Range Report Hornady 147 ELDM blowing up

#54
Interesting.. I was shooting my new 6.5 CM at 300m a week ago and had no big issues with different kinds of factory ammo (140gr. Hornady American Gunner + ELDM, 140gr federal gold) but when I tried the 147gr ELDM, I could not even get it on paper... ( could not find the impact anywhere near my point of aim) while everything else hit within 0.5 - 1 MOA... I will give the 147gr another look next time on the range
 
#56
My personal experience echoes those of others on this thread - all Hornady ELDM weights disintegrate. I have had it happen in four different rifles, four cartridges.

6.5 PRC - 147 ELDM @ 2950 (1:8 twist)
7LRM - 180 ELDM @ 2990 (1:8 twist)
7-300 WM - 180 ELDM @ 3150 (1:8 twist)
300 PRC - 225 ELDM @ 2890 (1:9.5 twist)

Still use them for target shooting, but switched all hunting loads back to Berger’s
 
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#59
Everybody blowing them up is shooting them sub 3000 fps...maybe ya'll need to stop bringing it weak and just push them harder.

I will say though, on the 'dented'eld-m bullets. When I was reloading, I bought a 500 case of 225 ELDm...at least 70% of them looked like compete garbage. Big dents, like you took a penny and jammed the edge of it into the bullet. I sent pics to hornady and of course, their crack customer service team said "that's normal", but if I pay for shipping they'll send me a new batch. I did, and the new batch was the same. Dont have the same issues on the factory hornady ammo...they must save the better bullets for their own boxed ammo.

Not defending hornady, if prime mat 6.5 PRC, I'd shoot it in a heartbeat, but for what it is, it groups in the .3s in my rifle, and doesn't disintegrate, I'm fine with it.
 
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#60
dukerugger25 said:
My personal experience echoes those of others on this thread - all Hornady ELDM weights disintegrate. I have had it happen in four different rifles, four cartridges.

6.5 PRC - 147 ELDM @ 2950 (1:8 twist)
7LRM - 180 ELDM @ 2990 (1:8 twist)
7-300 WM - 180 ELDM @ 3150 (1:8 twist)
300 PRC - 225 ELDM @ 2890 (1:9.5 twist)

Still use them for target shooting, but switched all hunting loads back to Berger’s
Click to expand...
Well that's certainly very discouraging. I guess on electronic paper the BC's are incredible, but if there is no bullet after 100 yds that BC is then NaN - so actually on physical paper, nothing.

Looks like I may try some 140 Bergers in 6.5 CM. Again, now I wonder about the 6mm ARC...will people start seeing it there too? Again, sounds like a major QC issue and they certainly are not using 6-Sigma production design and ISO standards if the failures are this frequent. As soon as I get time to mount optics and put trigger group in, I'm curious to see if this crap happens with me.
 
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#61
~.0285
FCDC4DA4-2B7F-4B04-96DD-FBEDA1FCC937.jpeg
 
#63
Vandy321 said:
Everybody blowing them up is shooting them sub 3000 fps...maybe ya'll need to stop bringing it weak and just push them harder.

I will say though, on the 'dented'eld-m bullets. When I was reloading, I bought a 500 case of 225 ELDm...at least 70% of them looked like compete garbage. Big dents, like you took a penny and jammed the edge of it into the bullet. I sent pics to hornady and of course, their crack customer service team said "that's normal", but if I pay for shipping they'll send me a new batch. I did, and the new batch was the same. Dont have the same issues on the factory hornady ammo...they must save the better bullets for their own boxed ammo.

Not defending hornady, if prime mat 6.5 PRC, I'd shoot it in a heartbeat, but for what it is, it groups in the .3s in my rifle, and doesn't disintegrate, I'm fine with it.
Click to expand...
I ran them up to 3170 FPS w a lot from 18 no issues, the lot from 19 didn't handle 3000 FPS.
 
#65
One would think that as creator of 6.5CM they'd be able to produce the best ammo, or at least want to.

Since I have no idea how they jacket things, I'll keep my 6-sigma/ISO statement :).
Maybe everybody from SH needs to call and complain!! Ask if either Joe or Hunter has been in charge of QC and why they didn't fire the SOB making bad bullets.
 
#66
I have ran the 147 eldm and the 153 atips. 1000s of each, and I’ve never had any blow up in either barrels....
unless maybe that’s why I could see my 6.5 cm splash at 3050 yards last weekend... I wish that was the case.
my 338 loves the Atips as well, had back to back impacts at two miles with them last weekend.
I will say the jackets are super think on the 153s, I have recovered quite a few of my intact rounds at 2000 yards and you can see the wad in my groove marks.

 
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#67
I have wondered if land/groove depth and count had something to do with why some rifles seem to have more issues with the eldm than others.
Regardless, Hornady’s response or rather lack of response, will make me very reluctant to buy any of their products in the future.
Great news for Berger, Sierra, Nosler and Lapua
 
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#68
There has been reports of bullet failure w every barrel manufacture. I believe a member here even had a new barrel spun up w 5r w the same issues he had in a Proof. Hornady recommended he had a bad barrel. First they heard of bullet failure. Nothing like a smoke screen lol.
 
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#69
264win said:
I have wondered if land/groove depth and count had something to do with why some rifles seem to have more issues with the eldm than others.
Regardless, Hornady’s response or rather lack of response, will make me very reluctant to buy any of their products in the future.
Great news for Berger, Sierra, Nosler and Lapua
Click to expand...
There was a recent discussion about 4, 6 grove and 5r.
5 r being reported as being nicer to bullets but plenty here have had ELDM’s fail with 5r barrels as well.
 
#72
hic28 said:
Ended up getting lucky and borrowed 2 separate rifles. Most of the match I shot an Axial Precision chambered in 25SST in a manners EH1A and a steiner m7xi MSR2 with a prototype Elite Iron suppressor. When ammo was getting low, I swapped and shot a 6.5cm
Click to expand...

I'm glad it worked out and you were able to shoot the match.

Thanks for starting the thread and sharing your experience.
 
#75
clcustom1911 said:
I personally never had an issue running through 147's at 2600-2700 fps out of my 8 twist. But when I switched to R26 for my powder, it bumped the velocities up to 2825 and saw a couple separations. Switched to the 142 SMK and love them.
Click to expand...
I’ve taking my 153s 6.5 cm with Rl26 up to 3050 FPS (way over pressure but wanted to test the limits) in my 1:75 twist barrel and didn’t have any issues. But I only shot 5 at that speed.
 
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#78
BoltActionBrotherhood said:
I’ve taking my 153s 6.5 cm with Rl26 up to 3050 FPS (way over pressure but wanted to test the limits) in my 1:75 twist barrel and didn’t have any issues. But I only shot 5 at that speed.
Click to expand...
Really? Loaded how long? 153s in a CM at 3050 FPS? I’d love to see that, at a safe distance.
 
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#82
Had some 180eldm’s blow up out of my 7saum this weekend. First time since using the bullets. Probably have shot 300 of them so far. 2930fps.

On the same day my buddy had some 150smk’s blow up on his 6.5saum

Really surprised us that neither of us have ever had it happen in the past and then we both have issues on the same day.

Weather conditions make it worse on some days more so than others??
 
#85
heyjoe said:
Do the 140’s have this issue? What’s a better alternative? Berger? Lapua?
Click to expand...
I haven’t heard of many with the 140 but at this point hornady isn’t even acknowledging there is a problem with any of their other bullets so why continue to give them money for any of their products. They blame it on the reloader/barrel/coreolis/moon phase/what they had for dinner. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

buy berger, nosler or Sierra
 
#86
Talk about spread, I get 53 ft deviance in the same box of 147 eld match ammo, and in a lot of 1k had probably 10 Poof's..stock Ruger pr.
 
#88
I’ve had some issues with the 147s in the 219 lot. Most of the time they shoot great. Sometimes they only make it 70-100 yards.
I’m running them through a PRC with a 7.5tw just over 3000fps.

Usually have to drop the G7 to .335 once I pass 700 yards.
 
#92
I had 153 A-Tip blow up and when I mentioned it in a thread here it seemed like I diss'd someone's grandma. Oddly, 150 SMK, which has a reputation for coming apart, has been ok.
 
#94
I primarily shoot Hornady factory ammunition 147's out of my 18.5" 6.5CM around 2625fps and they work great at those velocities. Even at those slow velocties I'm not even getting close to transonic until around 1500ish yards at my typical DA of 8000ft and I'm not truly subsonic until about 1800 yards. Love the 147's!
 
#95
hic28 said:
Searched for 147 ELDM jacket separation or bullets blowing up/coming apart down range on here and one dead thread with 7 posts about the 147 and another on the 180 ELDMs.

Over the past 2 weeks i've talked to at least 15 people who have experienced both factory Hornady 6.5PRC and reloads using 147gr ELDM bullets coming apart between 40 and 150 yards down range.

June 13/14th and 20/21st I had back to back matches. The NF ELR outside of casper and SnipersHide Cup in eastern Washington. I planned on shooting factory 300PRC 225ELDM for the ELR and factory 6.5PRC for the hide cup. Normally I would reload but I bought a house just before the covid bullshit and i've been putting in new flooring. I haven't even unpacked my reloading equipment. I had time to prep and test the 300PRC which was showing good results, I didn't bother testing the 6.5PRC because I was going to shoot the same lot and barrel that I shot at the NF ELR last year and had zero issue.

At the NF match, the factory 300 worked pretty well, yet one of the guys in my squad (Steve) was going to shoot factory Hornady 6.5prc. During zero, he got 5 round on target which grouped around 1-1.5 inches. Pretty horrible really considering last year that same rifle with the same lot of ammo was shooting 1/2 inch. He asked me to zero his rifle to double check he wasn't just screwing something up majorly. I got behind the rifle, double checked turrets were zeroed, picked a fresh shoot-n-see and broke a shot. Nothing. I had @NoLegs24 get behind me and watch over top to look for anything out of the ordinary. Second shot I took, I watched a banana appear about 6 inches away from point of impact and I hear laughing behind me as he said there was a white puff around 40 yards down range.

View attachment 7358183

I passed the target around to a few people at the match and multiple people spoke up saying they have either experienced the same thing themselves with the 147gr ELDM or they know of some who has had the same issue.

Luckily we drove to Wyoming and most of us brought 2 guns. Steve was able to use a 6x47 which he got some hits at 1400 with.

After the match, we drove home and because the SH cup requires short action calibers, I swapped to my 6.5PRC barrel (Bartlein 5r - 1:8) and had a bunch of factory hornady. It worked great last year so I figured it would be fine this year as well. Fast forward to thursday and we flew out to Spokane. Pulled my rifle out to check zero since I didn't even have a chance to shoot between getting home from Wyoming and flying to Spokane.

Fuck me, wouldn't group for shit and bullets were blowing up just past the 100 yard line.
View attachment 7358289

Here is a link to the video of it blowing up. set playback speed to .25 and quality as high as can go and you will see them pop then impact the dirt


Cleaned the shit out of the barrel to see if maybe there was a carbon ring increasing pressure as velocity was at 3060. Removed all carbon and no luck. still popping them.

This was damn frustrating because of all the time and money spent to get to this match just to have the rifle go down due to factory ammo , which worked fine last year.

@NoLegs24 was shooting a 6.5PRC also, our barrels were ordered together and probably came off the line one after another from bartlein, they were both chambered one after another by Matt at Sawtooth rifles. He hand loaded 140 Nosler RDFs at 2950 and had no issues. The issue here comes down to the 147 ELDM. Factory ammo should not come apart like this.

According to the RPM formula (12/8 = 1.5*3060 = 4590*60 = 275,400RPM) these 147s should not have been coming apart. Anything over 290,000 rpm is the danger zone for bullets coming apart.

Ended up getting lucky and borrowed 2 separate rifles. Most of the match I shot an Axial Precision chambered in 25SST in a manners EH1A and a steiner m7xi MSR2 with a prototype Elite Iron suppressor. When ammo was getting low, I swapped and shot a 6.5cm

anyone else see the 147ELDMs come apart on them?
Click to expand...


Stopped useing Hornady for that very reason. emailed them 5 times over 2 months, never got a reply!
Actually, I'm glad! Switched over to Berger, problem solved! Better groups as well. Tossed everything Hornady in the trash!
 
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#96
secm said:
Stopped useing Hornady for that very reason. emailed them 5 times over 2 months, never got a reply!
Actually, I'm glad! Switched over to Berger, problem solved! Better groups as well. Tossed everything Hornady in the trash!
Click to expand...

good. If they won’t acknowledge the issue, they can go fuck themselves
 
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#99
calshipbuilder said:
I hear you, the lack of an official response from Hornady is frustrating. I really want to support an innovative US family owned business, but it seems clear that they do not care enough to address such a basic issue.
Click to expand...

if they can’t admit there might be an issue to the people who support them...

794EBD1A-47BC-466D-83D1-078626525595.gif
 
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#100
hic28 said:
Searched for 147 ELDM jacket separation or bullets blowing up/coming apart down range on here and one dead thread with 7 posts about the 147 and another on the 180 ELDMs.

Over the past 2 weeks i've talked to at least 15 people who have experienced both factory Hornady 6.5PRC and reloads using 147gr ELDM bullets coming apart between 40 and 150 yards down range.

June 13/14th and 20/21st I had back to back matches. The NF ELR outside of casper and SnipersHide Cup in eastern Washington. I planned on shooting factory 300PRC 225ELDM for the ELR and factory 6.5PRC for the hide cup. Normally I would reload but I bought a house just before the covid bullshit and i've been putting in new flooring. I haven't even unpacked my reloading equipment. I had time to prep and test the 300PRC which was showing good results, I didn't bother testing the 6.5PRC because I was going to shoot the same lot and barrel that I shot at the NF ELR last year and had zero issue.

At the NF match, the factory 300 worked pretty well, yet one of the guys in my squad (Steve) was going to shoot factory Hornady 6.5prc. During zero, he got 5 round on target which grouped around 1-1.5 inches. Pretty horrible really considering last year that same rifle with the same lot of ammo was shooting 1/2 inch. He asked me to zero his rifle to double check he wasn't just screwing something up majorly. I got behind the rifle, double checked turrets were zeroed, picked a fresh shoot-n-see and broke a shot. Nothing. I had @NoLegs24 get behind me and watch over top to look for anything out of the ordinary. Second shot I took, I watched a banana appear about 6 inches away from point of impact and I hear laughing behind me as he said there was a white puff around 40 yards down range.

View attachment 7358183

I passed the target around to a few people at the match and multiple people spoke up saying they have either experienced the same thing themselves with the 147gr ELDM or they know of some who has had the same issue.

Luckily we drove to Wyoming and most of us brought 2 guns. Steve was able to use a 6x47 which he got some hits at 1400 with.

After the match, we drove home and because the SH cup requires short action calibers, I swapped to my 6.5PRC barrel (Bartlein 5r - 1:8) and had a bunch of factory hornady. It worked great last year so I figured it would be fine this year as well. Fast forward to thursday and we flew out to Spokane. Pulled my rifle out to check zero since I didn't even have a chance to shoot between getting home from Wyoming and flying to Spokane.

Fuck me, wouldn't group for shit and bullets were blowing up just past the 100 yard line.
View attachment 7358289

Here is a link to the video of it blowing up. set playback speed to .25 and quality as high as can go and you will see them pop then impact the dirt


Cleaned the shit out of the barrel to see if maybe there was a carbon ring increasing pressure as velocity was at 3060. Removed all carbon and no luck. still popping them.

This was damn frustrating because of all the time and money spent to get to this match just to have the rifle go down due to factory ammo , which worked fine last year.

@NoLegs24 was shooting a 6.5PRC also, our barrels were ordered together and probably came off the line one after another from bartlein, they were both chambered one after another by Matt at Sawtooth rifles. He hand loaded 140 Nosler RDFs at 2950 and had no issues. The issue here comes down to the 147 ELDM. Factory ammo should not come apart like this.

According to the RPM formula (12/8 = 1.5*3060 = 4590*60 = 275,400RPM) these 147s should not have been coming apart. Anything over 290,000 rpm is the danger zone for bullets coming apart.

Ended up getting lucky and borrowed 2 separate rifles. Most of the match I shot an Axial Precision chambered in 25SST in a manners EH1A and a steiner m7xi MSR2 with a prototype Elite Iron suppressor. When ammo was getting low, I swapped and shot a 6.5cm

anyone else see the 147ELDMs come apart on them?
Click to expand...


"Liked" you just for your Patriotism postscript. Likewise. For your post, this and you are way beyond me. I just shoot 140 grain ELDM with sub-max loads and have no problems, but am not pushing limits like you are. Good luck finding a solution, it's NUTS when things don't work.
 
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