Thread: 162gn ELDX not expanding

has nobody heard of Nosler partitions anymore???? you read the book and John himself tells you WHY they were made in first place..... animals lost to projectile failure when stressed beyond thier design. the animals havent changed and to some extent neither have the ranges of projectile speeds.
take out the front wheels and animal isnt going anywhere....

Yep, but there has to be other options too

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

has nobody heard of Nosler partitions anymore???? you read the book and John himself tells you WHY they were made in first place..... animals lost to projectile failure when stressed beyond thier design. the animals havent changed and to some extent neither have the ranges of projectile speeds.
take out the front wheels and animal isnt going anywhere....

bet you 50 quid to knob or goat shit Speer will make a big heavy 7mm softy that will be cheaper and will if anything over expand at that speed right through to something hard enough to stay together..... its the same old catch 22 to hard it wont expand,too soft it may blow up...hit bone it causes havoc,slip through rib gap and it can sail on through without doing bugger all expansion..... think of the old culler with FMJ .303 he wouldve had same delima with shot placement being criticle unless ammo was dumdumed etc.

Every bullet kills, we all know that. I've used all sorts over the years but I know through experience that some kill better than others and are repeatable every single time. I took plenty with eldx especially with the 300wm but I'd never use them again

Originally Posted by MGNZ

This is a 178gr ELD-X out of my 300WM @ 3050FPS. This went through a spiker @ 380yards and I dug it out of the bank behind it. The core completely separated and 30% weight retention. Hate to think what will happen inside 100yards. Second deer was at 420 yards and a similar result. I am also looking for something more solidly constructed.

Anyone used the Federal trophy bonded or TLR's ? they look like a good hybrid construction for close and far.

Attachment 108861

MGNZ What was the result of those two deer you shot, were they runners or DRT? A lot of these types of bullets shed there cores but still deliver the goods, I think so long as you aren't losing your animals there isn't to much of a problem.

Originally Posted by Pongo12

I took plenty with eldx especially with the 300wm but I'd never use them again

Why ? What range ? What are you using now ?

Fine on smaller animals etc but those big stags seemed to shake the shoulder shots, and bolt. Always found them in the end but I want them dead on their feet within 20m ya know. Seemed to be within 300m would be the trouble with eldx and that's with a 300wm and 7mmrm. They use to fragment and blow apart once hitting on the big boys I found, other times they seemed to hold together. They weren't repeatable.
I like one load to do it all that's why I use vlds.

Originally Posted by Nick.m

Anyone else had problems with this projectile not performing at close range? I initially thought it was the ducks nuts when the first few deer I shot went bang flop. However they were all at 300-400 yards, recently I have shot a few deer up close and had them all run in excess of 100m. The load is 162gn eldx, 72grns of 2217 going 2990fps out of a 7mm Rem Mag.

What’s a good alternative for the bush from the rem mag, Thinkimg of using a Barnes ttsx, anyone shooting them out of a rem mag?

The facts: The ELDX is not working up close but it works at distance, so despite what the manufacturer says it is going too fast when close. Going to another soft projectile will likely just fuck the carcase and turn a whole side black and no one wants that. Accubonds will give penetration and expansion and handle the high velocity. So will the partitions that others have mentioned.
My guess as to what is happening based on similar problems in a different but also fast calibre, is that you have a partial surface blow-up at close range which dissipates the bullet energy outwards causing a shallow flesh wound and then pencil penetration of the core base.

Haven't had that issue myself, but will bear it in mind, biggest animal I've shot was a red spiker at 450 yards and he was a solid bang flop.

Originally Posted by Mooseman

MGNZ What was the result of those two deer you shot, were they runners or DRT? A lot of these types of bullets shed there cores but still deliver the goods, I think so long as you aren't losing your animals there isn't to much of a problem.

Neither of them took a single step - so at those 400+ yard ranges (2500fps and lower for me) the ELD-X delivered.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

bet you 50 quid to knob or goat shit Speer will make a big heavy 7mm softy that will be cheaper and will if anything over expand at that speed right through to something hard enough to stay together..... its the same old catch 22 to hard it wont expand,too soft it may blow up...hit bone it causes havoc,slip through rib gap and it can sail on through without doing bugger all expansion..... think of the old culler with FMJ .303 he wouldve had same delima with shot placement being criticle unless ammo was dumdumed etc.

I bought speer 7mm 145gr hcsp as was told by @chainsaw they are basically the cheaper version of the partition. $50 for 100 and I reckon in my 284 I will get them over 2800 fine as my 162eldms do 2760. Here is a recovered pill from a stag at 92yds I shot on Saturday.

I had the same issue with the 162 eldx in the 7rem at close range. I had no problems with the 162 eldm's. Will try the 180 eldm's next.

Originally Posted by MGNZ

Neither of them took a single step - so at those 400+ yard ranges (2500fps and lower for me) the ELD-X delivered.

My 308 is doing 2565fps at the muzzle with the 178 eld-x so will hopefully be okay at all ranges (be unlikely to shoot over 300m). The rifle loves them punching paper, yet to be tried on an animal.

It's the caliber..... if it was a 6.5 swede, this would be a barbecue thread....once you go swede, you never go back .LOL

I reckon there's enough evidence here and on other forums to suggest that magnum speeds, close range and the 7mm 162gr ELD-X aren't such a good mix. For the majority of applications though, I'd say ELD-X has been phenomenally successful, judging by how prevalent it is worldwide, particularly in the way its taken off with 6.5 Creedmoor and 30 cal.

My own experiences with it the 143gr in Creedmoor clearly show it doesn't hold together well at close range (say sub 200m) on larger animals. BUT... that hasn't been a problem. Put it into the front of the chest in line with the front of the foreleg, the classic 'hilar' shot, and see if the deer knows the difference between ELD-X and anything else. Its been one bang flop after another with the ELD-X for me, the one and only runner was that one at 500m I wrote up here, which was a shot placement problem (the "gap" just above the lungs, below the spine). Its the downrange accuracy that I like so much, that BC really works.

Some bullets perform really consistently across the range of weight & calibre, others have an anomaly somewhere in the mix... the 120gr Nosler BT in 7mm is a good example, being that much harder than the other BTs due I believe to having a thicker jacket to core weight. I'd like to see a photo of the different ELD-X weights & calibres all sectioned, from lightest to heaviest, to see if there is a measurable difference in jacket thickness on the 7mm, specifically if it is drawn thinner on the ogive. Just curious to see if there is anything obvious that would explain why we get this feedback. If someone can section a single 7mm pill and photograph it, I can do the 6.5 and .30 here, and compile a little montage to see if we can see any differences.

Would be good if someone can do the 200gr 30 cal as well. Photograph them on a white sheet of paper.