Never Seen Damage Like This - Warning *Graphic*

[devon deer]

ELD-X kill that's for sure, at the cost of meat damage.
I live in a different world to you guys, I can, and do sell the venison to game dealers, and my first experience of those things was whilst guiding a hunter onto a stag.
Perfectly placed broadside shot, damaged as above, destroyed the front half and some back strap, game dealer penalised me and that was the day I banned the use by any hunter using them unless they purchased the carcass.

Any soft point bullet is my preferred choice, plastic tips for vermin, but like a lot of people I know I will be switching to copper once I have used up my soft points.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Drewd]

Nothing seems worse than getting your chance, nailing the shot and having more damage than you would ever expect. Had some pretty good damage on a deer a couple of years ago but nothing close to this.

 

[KU_Geo]

I just had a similar experience. Put 2 143eldx into a mature bighorn at 300yds. Both actually exited but one broke the leg bone on the way out. The damage in entry and exits side was nothing short of absolutely ridiculous. Entry side was actually worse then exit, even though the exit side had bone shrapnel everywhere. They shoot amazing in my 6.5 Creedmoor (2775 FPS velocity) but I may be going to LRX in the future.

 

[glass eye]

I've always had excellent results with Nosler Partitions.

 

[belshawelk]

I just had a similar experience. Put 2 143eldx into a mature bighorn at 300yds. Both actually exited but one broke the leg bone on the way out. The damage in entry and exits side was nothing short of absolutely ridiculous. Entry side was actually worse then exit, even though the exit side had bone shrapnel everywhere. They shoot amazing in my 6.5 Creedmoor (2775 FPS velocity) but I may be going to LRX in the future.

I posted something similar a couple days ago. My issue was the same with a Accubond LR. I switched to LRX. I just pulled from the hide the offside shoulder. Moving forward I wont use anything else but LRX on elk.

 

[mevertsen]

I killed my antelope this year at about 426. My first shot was not perfect, hitting the left femur and coming out near the last rib.

There was a fair bit if damage, but I was able to salvage some from that hip. I am shooting Speer Hot Cor bullets at about 2850 out of my 30-06. Impact velocity was in the range of 1850 to 1900 or so.

I like a good cup and core, or Partition or copper. The long range bullets sure look nice, on PAPER, but rarely are the shots long enough to take advantage of that.

I also use 30-06 and 243 Win for big game, so on the slower side as well.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

I am shocked by all the testimonies of this bullet's poor performance. It seems to be a pretty popular bullet design. They kill critters well enough, but they dont seem to be reliable from what I have read. Also seems people either love them or hate them with no in between. I can't imagine a company pushing something with these types of reviews. Surely Hornady knows about these issues....

 

[HandgunHunter]

I am shocked by all the testimonies of this bullet's poor performance. It seems to be a pretty popular bullet design. They kill critters well enough, but they dont seem to be reliable from what I have read. Also seems people either love them or hate them with no in between. I can't imagine a company pushing something with these types of reviews. Surely Hornady knows about these issues....

I personally think they work quite well and have shot a bunch of game with the 162 eldx.

it took some kind of extreme circumstance to get the damage posted in this thread.

 

[thusby]

Only time I have seen something close to this was the time I shot a whitetail doe with a .444 Hornady 265 grain leverevolution. Switched up my ammo immediately after that.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

I personally think they work quite well and have shot a bunch of game with the 162 eldx.

it took some kind of extreme circumstance to get the damage posted in this thread.

I'm sure shot placement is crucial, but quit the risk of damaging meat looks like.

 

[brockel]

what velocity

 

[Taxed in Maine]

If you want to stop that type of damage, stop using soft garbage bullets like ELDXs, SSTs, Ballistic Tips, Bergers, etc...

I've had that happen, I've had two bullets disintegrate to the point that not a single fragment made it into the chest cavity.

I use Barnes exclusively for hunting now.

 

[Nick87]

what velocity

From the looks of it about 5500 fps.

 

[Taxed in Maine]

I am shocked by all the testimonies of this bullet's poor performance. It seems to be a pretty popular bullet design. They kill critters well enough, but they dont seem to be reliable from what I have read. Also seems people either love them or hate them with no in between. I can't imagine a company pushing something with these types of reviews. Surely Hornady knows about these issues....

Because Hornady initially marketed them as a Longe Range bullet, which they are. As they became more popular Hornady changed its description to an All Range bullet. Now every fanboy thinks they need to use one.
If you call Hornady CS, they will tell you not to use it if your expected impact range is less than 300yds.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Barnes.
Hammer has really caught my attention.

I hate meat loss!

 

[thusby]

From the looks of it about 5500 fps.

Really? Whatever happened to 3000

 

[JLS]

Hammer has really caught my attention.

I love ‘em, and that’s coming from 20 years of using Barnes.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I love ‘em, and that’s coming from 20 years of using Barnes.

I keep hearing it.
Now Steve is coming out with the Absolute Hammer which are even faster.

 

[Fullquiver]

Just don't shoot em in the meaty bits.. I guess I was a bowhunter for too long and always aim off from the big bones up front and have never seen that kind of stuff from anything that I ever shot.

Probably doesn't hurt that I don't own a single magnum rifle either.. My 223/243/308 rifles just don't do that kind of damage to anything I ever shot..

Kind of seems like asking for trouble. I mean when you shoot a thin jacketed cup and core bullet at high energy levels into the areas of an animal with large heavy bones and not expecting significant meat loss. Just doesn't add up in my mind.. YMMV...

 

[MarvB]

From the looks of it about 5500 fps.

...and that was after liftoff and before stage two separation...