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Hunting & Fishing Anybody have poor results with the 143 ELDX?

coldboremiracle

Freelance Sharpshooter
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Jul 7, 2009
    5,224
    1,108
    Utah, north
    www.coldboremiracle.com
    Buddy shot this deer last week with a 6.5CM at 900 yds. Worked perfectly as far as killing clean, but bullet didn't expand at all. Only damage done was from hitting a rock upon exiting the deer.
    Video Here for those interested:

    143 eldx.jpg
     
    Sorry I don't have first hand experience on the 143 but I have read very mixed results on it. I also don't like the 145 ELDX in .277 cal as my BIL shot a deer with it and had poor results...

    Curious to read what others have to say on it...
     
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    I shot a deer last year with a 143gr Eld x at 111yds and it didn’t do near the damage I was expecting. Punched right through her and she dropped 20yds away from where she was.
     
    What was your MV and Baro Pressure? I think Hornady claims expansion down to 1600fps. From personal experience with tipped bullets in general anything below 1750fps starts to get dicey.

    Damn good shot placement, btw. That's a poke!

    posted reply one moment too late - I just seen your response above.
     
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    At that range, and with <1,000 ft lbs of energy, I imagine an 147 ELD-M might retain more ability to expand. That is certainly the view of Nathan Foster (the NZ terminal ballistics expert) who rates the 'ELD-M' series as superior for low velocity expansion.
     
    At that range, and with <1,000 ft lbs of energy, I imagine an 147 ELD-M might retain more ability to expand. That is certainly the view of Nathan Foster (the NZ terminal ballistics expert) who rates the 'ELD-M' series as superior for low velocity expansion.
    I have also heard that from many other hunters, the thinner jacket of the ELDM seems to work better at distance.
     
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    We use ELDX for whitetails. Shooting crop damage permits so we shoot a decent amount of deer a year with them. We run them in

    6.5 CM
    260 REM
    308 WIN
    300 WM

    They work awesome in the 308 and 300. The 308 shots have been up to 550 yards and the 300 has shot them out to 800. Excellent performance at any range on those rifles.

    The 260 has been Ok. Running a bit faster than the 6.5. The 6.5 has left some to be desired. Nothing like the 178 or 200 ELDX performance out of the 30 cals.

    I reload for them all and both the 260 and 6.5 are playing in the upper limits. The 308 and 300 are run pretty conservatively and are suppressed.

    My buddy who runs the 6.5 also runs two 308’s and is considering dropping the 6.5

    I’ve seen zero advantages to the 6.5 or 260 vs the 308 inside 600 yards. After that the 260 with 143 ELDX hangs on better but the performance (Damage) is nowhere near the level of the 300 with those 200 ELDX. The 6.5 CM has killed out to 500 but 308 still performed better with the 178 ELDX

    My longest shot with my 260 is 1121 yards on a whitetail with 142 SMK. The bullet pin holed in and pin holed out. Mine was also a heart shot. I’ll post pic below.

    So I’ll say a SMK at long distance isn’t any better than what you have a pic of. My 260 runs 2835 at muzzle Unsuppressed with the SMK.

    This isn’t just a few deer either. The sample size for the ELDX above is about 300 deer taken over the last couple years. Distances of 30-800 yards

    That 6.5 and 260 are awesome for targets but I don’t recommend them over the 308 or 300 for hunting with ELDX bullets.
    Hope this helps.
    85EE15D7-04CA-420F-9B13-0B34AB48F259.jpeg
     
    Interesting, I've had great luck with SMK's at almost every distance we shoot.

    For me the results have been mixed. Also shot them a lot for crop damage before switching to ELDX. So lots of kills with them as well

    I ran:

    142 SMK in 260 Rem
    168 SMK in 308
    175 SMK in 308
    300 SMK in 338 LM

    My results varied from awesome performance, specifically when hitting bone, to pin hole entrance and exit wounds. Recovery rate wasn’t nearly as good with smk as it is with the ELDX.

    Even the 338 Lapua had very mixed results. That gun was used in a field where shots varied from 300 to 1000 yards. Longest confirmed kill being 1000. Most shots 400-650 yards. Had I kept the rifle I planned to switch to 285 ELDX. With the 338 one deer would have half a shoulder left on the exit side, the next would be almost impossible to track and run 80 yards. To me I’d rather loose the shoulder than loose the whole deer. These are results with good vital hits in both scenarios

    I ran a mix between different rifles of SMK, SST and Gamekings for about 10 years before switching. Of those SST were my favorite but the base to ogive measurements were not consistent even within the same box. Sierra was a lot more consistent and we’re way more accurate at longer ranges with the SMK design. Which is why I used them in my primary long range guns at the time which were the 260 and 338 LM

    I was looking for several things in the bullets performance

    1) Accuracy at long range (ELDX and SMK are the best out of what I’ve used)
    2) Easy recovery and preferably not a long track as most of the land around the fields we shoot is not owned by the farmer we shoot for. Hands down ELDX and SST were best for this
    3) Consistency when reloading. SMK and ELDX have both been great. SST were the worst and Gamekings were decent but not a long range bullet design and was easily outshot by the ELDX and SMK

    Had I not switched to ELDX I would have tried Bergers next.

    To date I have 34 kills over 600 yards. With 2 over 1,000. All taken with SMK or ELDX. I can say the 142 SMK in the 260 were the weakest. As you’d probably expect. This is the rifle I started with before acquiring the 300 and 338 LM

    The 178 ELDX and 200 ELDX were run in 300 WM. The ELDX in the 300 WM had probably 15 of those kills.

    The 300 grain SMK in 338 LM had probably 10.

    The 300 WM with ELDX were more consistent. Always pleased with the results and preferred them to the SMK in the 338 LM. Which is why I just continue to use the 300 and sold the 338.

    At closer ranges the 338 LM would make a mess of a deer so I saved it for the longer fields. But the SMK out of that gun did very well when closer. But then again a 300 grain marshmallow would flop a whitetail on its ass at 100 yards..
     
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    At that range, and with <1,000 ft lbs of energy, I imagine an 147 ELD-M might retain more ability to expand. That is certainly the view of Nathan Foster (the NZ terminal ballistics expert) who rates the 'ELD-M' series as superior for low velocity expansion.

    147 ELD-M’s also come apart at 50-100 yards out. I’ve personally had a lot of them do this. Many others have spoken out about this too. Easy to Google or search on here. I sure as hell wouldn’t trust them hunting!
     
    I have two friends who swear by them. Mostly bang flop kills inside 500. I’m talking about the 143 specifically. They’re shooting a 6.5-284 and a PRC. 900 yds from a Creed is a far poke.
    I did some load developement on a customer 6.5-284 the other day and shot the 142 accubond LR side by side with the 143 X. Identical BC, accuracy, POI, and speed at a given charge weight between the two.
     
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    Same results for me too, tried the 143eldx and 140eldm on deer in 6.5saum and 6.5cm. No expansion on several deer, zero blood trail. Switched to 129gr Longrange accubond with incredible results.
     
    I have only shot a half dozen whitetail and antelope with the 143s out of a saum and 6.5x284 but have had great results out to 800 yards. I switched to them after having poor pin hole results with the Berger vld’s.
     
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    147 ELD-M’s also come apart at 50-100 yards out. I’ve personally had a lot of them do this. Many others have spoken out about this too. Easy to Google or search on here. I sure as hell wouldn’t trust them hunting!

    My brother has had problems with the 147 in his prc coming apart. He has had to slow them down but they shoot great. He has moved on to the 156 berger.

    For the 143 i have killed a bunch of deer from 100 to 500 and had great results this is out of the CM
     
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    So from what I have seen both here and on many FB comments, it looks like the 143 is pretty good when it is at 2000ish plus FPS. I had heard that it was supposed to open reliably at 16-1700 fps but that doesn't seem to be the case based on the bullet pictured as well as others experiences.
     
    I left Hornaday in favor of Berger hydrids about 2 years ago due to how they performed on crop damage whitetails and how erratic the eldm was at distance for me. I've seen 140 hybrids, in factory Berger ammo, kill whitetails past 900 yards from an 18" 6.5 creed. Obviously not ideal but it only took one shot and it dropped in less than 2 steps.