Hunting with Hornady ELD X

Arif Jahania

Arif Jahania

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Hello folks, need your thoughts on Hornady ELDX for hunting long range. I have a 7mm Magnum and been using Winchester Ballistic tip 150 grain ammo for hunting so far. I would like to switch to Hornady ELD X Ammo 162 grain for my rifle and wanted to get your thoughts if its a good Ammo, primary reason for switching is the reviews i have read and the heat shield technology that Hornady is using.

I also have a 308 and would like to start using 168 grain ELD Match for hunting


Appreciate if you can share your experiences with this Ammo please

Cheers


Arif
 
Arif Jahania said:
Hello folks, need your thoughts on Hornady ELDX for hunting long range. I have a 7mm Magnum and been using Winchester Ballistic tip 150 grain ammo for hunting so far. I would like to switch to Hornady ELD X Ammo 162 grain for my rifle and wanted to get your thoughts if its a good Ammo, primary reason for switching is the reviews i have read and the heat shield technology that Hornady is using.

I also have a 308 and would like to start using 168 grain ELD Match for hunting


Appreciate if you can share your experiences with this Ammo please

Cheers


Arif
Click to expand...


FWIW... Some interesting gel test.


 
Arif Jahania said:
Hello folks, need your thoughts on Hornady ELDX for hunting long range. I have a 7mm Magnum and been using Winchester Ballistic tip 150 grain ammo for hunting so far. I would like to switch to Hornady ELD X Ammo 162 grain for my rifle and wanted to get your thoughts if its a good Ammo, primary reason for switching is the reviews i have read and the heat shield technology that Hornady is using.

I also have a 308 and would like to start using 168 grain ELD Match for hunting


Appreciate if you can share your experiences with this Ammo please

Cheers


Arif
Click to expand...

ELD M vs ELD X

 
Gel tests are great until you hit a bone.

The marketing of the ELD-X makes it sound like its a wonder bullet, but I don't buy it. If it'll expand at all at 1600fps, I have trouble believing it will do anything but expand violently at 3000+fps. I've got some ELD-X on the shelf that came as part of a deal for some brass, but I am in no hurry to try 'em on game when I've got partitions and bonded bullets sitting here too.
 
Last edited:
Suther said:
Gel tests are great until you hit a bone.

The marketing of the ELD-X makes it sound like its a wonder bullet, but I don't buy it. If it'll expand at all at 1600fps, I have trouble believing it will do anything but expand violently at 3000+fps. I've got some ELD-X on the shelf that came as part of a deal for some brass, but I am in no hurry to try 'em on game when I've got partitions and bonded bullets sitting here too.
Click to expand...

Agree. I have some eld-x bullets, I'll load them into a 308 for deer and wild boars. If Im lucky, we will see how they do this season. - dan
 
I sold my Ruger#1 in 280 last year to a friend, it is a very accurate rifle with ELDX bullet.
He set up on a cutline where he knew that elk would cross, and took a cow at 742 using a 175 grain ELDX bullet, one and done.
Cat
 
I've shot several black bears with 143 ELDX's from a Kimber Montana 6.5 Creedmoor at ranges from 40-150 yards, they work great!

They are also extremely accurate, with 1/2 inch groups being the norm off a bench at 100 yards from this rifle.

I'm shooting 175 ELDX's from my Fierce CT Rival 7 Saum, again 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards.

I killed a black bear this spring at around 200 yards with it, great results.

:) I haven't shot any gel blocks yet, so maybe my observations and results are wrong :)
 
I have some 162 eldx loaded up for my 7mm mag. They seem to shoot well. Shot a big black bear at 90 yards with ne last week. Shot was head on in the bears neck and Amy bullet would have worked fine. It will be my backup rifle for moose this year and I'll probably end up using it for whitetail as well.
 
hawk-i said:
I've shot several black bears with 143 ELDX's from a Kimber Montana 6.5 Creedmoor at ranges from 40-150 yards, they work great!

They are also extremely accurate, with 1/2 inch groups being the norm off a bench at 100 yards from this rifle.

I'm shooting 175 ELDX's from my Fierce CT Rival 7 Saum, again 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards.

I killed a black bear this spring at around 200 yards with it, great results.

:) I haven't shot any gel blocks yet, so maybe my observations and results are wrong :)
Click to expand...

Same experience with 143s on white tails in Alberta. No issues. But all shots within 150 yards. Super accurate well past 500 yards.
 
I use the 143 ELDX in my 6.5 CM and 162 & 175 ELDX in my 7 Rem Mag. I shot 3 whitetail bucks and a cow elk with the 143 and a cow moose with the 175 ( the 162’s were impossible to find for a while). Most shots were kill zone ( heart and lungs) ranging from 40 yards to 325 yards. All were good clean kills. I don’t have any complaints and all my hand loads are Sub MOA which is the norm for most reloaders using the ELDX from the sounds of it. I load for my dad ( 200 ELDX for his 300 Win Mag) and an uncle ( 178 ELDX in his 30-06) and they also have had good kills to date on deer and elk.
 
The ELD-X is designed for hunting, and the ELD-M for paper shooting; do not recommend it (M) for hunting, and neither does Hornady.

Have only used the 143 gr ELD-X out of the 6.5 Cm on a moose at 15 yards. Moose died quickly, but never did recover the bullet from inside the young bull. Lost in the lung mess and blood in the thoracic cavity while cleaning the animal. It did not penetrate beyond the diaphram. While not a great test of bullet's performance due to high impact velocity at such close range, I cannot argue that the bullet did not kill quickly.

As a note, one of the first articles I read on shooting 7mm's over 30 years ago, was that the 160-165 grain bullet was the optimum bullet weight in this caliber.
While many rifles are being outfitted with faster twist barrels for longer projectiles used in long range shooting today, I believe for the average hunter/shooter, this weight of bullet still performs well in the majority of rifles with regular twist rate barrels.
I have had great results on game with 160/162/165 gr bullets (Nosler, Hornady, and Sierra) on a wide variety of big game over the past 3 decades, from 15-475 yards, with the 280 Rem, 7mm Rem Mag, and 7MM STW.

The 162 gr ELD-X in your 7 Rem Mag should work just fine! (when placed in the vitals of any big game animal)
 
ELD-X factory ammunition experience (cup/core construction).
Accurate in every caliber tried.


Bull elk, 150-200yds, factory 143gr 6.5cm, first shot lungs stopped somewhere in offside lung, second shot into liver. Ran 20/30yds on first shot, dropped on second.

Bull elk, 150-200yds, factory 220/230gr?? 300rum, one shot through neck slightly quartered to, minimal to no expansion, dropped in tracks.

Bull elk, 150ish yds, factory 162gr 280ai, one shot, high lungs/spine, dropped in tracks, lots of damage to spine/meat.

Black bear, 150ish yds, factory 178gr .308win, first shot offhand while bear was trotting hit liver and spun bear around, second shot in lungs, stopped in offside lung, bear ran 20-30yds.

Whitetail buck, 200ishyds, factory 162gr 280ai, high lung/spine, dropped in tracks, lots of damage to spine/meat.

Whitetail buck, 50-60yds, factory 162gr 280ai, lung shot, massive internal damage, ran 15-20yds before dropping.


Avoid bone and good to go.
 
I have a 7mm SAUM rifle I have developed 2 loads for it.

1 is 162 gr ELD-X that I have sighted in out to 600 yards


I also have a 160 Accubond load


The 100 yard zeroes are almost a match


I always have first round chambered woth Accubond, in case a close range shot presents itself.

If longer ranger shot, you have lots of time to eject the first round and load the ELDX.

Thst way you dont have to worry about ELDX holding together at under 200 yards
.
 
I recently shot a mule buck with 175 eldx out of my 7mm rem mag at 480 yards and he didn't make it 15 yards. Found what looked like the entire jacket of the bullet up against the skin on opposite side of the critter. I still plan to weigh what I found of the bullet but I was pleased with the results!
 
There are better "hunting" bullets out there than the ELD-X. In close, and hit a bone,
you will have a mess. Quite explosive at high velocity. Probably ok out beyond 250M
Personally not for me, when I have so many better options. Dave.
 
I've had both good and bad experience with the 162 eldx in a 280ai factory load.
1 bull moose hit high dropped on the spot 187 yards
1 bull moose 4 in a row splashed? Without penetration on the shoulder. 5 th dropped it in its tracks. The first 4 did not penetrate hide but bruised the quarter disgustingly badly. **** Thus was at roughly 30 feet ***
1 bull moose 80 ish yards double lung and stopped in offside hide. Beautiful mushroom and the bull didn't go more than 100 yards
Half a dozen black bears were all through and through causing varying amounts of damage. 10 ft -343 yards distance. No bear went more than 10 yards.
Coyote at 330 ish yards blew offside shoulder apart.
Wolf at 150 ish yards took off the offside back hip. (Rushed shot with 6 more in the area and me by my lonesome with limited ammo)
5 Holsteins / dexters. All brain shot from point blank to 10 yards
All dropped rather quickly, some bullets held together some did not.
 
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