hornady precision hunter
Hornady Precision Hunter 300 Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum Ammo 178 Grain ELD-X 20-Rds Features:
Your trophy has never been closer– even if it’s far away! Featuring the radically superior ELD-X bullet with patented Heat Shield tip, Precision Hunter will soon be the “go-to” load for ANY hunting situation because of its effective terminal performance at ALL practical ranges. The Heat Shield tip of the Hornady ELD-X bullet defies the effects of aerodynamic heating and retains its shape to provide a perfect meplat (tip) that is always the same shape. A streamlined secant ogive with optimum boattail design, plus the highly concentric AMP bullet jackets, combined with the patent pending Heat Shield tip creates a supremely accurate, high BC match bullet.
ELD-Match bullet BCs are measured with Doppler radar and corrected to standard atmospheric conditions. With high velocity, 0-400 yard impact, the bullet continually expands throughout its penetration path. The thick shank of the jacket and high Interlock ring keep the core and jacket together providing 50-60% weight retention. Upon low velocity, 400 yard impacts, the Heat Shield tip drives backward into the bullet to initiate expansion. Exhibiting conventional expansion with a large mushroom and 85-90% retained weight the bullet provides deep penetration and large wound cavities. This ammunition is new production, non-corrosive, in boxer primed, reloadable brass cases.
Hornady Precision Hunter 300 Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum Ammo 178 Grain ELD-X 20-Rds Specifications:
178 Grains
ELD-X
20 rounds per box
Product details
With life sneaking up on me before I could get my loading bench set up (for, what, the umpteenth year), I decided to dabble with a new line of factory ammo for the season. Part of this was driven be the assembly of what wil likely be my “jack of all trades” deer rifle for a while – a Savage Model 10 Precision Carbine in 308. Also, while my Savage Model 111 Long Range Hunter (LRH) in 7mm Remington Magnum has been doing well with Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 140’s, I thought I’d mess with it, too.
info
Enter the Hornady “Precision Hunter” line of ammunition. I more or less became interested in some of the hype around the new Hornady ELD-X bullet, and this is their factory line with that bullet. With zero expectations, I started seeing what it would do. Time at the range has been in short supply, so I wasn’t able to spend an appreciable amount of time on the bench until today – and even then I was shooting what, to me, was too fast. But I was impressed overall.
Hornady Precision Hunter
First, the 7mm Mag…. The 162 grain ELD-X has a G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.630, which is VERY efficient. I was getting velocity measurements from the low 2800’s to just over 2900 fps (more on that in a moment). From the get-go, it was obvious it wanted to shoot in the gun. All shooting was done through a suppressor (Thunder Beast Ultra-7), as that is how I’m going to hunt with it (and also the 308). The gun has a 1:9.5 twist barrel, so it easily stabilizes this bullet.
experience
Initial group testing last week showed three-shot groups averaging around 0.7″… I was trying to zero at the same time, so 5 shot groups were not practical in the time frame if I wanted to keep the gun cool enough to not run into grouping issues. I was, and am, pleased. Today, I continued to test the gun and ran a few more through it as I fine tuned the zero. Groups were good, but I blew one with a called flier…. I ain’t gonna show that one.
