I am going to say it...


I have had been experience with ELD X

I fully understand a lot of people have had great experiences, and both statements can be true.

I have been looking around and I am not the only one. The biggest issue seems to be that ELD X is sometimes not expanding. I am wondering if this is because the bullet has to be tougher to maintain higher BC at distance or something. I have seen a lot of people using ELD M with good results, which if my theory is right, would be due to the softer bullet.

I have shot 2 deer and 2 hogs. Both deer were double lung shots with minimal wound channels. They went maybe 20-40 yards and died. Both hogs went though the lungs as well one got caught up on a barb wire fence and the other run for 50+ yards. All the animals died and thankfully the wound channel made it easy to track.

As much as it hurts me I may move to the 140 ELD M or Amax even though they are target bullets or jump over to Nosler

Grab you some Noslers....you will be happier.

Not being argumentative, but how is this a bad experience exactly? Seems the bullets did what their supposed to, no?

There was no expansion so they went right through, think ice pick going through. With other bullets I was getting expansion so more wound channel.

You got complete pass through's, if I'm understanding correctly? Unless you recovered the bullet you don't really know if they expanded or not though. Reason I'm interested is that I'm still looking for that "perfect" bullet that will hold together at 100 yds, yet expand reliably at 600 yds. That's a tough chore. So far the Lapua Scenar is hell on wheels on hogs, but I haven't found a muley buck yet that I want to shoot (except one that got away of course).

BTDT....

The ELDXs were way too inconsistent for me over a sample of 25ish animals when they first hit the market. Easy switch to the ELDMs once they were available and put through the paces.

Like I've told JG before ... I'm solidly in the camp that wants as much internal damage as possible, wether it be up close or at extended ranges. I don't mind a pound or two of lost meat, a soupy vital cavity, or a bullet that doesn't exit and expends it's energy where it counts.

The Xs didn't give me that and were sent on down the road.

You've been led to water more than once.... Grin...

so here is what i am basing it on... The entry hole and the exit hole are appox the same size.

Whereas when I used my 30-30 the ftx exit hole was bigger than the the entry hole and the damage was far more visible. The animals walked 2-5 yards and dead

What cartridge, what bullet weight, what impact distance, what MV?

I ask, because I have had good experiences with it, at nearly the whole spectrum.

eld x out of a 22in creed. think something in the 2600 area at muzzle...dont have notes in front of me...(max pressure on reloading site is 2680 and i dont think i pushed this one that hard)

Distance any were from 20 Yards (charging hog) to 120 Yards on deer. I did shoot an elk at 425 but didnt do a good inspection on the wound channel. Next year taking the 300WM so i dont have to worry about it as Elk did travel some distance.

I know i am on the closer side of what the bullet is designed for as it is a long range bullet which is what led me to believe the softer 140 eld m would be better for close up or a softer bullet.

Most reports i have seen of bad performance have been on the creed, although did see 1-2 on the 308. I have not seen a bad report in 7mm which i find interesting

You’ve seen first hand the magic of the 7 and the weakness of the 6.5. You know the real solution, here.

Interesting.

Most of my experience has been with ELD-X out of 7mm-08 and 7mm-08 A.I. Anywhere from 2640 fps MV, to 2820 MV. Impacts on deer and hogs from 30 yards, out to 285 yards. Every single time, they did a great job. Some piled up where they were hit, some walked maybe 10 yards. Great exits, 1 1/2", on all but the closest deer, which was hit with a 7mm-08 A.I. (162 gr 2820 fps MV) hit at 50 yards. No compete pass through, but found on the off side hide. Massive trauma to the lungs. I was suspicious that making them go too fast was a problem, like a Berger VLD-Hunting, but you did not have that scenario with your 6.5 Creedmoor.

Looks like once again, a heavy 7mm is the answer to the question.

I agree. Nosler Ballistic Tips have great terminal performance.

Cleric, I've seen the same type of issue with the ELD-X especially on "Texas Whitetail" sized animals. I love it for bigger animals like oryx, elk, Midwest Whitetails, etc. I switched to the 140gr Sierra Gamekings and love them!!!! 4 shots with 4 DRT's and not the massive damage you get out of the SST's.

Nosler

My sample size is small but growing, but so far the 143gr has been deadly and performed well for me. My last two were a cull buck and a doe, both at 177 yards. The buck made 25 ft from impact, very good damage to the heart area. I went up 5 clicks on the doe and absolutely destroyed her lungs, she fell straight down. I know on her I caught a rib on the way in. Both bullets exited. I shot another doe that made 30 yards but the blood trail was massive. I hit her low in the shoulder and the hole in the back of the shoulder was at least 1.25", and excellent cavity damage.

I'm looking for three-four more this next weekend and will likely carry the same rifle. I'll report back. I shoot mainly heart-lung-ribs, maybe I can get one to pencil if I can stay off bone.

147 elf-m, So far seeing complete pass thrus ( which I don’t care about) with about 1” holes in and out. The animals are running about 20-40 yards. It works but I prefer a drop and I really don’t care about meat.
I need some more test subjects

I have also heard of non-expanding ELD-X bullets. The main one I hear about is the 143 ELD-X out of the Creedmoor. The CM doesn't push the ELD-X that fast, and the ELD-X is a tough hunting bullet. The ELD-X has a thicker jacket, and the bullet jacket gets thicker the further down the bullet you go. It's a controlled expansion bullet. The answer would be to go to a thinner bullet jacket for easier expansion, which would be the ELD-M. The negative of the ELD-M is sometimes over expansion and limited penetration on the faster rounds. But it works very well at the modest velocity of the 6.5 CM.

Some of the ELD-X bullets have worked very well across the course, though. The 212 ELD-X in a 300 Win Mag has done very well. Expansion, along with penetration, has been great on animals out to 850+ yards. I have several customers who have taken game at close range and at very long ranges, with good expansion and nice exit wounds. The 212 ELD-X has been one of the most impressive bullets, IMO.

No experience with ELDX yet.

In pencil in and out I have experienced 2 different bullet performance one I like the other I don't. First is one I don't like when the bullet just goes straight through and doesn't expand at all. Minimal damage see it a lot with the older barns x and non tipped barnes bullets, never tried the tipped ones as I gave up on them before they came out.

The other is very good bullet performance caliber entrance, lots of expansion energy transfer and destruction in the midle and then a smaller portion of the bullet exiting leaving only a small exit wound. This was my experience with some hot loaded nosler ballistic tips in my 270. Most were DRT even on lung shots, the ones that ran a blind man could follow for the short distance they covered.

I plan to throw some ELDX's next season.

Anyone have first hand experience with the 178 ELD-X at 308 velocities ?

Only one, I lung shot a doe at 53 yards with it and it looked like I grenaded her cavity. It blew lung pieces out the other side for 10 feet and she died on the spot. It's the bullet I now carry in both my .308s.

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.
Have a box of them, Lapua brass and Varget sitting on the bench, just haven't loaded any yet.

Interesting. I have shot pigs, deer, and a few pumpkins from 80 yards all the way out to 500 yards with the eld-x out of my 6.5. The pumpkin was at 500 yards and had a 6.5mm entrance hole and about a 2.5 inch exit hole. My guess is that Pumpkin does not have a whole lot of material to initiate expansion. In this case, the exit hole tells me that it most likely expanded at least a little bit. Most of what I shot has been DRT.

Most excellent set of components you have there.