Hornady ELD-X

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Except most bonded and maybe all partitioned bullets don’t carry the BC the eldx do. Hornady wanted to create the best flying hunting bullet and I believe they achieved this. My understanding is bonded bullets do not have the quality control as a non bonded and they will not fly as consistently. My experiences prove this to be correct or at least a sound theory and I couldn’t get noslers accubonds to group well in a few rifles. I like sub moa accuracy in all rifles , not just range guns.

@revturbo9967
Strange. Bonded bullets like the accubonds group well in mine and my son's rifles.
A big standard Howa 308 with 150 grain accubonds groups less than half inch @ 100 yards.
My 35 Whelen with 225grain accubonds groups half to three quarters of an inch at 100 yards as well.
So I don't know that the quality control isn't there..
Bob.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

In the western states , 500+ yards may be the only shot you get when hunting for elk. It’s nice to say get closer , but when it will take you 6-8 hours to move from one ridge to the next only to close in 300 yards and you have 45 minutes of daylight with 12 years of preference points and 2 years of preparation on the line, I’m taking the long shot, every time.

@revturbo9967
Sounds like you still have to walk 6 to 8 hours to pick your game up after you have shot it from one hill to the next. So after the shot you go home and collect your game the next day.
Bob

 

[Nmbowhunter06]

Here’s a nice little 225 eldm group this morning at 600 yards. Measures a little over 3”. I guess I really got everyone fired up lol. I don’t see an issue with using these bullets on plains game when I go next April.

 

[Nmbowhunter06]

The 225 ELDm and 230 berger hybrid both shoot lights out in my rum. I just haven't had any time to work up a load for my prc. I now have brass and some dies from Whidden, but leave in less than a month, so I am just going to run factory.

My brother shoots the 215 Berger out of his 300 win mag and they shoots lights out. I settled on the 225 eld-m right out the gate because it has shot 1/2 moa or better right out of the gate. It was the easiest bullet to tune.

 

[revturbo9967]

@revturbo9967
Strange. Bonded bullets like the accubonds group well in mine and my son's rifles.
A big standard Howa 308 with 150 grain accubonds groups less than half inch @ 100 yards.
My 35 Whelen with 225grain accubonds groups half to three quarters of an inch at 100 yards as well.
So I don't know that the quality control isn't there..
Bob.

It has something to do with the bonding process and not being repeatable. I don’t exactly know what or how, but there is quite a bit of info on long range hunting.com. I’m glad they work for you as they are a good killing and flying bullet otherwise. My father in law didn’t have much luck with accubonds out of a 300 rum. My issues were on a 300 win and 338 lapua. I could not get better than 1.5 moa on both guns . The 338 ended up liking bergers .

 

[revturbo9967]

@revturbo9967
Sounds like you still have to walk 6 to 8 hours to pick your game up after you have shot it from one hill to the next. So after the shot you go home and collect your game the next day.
Bob

That is correct. Or make one long night out of it. In grizzly country Id let it sit for the night for sure .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

It has something to do with the bonding process and not being repeatable. I don’t exactly know what or how, but there is quite a bit of info on long range hunting.com. I’m glad they work for you as they are a good killing and flying bullet otherwise. My father in law didn’t have much luck with accubonds out of a 300 rum. My issues were on a 300 win and 338 lapua. I could not get better than 1.5 moa on both guns . The 338 ended up liking bergers .

@revturbo9967
Long range hunting to me is 300 yards with my rifles. With my 25 I will stretch it to 400.
Anything over that to me isn't hunting. Even tho my rifle and myself have the ability to shoot further I prefer to get closer to my game. I like to pit my hunting skills against my game not my shooting skills. To me the hunt is pitting my skill against the game and getting as close as I can.
We were out hunting pigs and saw a mob at 600 yards. Yes we couldn't have probably shot a couple but we stalked up to about 30 yards and got six of them between the 3 of us. The pandemonium when those pigs found out we were there was great.
To me that's what hunting is about.
All else to me is sniping not hunting but hey what ever floats your boat.
If you can cleanly take game at 5, 6 or 700 yards you are a better shot than me Gunga Din. Me I like pitting my wits against the animal I am hunting but that's ME.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

That is correct. Or make one long night out of it. In grizzly country Id let it sit for the night for sure .

@revturbo9967
Me personally I like to see my game, pull trigger and walk over and pick said game up. If'n it takes more than 15 minutes to walk to my game I didn't do my part properly.
I personally like eating my game and sharing it with friends and family than sharing it with other critters.
Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

bob, you call it sniping, but it is in fact pseudo sniping.
there are now guys that see game and BACK OFF to 800 plus.
oh well, who cares about animal suffering.
they can't talk and they can't vote.
bruce.

 

[gbflyer]

@revturbo9967
Sounds like you still have to walk 6 to 8 hours to pick your game up after you have shot it from one hill to the next. So after the shot you go home and collect your game the next day.
Bob

My grandad used to say that if you shot too far at a buck you’d strain your barrel! Others shot so far that they’d need to salt the bullet in order for the animal not to spoil before it could be retrieved

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

bob, you call it sniping, but it is in fact pseudo sniping.
there are now guys that see game and BACK OFF to 800 plus.
oh well, who cares about animal suffering.
they can't talk and they can't vote.
bruce.

@bruce moulds
Mate you are like me you would remember the old fellas on a,Saturday morning with their peep sighted 303s shooting targets at 900 yards and good results. These same old timers were happy shooting targets at that range BUT WOULDNT even think about shooting game past 200 yards. They knew what it takes to shoot long ranges and food on the table at close range was more important.
Bob

 

[revturbo9967]

@revturbo9967
Long range hunting to me is 300 yards with my rifles. With my 25 I will stretch it to 400.
Anything over that to me isn't hunting. Even tho my rifle and myself have the ability to shoot further I prefer to get closer to my game. I like to pit my hunting skills against my game not my shooting skills. To me the hunt is pitting my skill against the game and getting as close as I can.
We were out hunting pigs and saw a mob at 600 yards. Yes we couldn't have probably shot a couple but we stalked up to about 30 yards and got six of them between the 3 of us. The pandemonium when those pigs found out we were there was great.
To me that's what hunting is about.
All else to me is sniping not hunting but hey what ever floats your boat.
If you can cleanly take game at 5, 6 or 700 yards you are a better shot than me Gunga Din. Me I like pitting my wits against the animal I am hunting but that's ME.
Bob

Bob. This seems to be the way many hunters want to hunt as it should be . There is nothing wrong with wanting to get as close as possible to your game while using every skill manageable to get there. I’m primarily an archery hunter so everything needs to be within 80 yards. That said , I have zero issues with long range hunting. If someone (not you) thinks you just get behind a massive scope and wait for the game to pass by and blast them from 800 yards out and call it a morning, I believe they actually need to give long range hunting more thought. Long range marksmanship has a whole lot more to do with the shooter then the equipment and many can’t hack it. Again this wasn’t a shot at you, I believe many on here are good marksman, but I have seen way too many bad shots at close distance.

Elk hunting with a rifle at 12000 feet sometimes isn’t a simple spot and stalk, especially when it snows. It can be brutally hard to get on a heard. I have seen many hunters physically just give up when hunting elk at high elevations. If someone has the ability to make a good shot at 500+ yards, then take it. It may be the only shot they get.
Guys hunting 1000+ yards for game are playing a game of wits against an animal, it’s just a different flavor.

 

[revturbo9967]

bob, you call it sniping, but it is in fact pseudo sniping.
there are now guys that see game and BACK OFF to 800 plus.
oh well, who cares about animal suffering.
they can't talk and they can't vote.
bruce.

Curious, how does the game suffer? Good vital shots are no different at 100 yards vs 800

 

[WAB]

Curious, how does the game suffer? Good vital shots are no different at 100 yards vs 800

Probabilities of a good hit go way down regardless of how good you are. The bullet is in flight a long time and crap happens. A gust of wind, a sudden move by the animal, etc..

At the same time, I am the first to agree that terrain and game cause vast differences in reasonable shooting distances. You’d better be ready to shoot at 400 for pronghorn in WY, you may not have to but you need to be able to. Sheep are another critter that may demand a long shot.

 

[bruce moulds]

bob,
funny you should raise that subject.
during many years of fclass shooting, i have pulled a fair few targets, many for some of the best shooters in aust.
the very best 10 kg (22lb) rifles find it hard to hold 0.5 moa vert for all shots.
this is magnified by bending light and changing wind conditions to sometimes the same rifles just holding 1 moa on the day.
at 800 yds, that is 8" vertical.
take into account the scope power, wind flags every 100, bench rest padestals, having sighters, and even a heavy hunting rifle in the field under field conditions cannot consistently compete with that.
now we come to the real part, the wind.
few people can read the wind to 2 moa = 16".
this is bigger than required to guarantee a chest shot on many species.
and virtually unachievable in the real world with any consistency.
and again that is with windflags every 100.
the flags often show differing speed and direction down the range.
next thing is the ability to deliver a killing blow at the range, allowing enough excess for a less than optimum shot.
this = recoil in hunting type rifles = bigger groups again.
and then you get boneheads that do not take terminal performance of projectiles into account, increasing the chance of wounding even more.
we have become physically and mentally lazy as a species.
gone is the desire to be a good hunter, with so called long range hunting allowing people to believe they can have their cake and eat it too.
whatever you say about old nick harvey, he came from the era when you learned to stalk as part of hunting, and when you got there you shot straight, often offhand.
this ethic seems to have almost been lost.
bruce.

 

[revturbo9967]

Probabilities of a good hit go way down regardless of how good you are. The bullet is in flight a long time and crap happens. A gust of wind, a sudden move by the animal, etc..

At the same time, I am the first to agree that terrain and game cause vast differences in reasonable shooting distances. You’d better be ready to shoot at 400 for pronghorn in WY, you may not have to but you need to be able to. Sheep are another critter that may demand a long shot.

You are correct on both accounts. That’s why I believe good longer range hunters are doing a whole lot more then just stitting on a bipod pulling triggers.
speed goats are tough to get close to for sure, good thing I’m going with the bow this year, need to make thing interesting

 

[bruce moulds]

Curious, how does the game suffer? Good vital shots are no different at 100 yards vs 800

it does not suffer if it is not wounded.
the probability of wounding goes up fast as distance increases.
if more people shot paper targets at these ranges they might realize true achievable group sizes for all shots at given distances.
bruce.

 

[revturbo9967]

it does not suffer if it is not wounded.
the probability of wounding goes up fast as distance increases.
if more people shot paper targets at these ranges they might realize true achievable group sizes for all shots at given distances.
bruce.

Correct . 1/2 moa consistent accuracy is a good starting point for long range hunting and should always start and end in paper.

As for boneheads who don’t take into account of long range terminal performance, I believe for every 1 bonehead who makes a bucket full of mistakes taking a long range shot on game, there are probably 5 who can’t hit the broad side of a barn at 100 yards. You could probably talk to just about every western guide in the USA as well as every African PH who has had at least one hunter who can’t hit a paper plate at 100 yards off a bench. To me, this is far more unethical then the few long range guys who make a bad judgement call when taking a shot.

 

[bruce moulds]

well at least a clean miss is more humane than a bad hit with an underpowered cartridge using the wrong bullet.
bruce.

 

[revturbo9967]

well at least a clean miss is more humane than a bad hit with an underpowered cartridge using the wrong bullet.
bruce.

Sure is. But we can say the exact same thing for hunters at close distances. Again, I’d be willing to bet there are far more inhuman bad shots taken by hunters up close , then at distance. Those numbers are obviously inflated a bit due to the longer range hunters being in fewer numbers.

More game has been wounded and lost under 200 yards, which is more upsetting to me personally.