Hornady 6.5mm 143 gr. ELD-X

I truly love testing bullets since I have access to a very large "lab"-deer permits, bears, groundhogs.
On these hot days I watch a few outdoor shows. Most don't say a thing about bullet performance or show damage or exits.
Recently, The Best of the West and GunWerks have gotten on the ELD-X bandwagon. They're shooting big stuff-elk, mule deer, gemsbok, waterbuck, kudu, moose with them.
Two years ago I took my first deer with my 6.5/.284 Encore and the ELD-X at 581 yards. The damage was surprising and puzzling

According to this months NRA American Hunter (and Hornady) the bullet retains 60% of it's weight. Hmm. A rib was hit, but really. The exit was 4". The internal damage was massive for a handgun at that range.
I killed a few more deer with it the last 2 years. All were broadside lung shots. Exits were smallish, so I guess it retaind weight and didn't expand a lot.
This year I took an unaware deer at 149 yds. It was quartering away. I hit the mid rib cage on the right. She ran 40 yds. I turned her over to see the exit. There wasn't any. I felt a small lump on the left shoulder. I cut it out. Was I ever surprised

That's the bullet on the left and original on the right. It weighed 35 gr. (24% weight retention). And guys are shooting very large game with this bullet.
I did further testing with the .25 ca. ELD-X. I took 3 more deer from 170 to 279 yds. All ran a good ways. All damage was around 3". Exits were 2" on double lung shots.
Based on all this, I'm not sure ELD-Xs are the way to go in small caliber or even .264. Sure, I've taken deer with them. Many run. When I go on an important hunt I want near perfect performance from me , my gun, and the bullet. The only bullet I've found close to this is the Nosler AB. It's about as near perfect as I can hope for based on around 500 deer kills, moose, red stag, and around 15 African animals.

Very interesting! Thanks!

Nice work and information, would be interested to see the same type of photos with game taken with the Acubonds. Have you ever recovered Accubonds like you did with this ELD-X?
Based upon your field work that you have shared online & Sixgunner I am planning this season to be the (season of Nosler) in most all my Encores 35 caliber and under, in 30 years of deer hunting I have never used a Nosler bullet.
Thanks for sharing!
D..

D.., the ONLY ABs I've recovered was ONE on rectal shot on a whitetail, and one (in .375-260 gr.) on a 200+ yd. broadside shot on a Shiras moose. Did a wildebeest at 250 with the .375-completely through both shoulders. Did a broadside lung/heart shot on a 800# kudu with a 130 AB (6.5/.284) at 200 yds with complete penetration.
Typical 6.5mm AB performance is 1 1/4-1 1/2" exit with 2-3" of internal damage.
About 95% of my AB kills result in instant drops including the kudu and moose. I've never experienced that with any other bullet, and I used a lot of different ones before I "discovered" ABs.
There's a bunch of nay sayers out there about ABs compared to other bullets, but I'd bet they never used the amount I have.

I am sure they have not!

Doc is second to NONE when it comes to bullet testing.....his tests were my favorite part of The Sixgunner

Here's an update on the ELD-X. Last night I shot this doe at 401 yds. with my 6.5/.284 Encore and ELD

This is the exit on a high shoulder shot. She never moved. So this confirms what I've said for a while: ELD-Xs are fine on broadside shots, but beware on angled shot, especially when bones are involved.

Congratulations, and thanks for the info. Is this 2401?

No. 2409. I've been busy!

A buddy had to shoot an impala twice after a nice broadside hit and a 1/2 mile follow up with a wsm270 with eldx bullets a few weeks ago in africa. I agree, better options are out there. They are accurate though.

Good to see other guys with the same lab results as me. I will continue to use NOsler ABs for all my big game hunts. ELD-Xs will be my go to groundhog bullet!!
I wonder how long Horn. and all their TV partners promote will promote ELD-Xs for big game. With these results on little deer and impala I'm not about to use them on important hunts.

A FRIEND OF MINE JUST DID A PLAINS GAME HUNT IN NAMIBIA, HE WITH A 338 LAPUA RIFLE USING HORNADY 250gr ELD-X's, AND HIS STEP SON WITH A 300 WEATHERBY RIFLE USING AMMO WITH A NOSLER 180gr PARTITION. HE SAID THE 180 PARTITION PERFORMED WAY BETTER ON GAME THAN THE 250 ELD-X AND SEEMED TO HAVE MORE SMACK. THESE GUYS ARE NOT VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT A LOT OF THE PERFORMANCE ISSUES THAT GET DISCUSSED ON WEBSITES LIKE THIS ONE, BUT IT WAS INTERESTING TO HEAR WHAT HIS CASUAL OBSERVATION WAS. WHEN I TOLD HIM THAT I WAS SEEING REPORTS THAT THE ELD-X's MAY NOT BE GOOD "GAME BULLETS" HE HAD A PUZZLED LOOK ON HIS FACE LIKE "A BULLET IS A BULLET, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

Thats trrue rey, but its really no worse than those that try to superimpose their ?scientific? results on deer to larger game. This is very common too.

Thanks Hitman! your my number 1 source when it come to bullet performance out of handguns.