7mm ELD X bullets question

[WoodsCraft]

About a year ago I bought 100 of the 162 grain Hornady ELD X bullets to try in my 7mm magnum. Over the weekend I was at the range and decided to test them in my Colt Sauer , this rifle is very accurate and shoots 175 grain Sierra bullets as good as you can ask a hunting rifle to shoot . Much to my dismay I was getting 4 inch groups from these 162 grain ELD X pills . So I switched back to my tried and true load using the 175 Sierra and was printing sub moa.


I tried these same loads in my 700 PSS and again the rifle was shooting 4 inch groups , switching back to 175 grain bullets the rifle began shooting sub moa. The Colt Sauer has a 1:9.5 twist and the PSS has a 1:9 twist keep in mind these ELD X bullets aren't longer than the 175 or 180 grain bullets I normally use . The twist on both my rifles is in the recommended range .

Has anyone else had issues with these bullets in their rifles ?

 

[osupoke]

My Savage .308 loves 178 ELD-X bullets. Tried them in my son's Bergara, and shotgunned them all over the place. I can't help much other than to say I have observed a similar phenomenon; some rifles love the ELD-X and some hate them!

 

[WoodsCraft]

I may try these in my 7x57 and the 280 to see what they do before I throw in the towel but I am not very optimistic base on the performance from both my 7 mags.

 

[swampratt]

Did you guys play with seating depths on those Hornady bullets?
.005" from touching the lands.
Now if you do not smoke or color the bullet with a sharpie you can be in the lands .030" or more if you just seat it with pressure.
I like .005" off NO marks on a colored bullet then back it off .020" more test and again back it off another .020" and test.

I was given some Bergers that I was told wanted .060" to .120" off the lands for my .308.

I kind of did not believe the guy and set them at .005" off and they did not group well.
I backed them to .025" and tightened up and then went .050" off and they got even tighter.

I was out of those free to try bullets and just could not bring myself to give 35+ for 50.
But they sure as heck wanted to jump.

My 6.5 Hornady flat base wants to jump also.

 

[PiedmontGuy]

My son and I use the Hornady Precision Hunter 162gr ELDX and we have had good luck with them shooting two different 7mm Rem Mag rifles, but they are factory loads and sounds like you may be loading them yourself.

 

[diggler1833]

Barrels are individuals, just like you and I. I might like sushi and fit girls...you might hate those and like pizza and fat-bottomed girls (they make the rockin' world go round).

You will find those with good and bad experiences with any bullet. Sounds to me like it's time to cut your losses and move on.