58.8, no way I can make the next node up, so I am just going to leave it right there. Will probably play with seat depth just to see if I can tighten it up a bit more.

Using a stepped G7 BC of .270 down to 2500, .262 to 2200, and .257 from there down Shooter gives me 1000 FPE to 800 and says the bullet goes subsonic at 1340. That is putting some real legs on the old 270. I haven't gotten out to test the dope out and true my app yet, it will be very interesting to see how well the real trajectory matches predicted. From what I hear the BC's on the ELD's are pretty true. The ELD-X is showing about 1/3 less wind deflection that the 140 NBT I was using, that makes me very happy. Should be a real hammer on deer out in the open country, ravines and canyons my son hunts with it in.

I am really ready to go stretch this thing out!

Wow, that is impressive velocity out of a 22 inch barrel.

I am happy with that speed for sure. Some rifles seem to make speed pretty easy (while others struggle against it), and that rifle has always been one of the easy ones for me.

145 ELD-X at 685 yards on an 8" steel. Pretty proud of that, since the wind was very tough last night. Anywhere from 3-15, gusty up and down through the ravine. Looks like I may have low-balled my speed though, for sure it was shooting flatter than the app. Gonna have to true that up today. That was the first time to stretch this load out.



Also ran across a couple creepy crawlies too. That one is pretty good sized for a prairie rattler, they don't get near as big as diamondbacks. They make up for it in attitude though.