12 Nov Everything You Need to Know About Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X Bullets
Muzzleloaders have come a long way since the sidelocks of yesteryear. Heck, most muzzleloader hunters aren’t even shooting actual black powder anymore. They’re using substitutes, muzzleloader speed loaders, and advanced in-line ignition systems that are faster and more reliable than traditional muzzleloader technology.
Muzzleloader projectiles have also evolved over time, and in some cases, dramatically so. Nowadays, most hunters are shooting spitzer bullets, having long since moved away from patched round balls.
But the paradigm has shifted again, and now there are even better modern alternatives – like Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullets. Here’s a breakdown of what you should know.
Problems with Sabots and Patched Round Balls
First, let’s talk about patched round balls. Patched round balls are how so many muzzleloader hunters learn the basics of front-stuffing protocol. They’re great to learn on, but after that, they’re not the best for hunting.
Don’t take that the wrong way. It’s a foregone certainty that countless deer and other game have fallen to patched round balls over the years. Doubtless, many still do even today.
But the patched round ball is not without its ballistic shortcomings. First, since they require a patch, they’re not full-bore, which means you need to carry extra muzzleloading accessories (patches).
Second, patched balls, though they carry a lot of energy, are ballistically inefficient. They hit hard at close ranges, but they don’t have any technology that encourages expansion, energy transfer and stopping power. They just punch a hole in the target where they hit it.
Perhaps worst of all are the limitations with respect to range and accuracy. Up close, a round ball that’s fired from a rifle can be really accurate. But past 100 yards, they tend to yaw and roll, rarely striking with precision.
Also, since they are not pointed, they lose energy very quickly, which in turn means they bleed killing potential. A shot that makes contact past 100 yards with a round ball and hits a vital area is still likely to kill, but that’s not a shot you should be taking.
Saboted spitzer bullets partially solve some of these problems. Since they are pointed, they can be spin stabilized much more effectively than round balls. This also means they have a considerably higher ballistic coefficient, which means they retain killing energy much better, too.
Saboted bullets can also be made with soft tips or ballistic tips that are designed to expand on impact, delivering energy more effectively and solving another of the issues experienced by shooters of patched round balls.
The thing is, the saboted bullet trades in some mass, which means you are technically shooting a sub-caliber round.
The solution lies in a full-bore, or nearly full-bore bullet, like a Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullet. Here’s why they’re better.
The Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X Advantage
There are numerous ways in which Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullets outperform both patched round balls and saboted spitzer bullets. These are among the most significant of the advantages they offer.
Faster, Easier Loads
At .499 caliber, Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullets are about as close to true full-bore bullets (for .50 cal) as they can be. They don’t require a sabot, though, which means it’s easier and faster to load (and reload) them. They drive home and seat more easily, and since you don’t need to prepare a patch, reloads are faster and smoother – a huge bonus in the field if you ever need to chase down a target for a second shot.
A Better Gas Seal, More Power
Much like full-bore bullets that have a flared base that produces a superior gas seal, these Hornady bullets feature a performance-boosting polymer base that flares out and presses against the bore, serving as a gas seal and engaging the rifling when the rifle is fired.
This polymer base accomplishes more than one objective. For one, it drives better torque engagement, resulting in a more accurate projectile, even at extended ranges. This improves its performance over both patched round balls and sabots.
Another advantage of this polymer base is that it increases power, as it also effectively serves as a gas seal, resulting in slightly higher muzzle velocity that translates to greater ballistic energy on impact with the intended target.
Moreover, this polymer base is exceptionally consistent and the design features centering petals that grip the bullet’s boat-tail, resulting in maximal energy transmission and accuracy.
Moreover, the design of these muzzleloader bullets has a boat tail that improves performance over both round balls and flat-bottomed spitzer bullets, as boat tailed bullets are more stable and experience less drag, extending the effective range and retained ballistic energy of these bullets.
Increased Energy Transfer and Lethality
One of the main problems of patched round balls is energy transmission that is responsible for effective dispatching potential. With a patched round ball, performance is highly diminished compared to a spitzer bullet.
The Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X is made with a polymer tip that drives into the lead core like a wedge, promoting rapid, devastating expansion, delivering the greatest amount of energy as effectively as possible, resulting in quicker, more ethical dispatches.
Moreover, these bullets feature copper interlock rings and copper alloy jackets that also improve their ballistic and energy transfer capabilities.
The copper jacket improves stability on impact, and the interlock ring helps prevent the jacket from separating from the core, retaining mass, ensuring the perfect, optimal balance of expansion and weight retention for a corresponding optimal balance in penetration and energy transfer, resulting in improved lethality.
All in all, with Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullets, you get greater power, improved ballistic performance, accuracy, and range capped off with greater energy transfer and ethical killing capacity. They are the ultimate in modern muzzleloading bullet design.
Need More Information on Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X Bullets?
Hornady Bore Driver ELD-X bullets are not the only advanced muzzleloader bullets we sell here at Anarchy Outdoors. Other great alternatives are Thor muzzleloader bullets, which are full-bore bullets that offer many of the same advantages mentioned here, and significantly improve performance over patched round balls and sabots.
Either way, if you want to learn more about either alternative, take a closer look through the links in this article and then if you still have questions about how better bullets can improve your muzzleloading potential, get in touch with us directly at 833-980-0333.
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