Thread: .308 178gr ELD-M for hunting

Interested to hear experiences using 178gr for hunting? Mainly what’s the min distance people are using them?

I’m thinking of running Barnes TTSX out to 250-300 then ELD-M from there…. Thoughts?


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ELD-X are The Hammer of God. Are you using M's because that's just what you can find/have? No first hand experience with the M's on game here but can vouch for the X.

sub 40 yards on a red spiker outta a 30-06 dropped it like a sack of spuds on the spot, insides turned to soup, shot placement (engine room) ensured minimal meat damage

Pretty sure my friend has used them out to 700ish on deer from his .308. He is a very good shot and practices a lot.

Yeh can’t find any ELDX and ELDMs are super accurate in my rifle. Barnes TTSX are great just don’t want to push their range too far.


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up close as long as not driven too fast out of a big magnum I'm sure they'll be devastating if it's a 308win as per the title and not 308 cal and some flash magnum, I wouldn't even bother dual loading, I run them in my 19"300wsm super pig and would be happy using them 0-500yards without any issues, they hold enough velocity and ft/lbs out further but I don't think I've ever felt the need to shoot that far personally. most of my shots are 300-450 yards

No need for two loads. They will be deadly wherever you use them

I've used the superformance 168gr eld m with good results, surprisingly holds together far better than SST. Was getting 2670fps out of an 18" barrel! I didn't like the recoil though.

The 130gr ttsx has to be my all time favourite, light recoil and kills like a Lazer beam. More of a 0-400 load though, after 400 it runs out of steam quickly.

I use the 168eldm .308 in my work gun, they are accurate and kill well.

I wouldn't bother with 2 loads just stick with one or the other, I'd just stick with the Hornady because they are cheaper & more readily available.

Some people swear by the Barnes and no doubt are good but I've always shot the Hornady match bullets all the way through from 75, 80 88 22 cals, various 6.5's, .270 Eldx, and various 30 cal ELDM's. I haven't seen a massive amount of difference between the "m"'s and the X's. They seriously "f" things up, and that's what you are trying to do? Never had any problems with them, I don't really understand what some people's beef is?

Maybe it's they can be a little too destructive, especially on light game smashing big holes through them, projectiles can splinter off on angles into places you don't want them on occasion.

I used them in my 30-284 sending them at just shy of 3000fps.
Shot lots of reds with them from as close as 30y to past 600, everything shot with them dropped never had anything walk.
They were going a fair bit faster than you will get out of a 308 but will be fine from zero yards to as far as you can accurately place your shot and keep velocity over 2000fps.

The only reason I see to use a Barnes up close is to save meat or shooting in thick shit

I used them in my .30-06 in the US, mostly at close range. At .308 velocities they will be perfect from close to 600 and beyond. Don’t over think it.

They will be epic for everything. What powder do you have? Rl15 would help with the speed for longer ranges