Hornady ELDM & CX 6.5Creedmoor Experience

Now, bear with me. A mate's widow gave me several boxes of 140gr ELDM 6.5Cr after he unexpectedly passed away. He had brought them with the intention of using them as a hunting bullet as he was getting low on the 143gr ELDX during the ammo drought. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that the ELDM is essentially the old A-Max remarketed, a projectile that has proved itself a deer killer. However, the ELDM is not endorsed by Hornady as a game projectile. In researching around, I've also found myself pondering the Hornady CX 120gr Outfitter in 6.5Cr and Superformance. I currently use the 6.5Cr ELDX as my go-to, but now I have potentially several boxes of an alternative and now I'm projectile curious. So I have 2 questions for you 6.5Cr users out there. Firstly, what are your experiences using the 140gr ELDM on red deer at various distances? Secondly, who has used the 120gr CX Outfitter and Superformance, and what is your feedback?

Thanks in advance.

I found the 140 eldm to kill better than the eldx last 300m they also do the job well at shorter range

I use the eldm in both .308 and .223 very accurate and kills well

Not a fan of most of the guys content, but gavintoobe on YouTube has done a gel block comparison test between the ELD-M and the ELD-X that's worth a watch.

Suffice to say, they will work. And many thousands of animals big and small are shot in NZ with ELD-M's every year. But... If one doesn't perform properly then you can't really blame anyone but yourself.

I myself shot a few deer with 147gr ELD-M's last week. Heaps of damage and pass throughs from a PRC on big and small deer from up close out to 250m. But I have had a couple "incidents" where ELD-M's haven't done a clean job in the past... including a 7mm 180gr ELD-M that failed to punch through about 8" of spiker on a high shoulder shot. And even a 338 285gr ELD-M blow up on a pathetic bit of tussock and fail to cleanly put down the very small fallow that was just the other side of it.

Because of that, I am switching away from ELD-M's in favour of more stout purpose made hunting bullets, as I shoot through what I've got loaded.

The ELD-X is supposed to have a tougher jacket around the base to better guarantee that something holds together long enough to pass through an animal. Lots of great alternatives out there too though.

I use ELD-M for hunting in 308win, 243win (only one kill so far) and 223rem. The 223 and 243 are heavy for calibre and I consider them a great huting bullet. You just have to put them in the right place.

I use them as my work ammo have had no issues and even got 2 with 1 bullet at about 250m

I presumed that Hornady aren't promoting them as a hunting bullet so they can be legally used as “match” ammunition in military contexts.