300 HAM'r jug test with 150 gr. Speer

[FredH]

This test was using the spitzer hotcor. I only used 4 jugs as I feel a bullet that penetrates that many jugs will give good enough penetration for the vast majority of shots taken at deer and feral hogs. Test shot at 100 yards using a load giving 2260 fps from my 18" 300 HAM"r, jugs 1" apart. I did hang a piece of carpet behind the jugs on my target frame to hopefully catch the bullet if it penetrated the jugs which it did.



The bullet hit a bit low. I did take one test shot that hit 3" high at 100 yards so held at the bottom of the lablel. Bullet hit a bit more than an inch above the bottom of the label on the first jug. Penetrated all four jugs a layer of carpet and hit the edge of a piece of thin angle iron before stopping. Picture is of the side that didn't hit the metal. It weighs 129 grains



It split the first four jugs and penetrated the fourth making an expanded bullet diameter hole. I consider this good bullet performance. Better than any of the tipped .224 match bullets tested so far.

 

[Mountain_Life]

I'm not familiar with this test. Out of curiosity, what relevance do 4 milk jugs and carpet have to big game animals? Interesting to see the results, but not sure if it helps with selecting a bullet for big game.

 

[FredH]

I'm not familiar with this test. Out of curiosity, what relevance do 4 milk jugs and carpet have to big game animals? Interesting to see the results, but not sure if it helps with selecting a bullet for big game.

Well testing such as this gives a good idea on how well a bullet will penetrate. A properly designed bullet will generally expand like it should in water and maintain weight. It is also a great way to test bullets against each other. As for pertaining to big game animals I have often recovered bullets from animals that looked a great deal like the bullets tested in water jugs. Animals are 78% water and that is only 22% different than water itself. I expect a bullet to penetrate a bit deeper in a deer than water.

Gell is closer to 78% water so it usually shows a bit more penetration. It just like using water jugs is not exactly like hitting an animal with the same bullet. Deer are not consistent in texture. They have bones and voids. Some bullets, hollow point match bullets especially tend to show fragmentation and expansion they would not always exhibit in game. Tipped match bullets tend to over expand in water as they often do in game animals. Good hunting bullets like Hornady Innerlocs, Speer Hotcors, Nosler Partitions and Ballistic tips will often show the same good expansion qualities in water as they do in game. In my opinion a bullet that performs poorly in jug testing will do so in game animals.

 

[Thegman]

Two Speer 150 BTSP from two moose from two years ago at ~2,350 fps from a 300 HAM’R. One moose about 30 yards, the other about 100 yards. Both bullets retained about 90% of their weight.


Small sample sizes, but neither of these did as much internal damage as the 77TMK 'd moose from last year. For the 150 Speer, basically just an expanded-bullet size hole through the lungs. All three penetrated to the offside hide. Fragments for the TMK and what you see for the 150 BTSP.

IMO, these are a little too slow from the HAM’R to work optimally. I think 125 BT/SST, 135 FTX etc. are probably better killing bullets out of the HAM’R.

 

[FredH]

Since the moose died damage was adequate. Those bullets look perfect to me. How did you get 2350 fps out of your HAM'r? I am using both 1680 and CFE BLK, liking 1680 better. Am I loading too light? 25.1 grains of CFE BLK or 24.9 grains of 1680 are what I am putting in my cases. Nice accuracy and pretty much what you get from 30-30 factory loads.

 

[FredH]

This is the same test using the Speer 150 grain Hotcor FN designed for the 30-30.

 

[Thegman]

Since the moose died damage was adequate. Those bullets look perfect to me. How did you get 2350 fps out of your HAM'r? I am using both 1680 and CFE BLK, liking 1680 better. Am I loading too light? 25.1 grains of CFE BLK or 24.9 grains of 1680 are what I am putting in my cases. Nice accuracy and pretty much what you get from 30-30 factory loads.

Yes, you do prefer bullets stay together, mostly. I'd rather see more fragmentation with this bullet design. These bullets, IMO, weren't terribly far off from not expanding at all. I could easily see that happening at 200 yards with them, from the HAM’R. I think Bill Wilson has found the same with them.

I have had best results loading Shooter's World Socom for 125s and SW Blackout for 150s. I use C-Products 350 Legend magazines for the HAM’R which allow me to load out to 2.325". That's why I can run 125 BT and 125 SST, which really don't work well at 2.26".

I've not found my CFE BLK or 1680 to get the velocities of the SW powders.

 

[FredH]

I use the same magazines. Am now looking for some of the Shooter's World powders. Is powder compression an issue like it is with CFE BLK and 125-130 grain bullets? I like bullets that hold together as I tend to make CNS shots and peripheral damage is usually less that with softer projectiles. I have found bullets that maintain most of their weight, expand near 2x kill just fine. I expect a short run with chest hits no matter what projectile I am shooting. I am also a big fan of exit holes.

 

[Thegman]

No compression problems with 2.325" and SW Socom with 125s. Socom is a little faster than CFE BLK so I'm only using about 26.5 grains for ~ 2,580 out of a 16" barrel. Never have seen any pressure issues with that load in my barrels with BT or SST. 0.5 grains less with a Speer TNT. Like you, I don't like loading as much CFE as is required for 125s.

As I recall, my lot of CFE was okay with 150s, but not quite as good as SW Blackout, but I do think I have a "slow lot" of CFE.

I recalled that I also shot a small grizzly at about 50 yards with the 150 BTSP from the HAM’R. Worked very well in that case and I did have a broadside pass through. Will be interesting to hear how they work for you.