7-300 win mag with 180 eldm issues.

matleez

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 25, 2012
718
213
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Ohio
Not sure if this is in the right spot. Move me if need be but I just had my 7-300 win mag finished about 4 weeks about and finally shot it this weekend. Yesterday I shot it decent for our long range monthly matches, but I had 1 unexplained miss with no impact no idea. Today i had at least one that I recall. I'm pushing 180 eld at 3100ish through this. Some people think I'm blowing up bullets. I've never had anything like this happen before but I've seen other shooters have this issue. Is there something up with the bullets or is it my gun? It's an 8 twist 6 groove barrel. Any and all help would be much appreciated!
 
They've been coming apart for a few guys with high velocity, fast twist barrels . It's not a caliber specific issue, many different calibers have shown the trend . I've only used the 225s at 2950 in an 8 twist, no issues for me yet .
 
I'll give big H a call tomorrow and see what they say is max RPM on these elds. I fell like that the fact that they recommend 8 twist for 180s. Hell a 28 nosler would push them close to 3300
 
I have read this about other caliber ELD’s as well, bound to happen twisting/ pushing these high BC bullets faster and faster something is gonna give. We love to push the envelope ?
 
It's not just spin rate. Rifling profile and bore surface condition play into it, too. Some barrels even develop the problem over their lifetime (fine at first, then once the bore gets cracked/rough it starts blowing them up).

Best bet is to call Hornady and go from there.
 
In my experience, 5r is easier on bullets than the 4 or 6 groove. I haven’t tested it in the ELDMs yet but on Berger’s it makes a difference so assume it holds true for others as well