Thread: .284 ELD-X Close Range Blow Up

Keen to hear some thoughts on this situation. Built a new .284 using a tikka running standard 22 inch barrel length. Running 150gn ELD-X MV of 2,930 got it shooting sub .4 moa groups. Built this to be my one gun for everything and typically I am shooting most of my game +200 yards down here in the south island, but on occasions will be close range, like a few weekends ago where I shot a large bodied red hind at 50 yards middle of the shoulder. The round exploded under the near side skin with obvious over expansion. Did not touch any of the vitals required follow up neck shot. I have successfully used ELD-X close range before in another .284 18 inch barrel but only doing around 2,750 no problem. Has anyone struck similar issues. According to chat GPT I am shooting the ELD-X above its optimal expansion range for close up shots.

I really don't want to have to develop 2 loads so any thoughts would be appreciated. I might dial the speed back to 2,850 which will still give me good velocity/terminal performance at 600 yards my maximum range.

Cheers Team.

or bump up to the 162 eldx mate was running the 150 in his 708 not sure of the speed but surly 200fps slower was a 18" barrel and they hammered everything.

i would still think 2930 isnt crazy speed might have just been bad luck and the bullet had a random failure

Hey mate thanks for your thoughts. It is a data point of one animal so I am conscious about jumping to conclusions. Will play around with the 162, my first load dev wasn't that impressive accuracy wise but to be fair need to play with more seating depths.

Yes, I've been shooting the 150's at about 3100 from my 26" 284 and have found them to be very, very, explosive on roos. Literal paddock pizza inside of 150m.

Glad I found this out on roos before attempting to shoot deer with that load.

Put a single round of"something else" up first.its ONLY for sub hundyfifty sort of deal.you WONT have to do any load delepment as you not asking it to be gnats nuts at three hundy. A bog std interlock of similar weight with same or flyshit less powder charge would be my first pick...chances are high it will shoot very close to other load anyway.

Did you actually necropsy it? To be honest its mostly lungs up that far forward and lung shots dont kill all that quick or dont give dramatic deaths from my experience. It just sounds like the typical reaction to that sort of shot. I would be shocked if it didnt make it through the maybe 5 inchs of shoulder meat to hit what was behind (either lungs or nothing important).

Once i started cutting animals id shot back layer by layer i was often suprised at what i found. Provides good data too.

Yep, 150 ELDx are really suited to 708 speeds rather than 284. I shot a decent size stag at 180yds with 150ELDx doing 2900 fps out of 20in bbl 284. Shot placement was in the crease just behind shoulder. Ran about 30yds then collapsed. Found the jacket under the skin on the offside. Almost total jacket separation with only a tiny amount of core retained in base. Lungs & everything inside chest cavity were turned to pulp. I wouldn’t recommend using 150 ELDx out of an 284 inside 200 yds based on that experience. But will perform really well down range. I use 145 gn Speer HC or 140g AB or 150 partitions for close range. But about to change over to 141gn Hammers. These are running 3140fps from 22in bbl Tikka 284

The ELDX is designed to be fine at most normal hunting ranges. The reason Hornady don’t recommend the ELDM for hunting is the tip construction and the QC around it, or the lack there of. A match bullet doesn’t need terminal performance, hence why they put less effort into checking tip construction (how it’s bonded to the core of the bullet), the ELDX on the other hand has more QC around the tip construction as it’s a key component to terminal performance. I’d say this a random failure and not something to be too worried about

Just unlucky on that one id say mate,dont freak out after one incident.

Generally what I'm hearing from multiple customers that were using ELDX's in various calibre's is that they appeared to be causing multiple issues with unsatisfactory terminal performance ie too hard

Your experience seems to be the opposite

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Yep, 150 ELDx are really suited to 708 speeds rather than 284. I shot a decent size stag at 180yds with 150ELDx doing 2900 fps out of 20in bbl 284. Shot placement was in the crease just behind shoulder. Ran about 30yds then collapsed. Found the jacket under the skin on the offside. Almost total jacket separation with only a tiny amount of core retained in base. Lungs & everything inside chest cavity were turned to pulp. I wouldn’t recommend using 150 ELDx out of an 284 inside 200 yds based on that experience. But will perform really well down range. I use 145 gn Speer HC or 140g AB or 150 partitions for close range. But about to change over to 141gn Hammers. These are running 3140fps from 22in bbl Tikka 284

So you shot a good sized stag it died 30yards from point of impact. All vital organs shredded clearly a dead deer in all situations.

But your not happy with the experience because you didnt like how the bullet looked? Would you have preferred the bullet just put a small moderate hole through the vitals the of the deer who then ran 150 yards and collapsed but the bullet exited or was a nice looking mushroom stopping in the same spot?

Why does it matter at all what the bullet looked like?

Just some food for thought.

I run the 150 eld-x in my 7mm.08. MV is a mild 2580fps. Have dropped deer from 50m to 350m. Projectile is usually recovered under the skin on opposite side. I have had several projectiles separate , but animals have all expired quickly. Certainly wouldn't call it a "failure." I to have heard multiple stories of the Eld-x "blowing up" and have often wondered if it was a velocity issue rather than a projectile issue?. Perhaps they just don't like going fast. Accuracy is great. I often shoot this load out to 1000m on steel successfully.

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Maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough. Given what I observed with a pill that didn’t connect with any major bones (total jacket/core separation) then I’m very sceptical about what the outcome would be if pill had hit shoulder instead of crease. My guess based on observed terminal performance is that I would have had a blow up on shoulder & badly wounded deer with pill unlikely to penetrate to vitals. Doesn’t fit with my idea of ethical hunting. Others experience may differ.

Used the .277 145grain eldx with similar results at close range. 2900fps muzzle velocity. Way better bullets available. Wouldn’t use them again.

Originally Posted by AlpineHunter

Keen to hear some thoughts on this situation. Built a new .284 using a tikka running standard 22 inch barrel length. Running 150gn ELD-X MV of 2,930 got it shooting sub .4 moa groups. Built this to be my one gun for everything and typically I am shooting most of my game +200 yards down here in the south island, but on occasions will be close range, like a few weekends ago where I shot a large bodied red hind at 50 yards middle of the shoulder. The round exploded under the near side skin with obvious over expansion. Did not touch any of the vitals required follow up neck shot. I have successfully used ELD-X close range before in another .284 18 inch barrel but only doing around 2,750 no problem. Has anyone struck similar issues. According to chat GPT I am shooting the ELD-X above its optimal expansion range for close up shots.

I really don't want to have to develop 2 loads so any thoughts would be appreciated. I might dial the speed back to 2,850 which will still give me good velocity/terminal performance at 600 yards my maximum range.

Cheers Team.

Gave up on the 150 ELD-X in 7mm-08 (about 2550fps at muzzle) after some inconsistent results shooting red hinds. Either near-instant kill or slow dead run when shot in the same place, just behind the shoulder. Erratic expansion.