180 ELD-Ms coming apart

[Jimmy James]

What twist are you running in your rifle?? I have a 1-9 and they shot really well to 500yds but seemed to open up at 800 on out to 1000. My 162s would out shoot them. I only tried them on the one occasion at 800+ and after talking to my smith he thought I may be on the edge of stability is why the seemed to open up further on out. I am wondering if I need to give up on them or buy another box and give the a try again at longer ranges...

Bbl is Brux 1&1/4" dia 32" 8 twist. I just ask my smith what to shoot and he said 180gr. I bought 500 blem ELDM's and never looked back. He told me a specific berger to buy and i bought a box but have never shot them.

 

[Milo 2.0]

A buddy had a 28 nosler built by Rbros. He is pushing them over 3200 with around 83 grains of retumbo. No issues with them blowing up.

We've all seen different lot #'s of bullets perform differently too.

 

[venatic]

I had two 180 Eld-x blow up in my 1/8 twist 28 Nosler running near 3200.
Both were on 3rd shot of 3 shot string

 

[JBT47]

A buddy had a 28 nosler built by Rbros. He is pushing them over 3200 with around 83 grains of retumbo. No issues with them blowing up.

That RBros rifle most likely has a Broughton 5C barrel which may be easier on bullets due to the land profile.

 

[ARK]

I was testing them in my 7/300WSM, 1:7 twist barrel and about 1 in 4 shots were not on the target. Asked my friend who is way more experienced then I to shoot when I was observing. 1 in 4 bullet was flying crazy hitting 100 yards berm ( about 3 feet low) or 3 feet off at 200. Saying that I will still shoot them in my 284 because got groups half of the size of VLDs in my barrel.

 

[rhovee]

Shot this group at 300 last week with eldm. (2) shots of different changes weights on the left group. 2887-2904

 

[ARK]

Shot this group at 300 last week with eldm. (2) shots of different changes weights on the left group. 2887-2904

Ha! Where is your fifth bullet???

 

[rhovee]

I had new ADG brass and was taking a guess at charge and velocity. Only wanted to shoot two of same charge weight to see where i was at. I shot two and they were almost touching. Added .3 grains of powder and shot two more and they all grouped in a 1" at 300. This is a hunting rifle. Bipod and rear sand bag

 

[Don Shelton]

Are you jamming or jumping? What freebore? I’m ready to try them in a new 284w barrel,9 twist 30”. I’ll be shooting 600 and 1k benchrest

 

[Fire Dog]

So try a 183 smk or a berger 180 and see if they come apart, then you will know if it's the barrel or not. I have used all three brands but only around 2850 fps none have blown up yet.

Same for me, 2835-40 in a .280AI and those 180gr ELD-M's were doing just fine at 1,000 yds.
Jumped 10 thou. through 1:8.5 twist.

 

[kyotekiller25]

I've been shooting the 180g ELDMs from a 7-300 Win Mag, 28" Bartlein 9 twist at a mild 3000fps with H1000 for about 5 years now. They are one helluva long range hunting and target bullet. I shoot them out to 1400 yards under 1 MOA and have never had any issues with blow ups or stability. I have run them up to 3100-3150fps but there's really no need too. They shoot so well at 3000 and case life is excellent. 10x fired nosler brass and pockets are still tight. It's more of a long range hunting rifle so it doesn't really get shot a lot, and definitely no 20 shot strings, that's just insane. I did however take it to a local long range match out to 1100 yards 4 years ago and we were doing 6-7 shot strings in 2.5-3 minutes. It was a summer match and temps were in the high 90s. By the 6th shot my barrel was so hot I could smell the steel. The bartlein didn't seem to mind as it just kept stacking them, no blow ups, just the sound of steel every shot, but it made me want to cry. At the end of the day, I came out on top, so it might have been worth it, but I swore I'd never do one of those matches again with it and still haven't. I probably wore 25% of my throat out of it that day in only 40 rounds with how stupid hot it got.

Anyway, according to my calculations your RPMs are only around 275K which is well below hornadys 300K threshold limit. So I'm not sure what the cause of your blow ups are. At 3000fps and a 9 twist, I'm at 240K RPMs and haven't seen any issues even when the barrel was way to hot to touch. I don't know how hot a barrel has to be to smell steel, but I can tell you it was the hottest I've ever seen a barrel get, and I never want to see any of my barrels get that hot again. Not worth it.

 

[No i deer]

I've them blow up aswell..
I lost 3 on a cold morning in my 26 inch barreled 284 doing about 2770fps..
3 shots never made the 600yds target.

 

[Mike TackleBerry]

(3180X720)/8.44 = 271,279 RPM, Those bullets should be fine, Sounds like a barrel issue!

 

[Frankm]

All this twist, rpm stuff, velocity etc is PART of the problem. Barrel length is another issue ( sure a longer barrel creates more velocity) but even more important on barrel length is it creates friction/heat when you shoot long barrels. Thus rpm/twist/velocity important but so is HEAT!!

Friend built a 17-20# 7STW Improved for a guy with a 34 or 36” barrel. It was shooting 3200-3300 and blowing every bullet up. Downloaded it to 2860-2900 fps range and STILL blowing everything up!! (Lilja 7.5 or 8 twist; 3 grove)

SO, heat from friction was the major contributor to failures. They ended up trying 175 grain ELDX s and those held up!! Jacket just enough thicker that they d take the abuse.

180 ELDM s, various Berger’s, Sierras, etc all failed prior to the 175 Eldx discovery.

Try some thicker jacketed bullets or mono s … might solve your issues too. Good luck.

 

[Frankm]

All this twist, rpm stuff, velocity etc is PART of the problem. Barrel length is another issue ( sure a longer barrel creates more velocity) but even more important on barrel length is it creates friction/heat when you shoot long barrels. Thus rpm/twist/velocity important but so is HEAT!!

Friend built a 17-20# 7STW Improved for a guy with a 34 or 36” barrel. It was shooting 3200-3300 and blowing every bullet up. Downloaded it to 2860-2900 fps range and STILL blowing everything up!! (Lilja 7.5 or 8 twist; 3 grove)

SO, heat from friction was the major contributor to failures. They ended up trying 175 grain ELDX s and those held up!! Jacket just enough thicker that they d take the abuse.

180 ELDM s, various Berger’s, Sierras, etc all failed prior to the 175 Eldx discovery.

Try some thicker jacketed bullets or mono s … might solve your issues too. Good job

 

[CJ6]

Hornady had the same problem with the original 162 gr. A Max (large polymer tip). They would also blowup. They switched to a new jacket with a smaller tip.