Hunting & Fishing 178 grain ELD-X Performance on Game?

[Savageman2506]

Anybody have any feedback on the expansion and terminal performance of the 178 grain ELD-X on large game animals? How did they perform?

I've got a .308 with a 20" barrel, I'm assuming they're going ~2400 FPS (haven't chronographed yet).

 

[MBanning]

Anybody have any feedback on the expansion and terminal performance of the 178 grain ELD-X on large game animals? How did they perform?

I've got a .308 with a 20" barrel, I'm assuming they're going ~2400 FPS (haven't chronographed yet).

I have shot a bunch of whitetail with that bullet in a 20" .308 at 2550fps. Most were pretty close and all but 1 passed thru. All 1 shot kills. The 1 was a near 200lb buck at 230yds quartering hard to me. I shot ahead of his shoulder and the bullet stopped in the hide at the last rib on the far side. The bullet fell out during skinning. That must be over 2' of penetration. The bullet made a nice mushroom, i cant remember what it weighed but i think I saved it. I will look around.
Maybe not exactly the info you were looking for but I have been happy with it. If you are talking about elk at distance then I don't have any data.

 

[sodakhunter]

just used this bullet in a 300 wsm to take 3 aoudad one mover at 640 bang flop. One at 355 went bout 20 yards downhill. One at 530 three shots first ahead of back hips second center mass gut shot both pass throughs and third and final shot front shoulder and it dropped instantly. No wind where i was shooting from on the third one but apparently there was a significant wind moving left to right somewhere between myself and the sheep.

 

[hafejd30]

We shoot crop damage on whitetails. Been using the 178 ELDX in 308’s and 300’s. Shots typically 100-500 yards. I run them in my AIAT (20” 1:12 twist) and Tikka CTR (20” 1:10 twist) also in my tikka T3 alpine in 300 WM. Several other shooters run them in 308’s as well as a savage in 300 WM.

I’ve been nothing but impressed with them. Great blood trails if they run. If you hit bone or shoulder they will jack the meat up some. More so than a Sierra gameking but less than a Sierra match king which I’ve also used years ago.

I like them so much I bought another 2,000 here a couple months ago. This is a bullet I plan to stick with in the 30 calibers. We also use them in 6.5’s but haven’t seen the reliable blood trail like the slower 308’s. Lots of pin hole in and out shots with the 143 ELDX

 

[Savageman2506]

That's great feedback guys. Hoping it will be a good do-all round for deer, elk, etc. I saw some less-than-stellar performance from the 143 on elk, but then again I didn't get to see the shot, I was called after to help with blood tracking. Sounds like the 178 does a little better.

I don't plan on shooting over 500 yards or so for hunting, and it sounds like at those distances it's doing good.

 

[lastshot12]

You might want to take a look at this.

Hunting & Fishing - 308 win with 178gr eld-x elk kill today. Not impressed

Today I shot a cow elk out on our private land with my 308 Cadex guardian lite. 20 inch barrel with surefire 300 sps suppressor. 135 yard shot. Broadside. 178gr eldx pills that are my handloads at 2550fps. I shot it right behind the front shoulder as I'm looking to save as much meat as...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Savageman2506]

You might want to take a look at this.

Hunting & Fishing - 308 win with 178gr eld-x elk kill today. Not impressed

Today I shot a cow elk out on our private land with my 308 Cadex guardian lite. 20 inch barrel with surefire 300 sps suppressor. 135 yard shot. Broadside. 178gr eldx pills that are my handloads at 2550fps. I shot it right behind the front shoulder as I'm looking to save as much meat as...

www.snipershide.com

Will do. Thanks

 

[cliffy110]

I had a really weird result with this bullet. Shot was 200 yards and the deer dropped in place, but the performance was bizarre. It exited the far side and the tip caught on the hair on the far side. It looks like the bullet failed to expand, flipped and exited backwards. I did not stage that shot. That is exactly how I came upon it.

 

[Savageman2506]

I had a really weird result with this bullet. Shot was 200 yards and the deer dropped in place, but the performance was bizarre. It exited the far side and the tip caught on the hair on the far side. It looks like the bullet failed to expand, flipped and exited backwards. I did not stage that shot. That is exactly how I came upon it.

wow. What an odd performance.

 

[neeltburn]

Ive killed 3 whitetails with them. All were one and done. Not one of them went more than 20 yards. Shots were between 30 and 125 yards.

 

[wvfarrier]

The two I have shot were in the 150-180 yards range using a 308 win (AR10) with 20" Wilson barrel. Velocities were around 2500fps. Neither projectile expanded but just kind of folded in half. It made a massive hole in the deer when exiting and both dropped dead in their tracks. Obviously not ideal but damned effective.

 

[Baron23]

Shot a doe in GA a few weeks ago with 178's in .308. Not a long shot...maybe 80 yards.

Doe spun around to run back into the woods and I could see blood pumping out with my naked eye.

She did run maybe 40 yards but it was very easy to follow the heavy blood trail.

Past couple of years I also took a doe each year with these bullets at the same buddy's land and they both dropped right where they stood.

 

[coldboremiracle]

I had a really weird result with this bullet. Shot was 200 yards and the deer dropped in place, but the performance was bizarre. It exited the far side and the tip caught on the hair on the far side. It looks like the bullet failed to expand, flipped and exited backwards. I did not stage that shot. That is exactly how I came upon it.

Not a 178, but an ELDX. Also not mine but I was there and saw this with my own eyes. Impact velocity was only around 1800. Still worked like a champ tho.