Thread: ELD-Match for hunting?

Originally Posted by Smiddy

Work mint in my wsm at 2920fps, closest shot has been around 30m

I am not surprised, at 30m. Sure you didn’t mean 300?!

Originally Posted by TLB

Now that these have been out a while I'm reviving this thread as I am thinking about giving the 178gr eld m a go through the .300 win mag. Anymore pros and cons of the eld ms? Anyone used the 178s?

The difference between the -M and the -X terminals is a function of the calibre and bullet weight as well as construction, kind of obvious I suppose.

In .30 cals, the -M will pretty much always exit at short to medium rage, usually with lots of mess.
My business partner pitched up with a .300WM and 208gr ELD-M, that just obliterated smaller deer at 300-400m, dirty horrible great big exit wounds, the combo of velocity, weight and frangibility was too much for small meat deer. He’s switched to ELD-X now and turned down the velocity a bit.

In middling small bores like 6.5mm, at medium range (400-600m type shooting) the ELD-M probably won’t exit, it will fragment massively and mince the internals, but no large fragments will penetrate through but you’ll get quite a bit of offside meat damage. The comments earlier about these ELD-Ms not being ideal for shorter range hunting is spot on, I think they are too frangible at high velocity. IMO unless you’re shooting 600m+ towards 1000m with long rangers, I wouldn’t use the ELD-M for meat hunting unless I was neck shooting them.

I first used the 178gr ELD-X in my .308 and it’s excellent, hits goats and small reds like a freight train, but without the explosive damage of the heavier ELD-Ms. I whacked a fairly heavy rooting sow at about 300m with it not that long ago and that pig was poleaxed on the spot, through the lungs and out the other side.

When the 6.5mm 143gr ELD-X came out I switched to that in the Creedmoor and it’s been much better. Sensible sized wounding at medium ranges, very deadly, reasonable exit wounds with reduced meat damage on the offside.

The -X is a better all-rounder by a clear margin IMO, I’m happy to use it at shorter ranges in the Creedmoor and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in my .308 on heavy reds. I am dead keen on a 6mm Creedmoor to use the 103gr ELD-X, but that will have to wait.