Hornady ELD-Ms, gone and good riddance!!!

[davidjoe]

Brief over view, not a detailed report by and means.
6.5mm ELD-M 147g
6.5mm ELD-M 140g
7mm ELD-M 180g
x3 qualified Engineers that are also qualified distance shooters, thats enough of that for now.
All three types of bullets, multiple lot numbers, 284 cartridge, 6.5-284, all three bullets failed in both cartridges in three different rifles, Brux and Bartlein barrels after the first or second F class target once the rifle started warmng up. A spotter watched the jackets frag off at about 300yds and about 700yds on different days.
Extremely accurate bullets in small doses, world class accurate, unless you use them in matches and get the barrel up to typical match temps.
For a few shots, great chioce on all counts.
For matches be prepared for 0 scores part way into he match. Way old news its happened to a good few of us now in various matches.
We tried to work with the amateur club at Hornady, pointless, deny all accusations, make counter accusations, admit to nothing.
Its a mass marketing pedestrian grade commoner product.
They lie and twist the facts and think because they say it we need to go for it like most of there normal customer interface. This is well known product failure in the serious match arenas, at the national level. My direct experience is
F class and long bench. As well as the other two fellows that had the same problems and were part of the investigation and direct findings. When one of the guys found a jacket at about the 300yd burm, kinda told all. Hormady would not and did not ever address the fragged jacket we did send them , but they did ask for it.
Bergers, Lapuas, Sieeras, all in the same rifles and barrels loaded them same et al, no issues.

If they won’t survive in the leading “match” cartridge, let alone a magnum, they should not be billed as a match bullet.

 

[Nomad47]

I for one have a gun that LOVES 123 AMAX bullets.... and I wish they didnt stop making them. Cant speak for elds. BUT like what was said, they are mass produced, made for throwing lead down range and weekend warriors.

Agreed. I'm down to 1800 105 AMax bullets for my 6SLR. I will be very sad when that last one goes down the barrel.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I didnt know they were match worthy to start with. Match in this case is like heavy duty shocks for a car- just a catch word. Kinda like a match grade green mountain barrel- gotta know its limitations and actual purpose before using them

 

[JimT]

Brief over view, not a detailed report by and means.
6.5mm ELD-M 147g
6.5mm ELD-M 140g
7mm ELD-M 180g
x3 qualified Engineers that are also qualified distance shooters, thats enough of that for now.
All three types of bullets, multiple lot numbers, 284 cartridge, 6.5-284, all three bullets failed in both cartridges in three different rifles, Brux and Bartlein barrels after the first or second F class target once the rifle started warmng up. A spotter watched the jackets frag off at about 300yds and about 700yds on different days.
Extremely accurate bullets in small doses, world class accurate, unless you use them in matches and get the barrel up to typical match temps.
For a few shots, great chioce on all counts.
For matches be prepared for 0 scores part way into he match. Way old news its happened to a good few of us now in various matches.
We tried to work with the amateur club at Hornady, pointless, deny all accusations, make counter accusations, admit to nothing.
Its a mass marketing pedestrian grade commoner product.
They lie and twist the facts and think because they say it we need to go for it like most of there normal customer interface. This is well known product failure in the serious match arenas, at the national level. My direct experience is
F class and long bench. As well as the other two fellows that had the same problems and were part of the investigation and direct findings. When one of the guys found a jacket at about the 300yd burm, kinda told all. Hormady would not and did not ever address the fragged jacket we did send them , but they did ask for it.
Bergers, Lapuas, Sieeras, all in the same rifles and barrels loaded them same et al, no issues.

Sorry, it’s going to take a lot more than the flimsy and undocumented explanation above to make me forget the reputation and contributions the Hornady family has made to the hunting and shooting sports for almost 70 years!!

Signed: Pedestrian Grade Commoner.

 

[Steve Donlon]

Area 51 perhaps isn’t elaborating because it’s not black and white. I blew ELD’s at a state match. My choices contributed, - I used an RSAUM, my twist rate was a bit fast, and it turns out that my Krieger 5R barrels had relatively (slightly) tighter bores, ... and I don’t run mild. Attrition cured that barrel problem. Yeah, I had some feelings right when it happened, assuming only Hornady could allow this.

And then after a change and some consecutive stability, I also blew a Lapua. Not as fragile as ELD’s for sure, but it’s quite repeatable, if I shot fast, as I’ve seen. Texas summer heat arrived, and low and behold even a Berger can be made to blow in such an Rsaum, although much tougher than Lapua was.

This is when I made barrel changes. So far so good with blue and yellow. I’ve also watched my friend shoot my old ELD’s superberly and incident free through his .284. Hornady did get some things very right, especially for .284 devotees, although I won’t be returning to them to test with new barrels.

I don't know why you would use a .35 cent bullet at a "STATE MATCH" to begin with. Your Rsaum must need some special expensive bullets.

 

[davidjoe]

I don't know why you would use a .35 cent bullet at a "STATE MATCH" to begin with. Your Rsaum must need some special expensive bullets.

Ok, I’ll bite. I’ve shot everything made smaller than an RSAUM until late 2017. Still have them, and use them, didn’t cash them out, and picked a lot of them based on what the kids could share at matches and handle at the time. No quickie “give me the best for getting a high master card, please” going on here. The 180 ELD-M introduced with a stellar BC, similar to the 195’s and 197’s. That’s the bait, - the nice price isn’t a surprise because Hornady has always been reasonable. Then you test them for group in the calm and sure enough they group as good or better than your pet load, and you find in the wind they drifted less - you’re hooked, - to go further. And at this point, pretty enamored with Hornady. The reason for the many posts along these lines above is that zeros in a match are a really big deal. My Saums weren’t too good for the blown bullets they shot, rather I wasn’t putting the pieces together right for increasing temperatures that knocked off one bullet after the other with a certain spec set of barrels.

Area 51’s issue is much broader. A nonmag .284 case is enough to blow these bullets, three different ones. I believe the findings. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen always or even often, but then again the .284 case pretty damn widely used.

 

[Evan]

I will agree with a lot of the above posters: Want Proven Performance? Buy Proven Performers.

When you've spent all that money building a multi-thousand dollar competition ready rifle, drove to a match, paid for a hotel room, paid entry fees, etc. then it seems pretty silly to choose to develop and tune your match load around the "budget match" bullet to save $0.25 per shot. Was the ~$300 you saved over the life of the barrel worth it? When you're often putting up that much money just to be in the one match... seems like a risky choice.

That's the lesson for everyone: when you've bought a nice Porsche and paid for a track day to go see what it'll do, don't skip the premium fuel at the pump to save a few bucks. Oh and don't buy the cheaper Uniroyal tires either if everyone else is running Michelin and Continentals. You're setting yourself up for disappointment at best and disaster at worst.

 

[normmatzen]

I made a comment earlier that I had been shooting better than ever with my 7mm rifle in both F Class matches as well as Long Range BR matches. What I didn't mention was my load and Mv. Just as Area 51 didn't give us that info.
My rifle barrel is a 1 in 9 twist and I load 50.6 gr of RL-16 for a Mv of 2820 fps.

Anyone trying to get to 3000 fps will, with 1 in 9 or less will probably explode bullets, as well as destroy cases. Don't know about SAUM or other than 284 WIN cases.

 

[Park ranger]

#neveragain #metoo

 

[Patton243]

Here’s my observation on Hornady lately: The Amax bullets that were discontinued were a good bullet IMO. I loved the 105 Amax and 162 Amax specifically in my 6 and 7mms. The bullets fragmented well for varmint hunting. Now, these new ELDs are more expensive, inconsistent on how they fragment, and overall don’t shoot as well as the old AMAX. I’m not aware of bullets coming apart in flight as some mentioned, but I have noticed a lot more flyers with the ELD Ms over the original Amax. Finally, that melted tip bullshit Hornady came up with is rediculous when the ELDs came out. I’ve been shooting Sierra exclusively lately aside from the 162 ELDs in my 7 mag. Hornady lost business from me too.

 

[hogpatrol]

The X version works for me.

 

[Milo 2.0]

The X version works for me.View attachment 1053282

Lmao, thanks, got a laugh first thing this am.

 

[Mark W]

I’m not a competitive shooter by anyone’s definition but I used a lot of Amax bullets and was always pleased with their performance. I never bought the whole deformed tip story and still choose to believe that it was simply a marketing strategy to sell a more expensive bullet. I haven’t even tried the new ELDs and probably won’t. Now I use a lot of Sierra matchings.

 

[284winner]

Here’s my observation on Hornady lately: The Amax bullets that were discontinued were a good bullet IMO. I loved the 105 Amax and 162 Amax specifically in my 6 and 7mms. The bullets fragmented well for varmint hunting. Now, these new ELDs are more expensive, inconsistent on how they fragment, and overall don’t shoot as well as the old AMAX. I’m not aware of bullets coming apart in flight as some mentioned, but I have noticed a lot more flyers with the ELD Ms over the original Amax. Finally, that melted tip bullshit Hornady came up with is rediculous when the ELDs came out. I’ve been shooting Sierra exclusively lately aside from the 162 ELDs in my 7 mag. Hornady lost business from me too.

I've got about 1200 of the 162 Amax bullets for different 284 Cal guns I own. Never any issues with the Amax. I personally think the ELDs have issues because they are ELDS. Again, why fixed what wasn't broke. I've not had issues with the ELDs. Those that have do have valid reason to quit shooting them. If I have this issues, I will be another that stops using them. Until then, they work for me.

 

[KMart]

The X version works for me.View attachment 1053282

Hog, that HAD to be fired from a Creedmoor. No other 6.5 could possibly be that powerful.

 

[hogpatrol]

Hog, that HAD to be fired from a Creedmoor. No other 6.5 could possibly be that powerful.

Not on my watch and never in a million years.

 

[kountryboy2]

Just threw away the worst bullet/ company experience i have ever had, worst of the worst. Gave them every chance to at least be honest about the design short comings and problems in matches. We did a thorough investigation and know what we discovered to be true and accurate.
They prey on the uninformed pedestrian grade consumer type shooter. way out of their league in the full on match environment.
In the garbage where they belong, the bullets and the company.
Sad but true.

Show me on the doll where the Hornady bullets hurt you.

 

[hottotrot]

Show me on the doll where the Hornady bullets hurt you.

LMFAO. Dying. Holy crap, I'm dying.

 

[Milo 2.0]

Show me on the doll where the Hornady bullets hurt you.

I have not been hurt yet, every time someone shoots at me with one, they blow up 30 yards out of the barrel. So here I am.

 

[JimT]

I think I have read all the threads talking about problems with ELD-M’s and it seems to me there are a lot more people stating they are not having problems compared to those that are. This fact seems to point to a problem with certain lots or are more specific to the equipment or actions of those reporting problems.

It’s a shame this is such an elusive conclusion. Of course in the internet age it is so much more selfishly rewarding to trash a reputable company than to conduct ourselves in an honorable fashion.