Hornady ELX - No Good for Hunting Elk???

[Wind Gypsy]

Range?

100ish yards. Mid 2800s muzzle velocity.

Either the 175 7mms make a bigger mess than the 200 30 cal or bullet rpm makes a notable difference in terminal behavior because the 200s at a similar muzzle velocity from a 10 twist have been less messy than the 175s from an 8 twist.

 

[Derek44]

178 gr. ELDX IN 30-06. 3 dead elk past 4 years. One shot one kill on all. And the shoot like tack drivers out of my x bolt. Ranges 100-250 yards. Until I convert to a mono, I’m going to keep using them. I’ve had very minimal meat damage. One of the lucky ones I guess.

 

[mtmuley]

I love bullet threads. mtmuley

 

[Ought Six]

More anecdotal evidence: friend shot a whitetail buck quartering away last night with an ELD-X. Said he thought it hit angled toward the offside shoulder mid body, 180ish yards. Buck ran to neighbors place. Buck was able to maneuver enough through the brush and trees that he couldn’t get a follow up shot. Still hasn’t found the buck as of today.

Seem like a ticking time bomb for a bad experience.

 

[Gynaroo]

This years experience with this bullet (never shot Hornady, before this year. My brother has used interbonds in the past and uses a lot of interlocks in his loads.) Always used Nosler or Barnes.

338 weatherby rpm, 230 grain eldx:
1: raghorn bull elk. Shot at 35 yds a little back (won’t pretend I made a good behind the leg shot). Turned him hard. Follow up shot 50 yds high shoulder. Done.
2: Cow elk, behind the shoulder at 106 yds. Spun and ran two leaps and was dead.
3: Cow elk. 313 yds. Quartering away high shoulder (downhill shooting angle, and under compensated for wind). DRT.

As for meat loss or damage. No more then any Accubond I’ve used in the past.

Will I use this bullet again. Yes. I’ve tried LRX and haven’t got a good load figured out. Did find some 200 grain accubonds that I’d like to try. Bought a few hundred from SPS but can’t find anything more. So back to the reason I started with ELD-x. Affordable and seemingly easy to find.

 

[Forkyfinder]

More anecdotal evidence: friend shot a whitetail buck quartering away last night with an ELD-X. Said he thought it hit angled toward the offside shoulder mid body, 180ish yards. Buck ran to neighbors place. Buck was able to maneuver enough through the brush and trees that he couldn’t get a follow up shot. Still hasn’t found the buck as of today.

Seem like a ticking time bomb for a bad experience.

Interesting - would love to see how the physics of that work - beyond a piss poor shot.

 

[Ought Six]

Interesting - would love to see how the physics of that work - beyond a piss poor shot.

Agreed, probably didn’t hit where he thinks, but wasn’t able to recover the buck to perform an autopsy, so who knows.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Agreed, probably didn’t hit where he thinks, but wasn’t able to recover the buck to perform an autopsy, so who knows.

Yeah - i am a believer most "bullet failures" are actually bad shots. And.... no matter what you shoot it with - some animals run farther than others.

 

[Guy]

178 gr ELD-X from my 30-06 at 2790 fps mv, 405 yards to a cow elk. Bullet smashed through the onside leg bone then went through the heart. Didn't recover the bullet. Sadly, even with all that damage, she was still alive and needed a finisher at shorter range. Accurate and performed well.

Guy