I have almost exclusively hunted with the 243 the past 4 years and it hasn't left me with a lost animal yet. Im moving to the 7mm for a new toy. If I was going to keep the 243 cal I would either be switching to a Nosler partition or a faster twist barrel with the heaviest bullet I could buy in 6mm.

I haven’t hit any hogs or deer yet but working up a load for the 338 lapua and it’s looking pretty good with the eld-x.

Anyone have chrono on factory Precision Hunter, 143 gr. ELD-X, 24" barrel? Preferably Tikka T3.

Out of my 24" CTR with suppressor I averaged ~2690. Jason said mine hasn't 'sped up' yet, it's got about 130rds through it.

6.5CM T3X, 24" bbl, 143 ELDX factory ammo averaged 2657 for a 20 shot string.

Out of a Savage 22" barrel using off-the-shelf Precision Hunter (143 grain ELD-X) for my 6.5 Creedmoor this is what I got (not long after purchasing it):
Shot 1: 2706
Shot 2: 2696
Shot 3: 2642

Average velocity: 2681. Not too bad considering the guesstimate of losing 25 fps per inch of barrel length. Hornady's number of 2700 fps is based off a 24" barrel.

I've not chronographed since then to see if things have sped up or not. Using the average velocity in Strelok has worked well for me so far.

Good info, thanks for the velocity data.

I've now shot 3 pigs and a cull spike with the 143 ELD-X. The pig and spike I shot this weekend were both pass-throughs with excellent blood trails. The spike went about 35-40 yards and the pig went about 60-70 yards. The pig was a double lung and the spike was a perfect heart shot. I really like them so far, but I'm also still working on a load with 140 SGK's to determine which one will be my go-to hunting round.

That seems like bad performance to me... if you hit the heart and the animal still ran 40 yards...

Am I crazy? Are there too many stories of drt that are embellished

If you don't take out the spine or brain I don't ever 100% count on DRT.

A heart lung shot running 40 yards is no biggie. Usually a heart shot will leave a blood trail a blind man could follow.

the Heart is not the best shot if you are trying to get DRT. The heart shot will stop the blood supply instantly, but the deer will live until the oxygen that is in the brain is used up by the body. To induce a DRT shot, you need to hit the central nervous System. Either a direct hit, or a hit form the temporary cavity caused by the shock wave. We all know what that looks like in slow mo videos of ballistic gelatin. You have to shoot higher than the heart to get that. Or Neck shot.

For the last 20 years I've hunted with .308, 7mm-08, and 6.5 Creedmoor. The only animals that have dropped immediately with any of them were head/neck/high shoulder shots. Every one shot in the heart or lungs have ran at least 20 feet or so before dropping. I am amazed the spike could run like he did after seeing his heart was completely blown apart. I stood where he was shot and without moving I could see the blood trail all the way to where he fell. There was very little blood when I gutted him.

^^Agreed

Want something to be dead before it hits the ground, sever the brain stem. Hitting vitals leaves a chance for tracking. Could be a couple of yards, could be 100 yards.

Coyotes have the highest desire to live, more than anything else I've seen. Hit them with a dang 162 gr out of a 7mm-08 and they still make take a while to die. God didn't put any quit in em.

So fully understand nervous vs circular system... where I am struggle with eld x is my 30-30 with FTx bullets on similiar shots and the deer have walked less then 10 feet. I wouldn’t say my 30-30 is substantial stronger than a creed. Similar shots with very dissimilar results

You could shoot the same shot, with the same bullet, out of the same gun a dozen times and get a dozen different results. Did the deer just finish taking a breath and have more oxygen in it's blood? Is it already a little spooky and have elevated levels of adrenalin? Does that deer just have a particularly high will to live that day? I'm sure there are a ton of different reasons. Any deer hit in the vitals that only goes 40 yards, regardless of bullet/caliber, I would say the bullet performed flawlessly.
Why is it that people look at a dead deer and say "man, that bullet didn't so it's job very well."? I really don't get it.

I DRT'd a nice buck at roughly 200 yds one evening. Oddest thing was I aimed high shoulder but hit low and took out the heart, he didn't take a step just kind of crumpled and fell over. Was very surprised when I walked up and saw where the bullet had hit, just kind of punched a nice little hole through him. . 7x57 140gr core lokt

Cleric, I've just chalked it up to what unclebubba said. It just depends on the individual animal. The bullet went where I aimed, it completely obliterated the heart, and it made a half dollar size exit through the other side of the rib cage. I can't ask a bullet to do any better than that.
I will add that I shot a 7mm Rem. Mag. for a few years back in the early 90's. I shot multiple deer with that gun and 140 Nosler Partitions, and every one was shot behind the shoulder. Every one except one dropped in their tracks. The one that didn't was shot while running away from me at an angle and the bullet didn't exit.

100% correct IMO.

Agreed.

Seen it.

Since I got that .308 GAP and used 168 Nosler Ballistic Tips, I have shot only two game animals with it, two spikes on the two late seasons and put one in the lungs of both spikes and both dropped on the spot leaving a half dollar exit hole, never took a step.

All the big bucks i shot the last two years with my 7mm Magnum ran at least 10 to 40 yards after being hit with a 160 Accubond and a 139 grain SST.

Do slower bullets do better to drop them right there?

For deer I prefer a heart shot for bullet placement. My son took a spike last year with my 168 A-max bulk ammo at about 110 yards. It runs about 2550 or 2600 fps in his 20" 308. He center punched the heart on this spike and he dropped to his front knees for a few seconds, then tipped right over dead. He never took a step. He shot a nice 8 point 2 weeks ago from 170 yards just above the heart and right behind the shoulder. Deer ran about 40 yards. Bullet showed minimal expansion on both shots, but shot placement was perfect for both. Good shot placement = dead deer. And same goes for almost any bullet. I see the same performance in my 300 blk out with 125 grain SST. I go for heart shots, and they all work perfect for stopping animals.

Lot of that makes sense...where I struggle is that I hear a lot of reports off the 143 with animals running longer distances. A lot of times when I hear great eld x it’s a different bullet. I understand there is a lot of variability in animals and factors but the needle is moving for me on the 143 as 80%+ of stores I hear where animal runs it’s 143. I understand their is confirmation bias and sample size issues but 0/4 dead within 10 yards is not a good sign



Wouldn’t let me quote

Just for reference, I haven’t had to track any of the blackbuck, Pronghorn, or axis shot with 143 grain ELD-X bullets out of my 6.5 CMs. All good shots through the boiler room. Some ran approximately 50 yards, but that was on the Wyoming prairie, so still well within sight. Great blood trails on all.

In comparison, I heart shot a 150 pound hog with a 300 grain 12 gauge slug at 35 yards. Complete pass through with massive damage. Crazy thing still ran almost 100 yards.

There isn’t a magic bullet. Put most on the right location, and you have a dead critter in short order. There will still be some anomalies that just don’t make sense (like the hog).

In my scenario, I have some control over the rifle, my hand loads, and the bullet I use. I can't control how the bullet performs or what the animal does when it's shot (heart/lung shots). I believe in my case the bullet performed perfectly based on the damage to the deer, he just ran a little farther than I would expect. I can't control that and I don't dwell on it. When the performance of the bullet gives you a blood trail Helen Keller could follow, I'm not concerned about a little extra running distance.