178gr ELD-X in 308 Win.

[Quickoz]

G'day all,

Has anyone tried the 178gr ELD-X in 308 and got any data to share for Varget, PP2000MR or H4895? Anything would be good. Cheers.

 

[Nature Boy]

I never could get a decent load for my FN SPR 1:12. They were actually pretty bad. I eventually gave up on them and stuck with 178 AMAXs for longer ranges. I might revisit them when my custom rig comes in (hopefully next week )

 

[Gtscotty]

I've done some work up with them in my Tikka CTR, and so far they look pretty good. I've sort of settled on 44gr Varget in Hornady cases @ 2.885". The same rifle liked Amaxes at the same length over 44.3gr of Varget, but I started loosening primer pockets, so I dialed it down and was never able to find another load that was quite as good. The ELDx's do not appear to produce as much pressure as the Amaxes, but that's a subjective observation.

I'm still settling in from moving, but I'll try to put up some target pics if I can find them.

Edit: here we go, its a start anyway, more work to do with OAL once I get some time.

 

[Nature Boy]

I've done some work up with them in my Tikka CTR, and so far they look pretty good. I've sort of settled on 44gr Varget in Hornady cases @ 2.885". The same rifle liked Amaxes at the same length over 44.3gr of Varget, but I started loosening primer pockets, so I dialed it down and was never able to find another load that was quite as good. The ELDx's do not appear to produce as much pressure as the Amaxes, but that's a subjective observation.

I'm still settling in from moving, but I'll try to put up some target pics if I can find them.

Edit: here we go, its a start anyway, more work to do with OAL once I get some time.

View attachment 1005424

Interesting that the 42.5g didn't hold up at 200 yards. 44.0g looks good but it seems like a stout load. What does the Hornady manual say?

 

[Gtscotty]

Interesting that the 42.5g didn't hold up at 200 yards. 44.0g looks good but it seems like a stout load. What does the Hornady manual say?

Not sure what my Hornady manual says, it's still in a box somewhere. Regardless, 44gr is over book max in the Hornady manual, which, it seems to me runs a little slow on it's max velocities for the .308. I'm not advocating that anyone else use this load, just posting up my only experience with the 178ELDx.

I was surprised to see 42.5gr fall apart at 200yds, of course there is no guarantee that I didn't contribute to that, but the group felt good, and usually I would feel myself throw one or two that far out. I had a similar experience with 43gr and the 178gr Amax, one week I shot the best group the rifle has ever shot, with that load, an honest 0.251" 5 shot group. The next week, same exact load shot a few groups in the mid 0.8's... weird. 44.3gr was a solid reliable hammer though, that's why I was so bummed to give it up.

I'm going to go try to work up some 127gr Lrx Muley/cow elk loads for the 6.5 Montana this weekend and will play around with a few different 178gr loads while I'm waiting for that whippy barrel to cool down.

Edit: Comparing the Amax to the ELDx, the ELDx is significantly longer and has a longer boat tail. Surprising, the Amax box suggests a 10 twist, while the ELDx box suggests 12... Can't think of why that would be.

 

[Quickoz]

What was your MV with the 44gr Varget load? I'm going to be testing tomorrow with mine. Going to test Varget and PP2000MR.

 

[Gtscotty]

What was your MV with the 44gr Varget load? I'm going to be testing tomorrow with mine. Going to test Varget and PP2000MR.

I just ran a few of each over the Magnetospeed, but averages out of my 20" barrel were:

42.5gr = 2,556 fps
44gr = 2,622 fps

 

[Quickoz]

Well I did some inital chrony work with Varget and PP2000MR. Both loads gave reasonable ES and SD numbers with the loads.

47.5gr PP2000MR
AVG 2749
ES 17
SD 8

46.2gr Varget
Avg 2810
ES 16
SD 8

I think that the PP2000MR could go higher I think. I will see how it does next week. The Varget load is very compressed. I dont think I will try again at 46.2gr as the pressure did get a touch high at times. Also seating depth was hard to keep consistant due to compression. Im going to try lower around 45gr to 45.5gr which gave around 2750fps.

All loads were tested with Palma Brass and CCI450 with the 178ELDX jumped 10 thou.

 

[Gtscotty]

Wow, 46.2gr of Varget under a 178gr bullet in a .308? That's pretty stout, how long is your barrel?

I shot a few more groups today with the 178gr ELDxs, and made a few clones of my Eldx load with Amaxes on top. It looks like they are pretty much interchangeable in these loads!

 

[Quickoz]

26" barrel. The palma brass lets you push it a bit more then normal.