Hunting with 223 ELD bullet?

[Shanghai McCoy]

Has anyone hunted with the Hornady ELD Target bullet ?
I was wondering if they would perform like the Nosler ballistic tip bullets or if they are strictly for target shooting?

 

[Blue68f100]

Hornady design these with target shooting in mind, not to expand. The reason the made the ELD-X for those who want to hunt with a long range bullet. Use the proper bullet for the application if you want the best performance.

 

[farmerboy78]

I hunt with the eld m, but in a 6.5

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Thanks, that's what I was wondering about them. Shot some yesterday and they were very accurate and I like a heavy bullet. (OK, "heavy" for a 223...)
I'll check out the ELD-X.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Hornady design these with target shooting in mind, not to expand. The reason the made the ELD-X for those who want to hunt with a long range bullet. Use the proper bullet for the application if you want the best performance.

OK, but I just looked around for the ELD-X and don't see any for sale.

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

The ELD target bullets will definitely expand..I I've shot the 73,75, and 80 grain ELD's into water jugs and they expand and fragment fairly easily. Would I use the on coyotes or groundhogs ABSOLUTELY but not on any larger game.

 

[Axis II]

In for this one.

I told my buddy last night i was testing ELD this week in 223rem and he says for what? I said shooting woodchucks at 500yards!! His face was priceless. I said i wonder what that 75gr bullet would do to a chuck.

 

[LoonWulf]

Big game hunting caliber/weight balistic tips are actually tougher bullets than the Amax or the eld-ms I've used. Much closer to the eld-x in performance. The Varmint weight Balistics are actually more frangible than the eldms.

That said, while I DO use target bullets for hunting deer size animals, I only use heavy for caliber bullets, in heavy for game cartridges.

For a .22 and even 6mms, I'd prefer a hunting bullet, or very heavy target type for deer size game.
For stuff up to 50lbs or so I think they will be fine, but expansion will not likely be as explosive as a 40-60grn varming bullet unless launched very, very fast.

50-60lb goats were what those 73s were for

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

^^^^
Ah, no goats to hunt here, (well wild ones at least), and the deer run a bit more than 50-60 pounds.
They sure are an accurate bullet in my Savage tho...
,

 

[greg_r]

I love some whistle pig hunting, but I use a 52 grain bullet for them. They will come apart on a groundhog if you hit him, or on contract with the ground if you miss. The heavy for caliber bullets typically do not. I don't want a bullet bouncing around.

 

[LoonWulf]

^^^^
Ah, no goats to hunt here, (well wild ones at least), and the deer run a bit more than 50-60 pounds.
They sure are an accurate bullet in my Savage tho...
,

Glad they at least shoot good for you.
They would probably work ok on deer, but leeway on bullet placement would be less than I'd be comfortable with, unless the animals were pretty small.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Glad they at least shoot good for you.
They would probably work ok on deer, but leeway on bullet placement would be less than I'd be comfortable with, unless the animals were pretty small.

I'll just load them up and use them to "show off" on targets. I was pretty amazed how well they grouped with both the H335 powder and the IMR 3031. Two very different types of powder but the groups were pretty much at the same point of impact. I did not expect that.

 

[LoonWulf]

I'll just load them up and use them to "show off" on targets. I was pretty amazed how well they grouped with both the H335 powder and the IMR 3031. Two very different types of powder but the groups were pretty much at the same point of impact. I did not expect that.

Cool, ive still got a few calibers to try them in, but so far my experience is similar.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Another thing that surprised me was that they impacted higher than I expected for being a heavier bullet.

 

[Varminterror]

How the ELD-M’s expand relative to the ELD-X's or other tipped bullets is largely dependent upon the caliber and specific bullet. They're not engineered for specific expansion and retention targets, which affords Hornady the luxury of creating a jacket thickness and core fill for uniformity and precision - and apparently for some calibers and ogive profiles, that means extra expansion, for some, it means less. That doesn't mean they won't expand reliably, but it does mean you don't get to automatically assume the bullet will perform as expected based on its weight and caliber, so they need to be tested to understand on-game performance. Many target bullets "not engineered for hunting" make fantastic hunting bullets, whether it's the Hornady ELD-M's or BTHP's, the Berger VLD's, Sierra Match Kings...

I've not shot anything larger than a coyote with the 73 ELD-M's in 5.56, but the expansion and performance on coyotes was exactly what I wanted. Nice entry hole, quick drop, and small exit. Great bullet for the job. Below is a 123 ELD-M fired from a 20" 6.5 Grendel into my Kansas Whitetail this winter, recovered under the hide on the far side. Most guys would call this a bullet failure from excessive expansion and weight loss (80 something grains as it sits in the picture), but the bullet didn't fail to do the job. It obviously expanded, but didn't retain as much as some guys might demand for a deer bullet. Given a bit more air time to slow down, it might not have expanded so violently, but like the 73 ELD-M on coyotes, the results of the 123 ELD-M from the Grendel inside the deer were exactly what I wanted.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

^^^
Thanks, that's good good information. It helps to hear, and see, results from actual shots on game.

 

[LoonWulf]

Good info VT!
I had assumed all the M series would behave similarly. But it makes more sense that as you said, and for the reasons you pointed out, they would behave differently. Learned something new today!

The 123amax I put into our Axis from my 20" Grendel looked similar to what you've got there, I'd guess they didn't change much besides the tips on those.

The 162 amax I run in my 7s usually exit, can't remember if I've ever even seen what they look like after impact.

 

[Varminterror]

Most of the ELD-M’s are nothing but the old A-max’s with a different polymer used for the tip. Some of them are legitimately new bullets unto themselves, but a guy can go through the Hornady manual and see which weights and calibers were simply carried over from the old A-max. I haven’t personally seen an A-max or ELD-M I thought was thicker than normal, meaning it wouldn’t expand well, but I have heard a few guys I trust mention them. Everything I have seen first hand have been very explosive expanders.

 

[LoonWulf]

That's been my experience as well, honestly the only "target" bullets I've had issues with under expanding we're 168 smks, which I bought off the shelf locally. A different batch worked before that, but that did push me to the Amaxs when I switched from the 06 to the 7.

Why target bullets at all? Well in highschool i figgured they would be the most accurate. Then I began to appreciate the high bcs (not that I need them really), and bangflops I was getting....and I do mean bangflops, only thing I can ever remember running after a hit from a 162 amax was a Mouflon ram, and he was already running.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I see now that the ELD-X bullets are in 270 to 30 calibers and the ELD-M are in 224 to 338.
Interesting...