Is this a hunting round?

[Stinky Coyote]

So, NO, it is not a hunting round. It was designed as, and marketed as match ammo. It states right there on the page that this is "Target/Mach" ammunition. It was NOT designed or marketed as hunting ammunition. So obviously, this should never ever be used for hunting because that was not what it was designed for, right?

I am stating purported facts and poking some fun here because I occasionally get given considerable verbal condemnation for testing non-hunting bullets for hunting purposes. People get hung up on "design intent" and marketed parameters of application as if they were handed down by God. So if I have a bullet being tested that does not perform well for hunting that wasn't designed for hunting, folks will often note that obviously it would not work because it wasn't designed for hunting. It is a shallow consideration especially in light of bullets such as Hornady AMAX and ELD-M. While the designers of the bullet may have had one intent in mind, that does not de facto resign the bullet to only that application. There are some target bullets that are fine for hunting, though certainly not all of them. There are some hunting bullets that are not really up to par hunting, despite that being their apparent intent as indicated by the marketing.

As sundowner noted, it can be used for hunting deer (hogs, coyotes, etc.) and some people think very highly of it for the process. Despite some of my videos like this one where I tested the ELD-M 123 gr. factory ammo, it is not one of my favorite rounds, but I think it should be very functional for hunting.

[video=youtube;WnNFGtQSXag]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnNFGtQSXag[/video]

Great video, you'll definitely have the edge for dedicated pig round recommendations and typical ranges for them. For those who take on various other big game and varying ranges beyond the hogs the eld-m is working great. I have bone hits on moose femur (destroyed about 4" of it, unnecessary follow ups, shoot till they drop) and skull on same moose went in just under antler at 125 yards and it knocked the antler off with a couple inches of skull plate attached to it, shot a pretty large boar black bear this spring quartering away at 55 yards and broke the rather stout offside front shoulder. I'm seeing very consistent performance with penetration in the 20" range (unless a major bone hit like spine, skull, femer) from 10 yards out to 420 yards and great internal work through that 20"...closer shots leaving less chunks of lead to be found and recovered weight at about 200 yards or 2100 fps impact on mine can expect to recover 100 grains after 18". Which only have so many examples of this to draw from as most of the deer size game broadside have been exits so only some of the quartering shots where 18-20" of animal allowed bullet (fragments etc.) to be recovered. Another observation that's been consistent is the faster the impact speeds the great the expansion/fragmentation and less lead recovered if even recovered, even a 10 yard facing bear went through 14-16" center chest and exited just beside the spine (odd angle, it was taking a poop facing us) and then the further we go it starts to behave more as a controlled delayed expansion bullet but it's penetration depths are similar all the way out with impact velocity dictating the upset and internal work. A guy could do everything he wanted with a Grendel and hornady black from steel to hunting and never need to shop for anything else, just keep a few cases around and stock back up when you get down to the last case or two.