110gr ELD-X bullet anyone hunted with it yet?

mcseal2

Handloader
Nov 1, 2010
725
13
Just curious if anyone had used this bullet yet. I picked up a box of the Precision Hunter ammo with it on sale on a whim and my M70 custom 25-06 proceeded to put 5 of them in a half inch group. I'm considering giving it a try on game. I want to get them shot over the chronograph and then if they aren't to slow I may have a turret built for my scope around them. I don't think I'll even mess with finding a load, just shoot the factory stuff in this one with those kind of results.

They should be about the most efficient 25-06 hunting bullet in the wind that always seems to blow around here. I took a couple deer with the 143gr from my 264WM at 3240fps and have some doubts about the toughness of the bullet. I blew one up on the shoulder of a big whitetail buck at 150yds, killed the buck but didn't exit and there were no pieces of the bullet big enough to recover. I took a doe at 321yds with the same bullet and it seemed to perform well and exited. I see that they load this 110gr bullet in 257 Weatherby ammo at 3240fps so they must feel it's tough enough to handle speed.

I see that's only 100fps faster than the 25-06 load. It seems a little slow for a Weatherby but maybe factory ammo is loaded down a bit. That or maybe they were worried about the bullet on close shot if it was pushed faster?
 
I’d be a touch leery of them. Seems like they work wicked at a distance but don’t seem all that well suited to speed.
 
That's what I found with the ones from my 264. We will see on these I guess, I'm going to try to shoot some coyotes with them and see what they do. I would like to get one facing me or running straight away pretty close, have lots of coyote to expand in.
 
Here are 3 pictures of an ELD-X 145 grn .277 fired out of a 270 Win. It left the barrel at approx 3,000 fps that was fired into the broadside lungs of whitetail last year at about 40 to 50 yards. This bullet was followed by two more before the deer left it's feet. To me, the pictures support what SJB posted. I believe they are designed to open at some pretty slow speeds for the longer shots. I reload but I believe these were pretty close to the factory loadings. I'm actually using them again on one of my deer hunts this year, so I can confirm or refute the results. I did not find the other two bullets.
 

Attachments

  • ELDX#3.JPG
    ELDX#3.JPG
    237.3 KB · Views: 2,663
I picked up a box of these to try in my 250AI, but haven't got around to loading them yet.
Only animal I have harvested with an ELD-X so far is a moose at 20 yards with the 6.5 Creedmoor. Only found some gilding metal that swiped off on a rib on the entry.
Not sure I would want these for larger, tougher game and/or more speed.
Still love the great AccuBond for that!
But since I do not hunt long range I am not worried about the hype on the bullet tip degrading.
 
I don’t sweat the ELDs in either M or X varieties at the 2700-2800 start speeds. They hold up pretty well up close even at those speeds. It’s when they are cranked up and a near point blank impact I’d not trust them.
 
So- if I read the jist of this correctly, they might work well in my 250-3000 Savage at around 2600 MV? As a 250 yard deer bullet? CL
 
It is, in my opinion, a bullet not suitable for hunting game, too much meat damage and they just don't hold together well, it's a SST with a different name
 
I've used the ELD-X on game and several of my friends have used it much more extensively.

From what I've seen, they work very well with weight retention at around 60-70%...BUT- that's at impact speeds from 2000 to 2500 fps. A couple were recovered at impact speeds of 1600-1800 fps and there wasn't much expansion and above 2500fps they tended to blow up.

In my mind they are great hunting bullets for people who shoot moderate cartridges in open and windy country at fairly long range when impact speeds have dropped. I'd be leery of them in any of the 3000+ fps cartridges or for areas where close shots are the norm.

I like them in my 6.5CM and I load them in my son's .270- but we're mainly hunting caribou with those rifles in wide open alpine tundra where typical shots are 250-400 yds.
 
mcseal2,

I d just go with the 110 AB as it's a Great bullet for the 257 Weatherby.

Know the BC lags the Eldx a bit BUT the AB will be just as flat and wind defying if you push it up to 3400+ fps range plus it ll hold together. I m shooting them at 3425 fps with a stout load of R22 out of my 26" tube and want for nothing else!
 
Just got back from antelope hunt in NW Nebraska. Broadside antelope @ 296 yards. 270 Win 145 grn ELD-X bullet (the same loading I pictured earlier from whitetail @ 40 yards). Took the antelope in the shoulder. The bullet worked perfectly. Entrance wound with no exit. Antelope took off and slid probably 30 yards total. DRT. Looked for bullet but unfortunately, I didn't find it. Must've left with the gut pile. There were literally no lungs left in the animal.
 
hodgeman":7l538cm9 said:
I've used the ELD-X on game and several of my friends have used it much more extensively.

From what I've seen, they work very well with weight retention at around 60-70%...BUT- that's at impact speeds from 2000 to 2500 fps. A couple were recovered at impact speeds of 1600-1800 fps and there wasn't much expansion and above 2500fps they tended to blow up.

In my mind they are great hunting bullets for people who shoot moderate cartridges in open and windy country at fairly long range when impact speeds have dropped. I'd be leery of them in any of the 3000+ fps cartridges or for areas where close shots are the norm.

I like them in my 6.5CM and I load them in my son's .270- but we're mainly hunting caribou with those rifles in wide open alpine tundra where typical shots are 250-400 yds.

Agree 100%.
 
They are built a little too "LITE" for my taste for my mags
 
Back
Top