AMAX vs ELD-M

[bulldog8b]

I've been using 80g ELD-M bullets in a 224 Valkyrie and they're working well. The heavier bullets like the 88g ELD or SMK 90g weren't as good. I have some 88s to get rid of and I have a guy that has 80g AMAX to trade but I can't find any info on exactly how the 2 compare. Is it just a different tip? Did all the AMAX bullets have problems with the tip melting? What exactly is the difference?

Most of what I have found has been about expansion for hunting, this is purely for shooting paper. Any insights on the differences between AMAX and ELD-M?

[ocabj]

A-Max is discontinued. ELD-M is a redesign of the A-Max. The tips should be the same between the last revision of the A-Max to the current ELD-M. It's mostly bullet redesign for BC.

As far as tips and A-Max, I think they changed them early on, but I could be wrong. A-Max did have a tip deformation issue at one time.

Either way, you'll probably have different results with 80gr A-Max and 80gr ELD-M since they are different bullets. Granted, it'll probably be very slight (hopefully).

[ar15barrels]

The old Amax tips were melting above 4000fps.
That won't be an issue with an 80gr bullet in a valkrie as it will barely be getting to 3000fps.

[Cowboy T]

When Hornady first came out with the ELD series, one of the big things they talked about was the new polymer that they started using over the polymer used in the A-MAX. Here's their explanation.

https://www.hornady.com/heat-shield