Any cons of the Absolute Hammer bullets?

[Loper]

I’ve been accumulating reloading equipment and will start reloading soon. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research to prepare myself. One thing that I’ve been seeing in various threads about is the Absolute Hammer bullets. It seems that these may be the holy grail as they have the traditional benefits of copper bullets (don’t explode or fragment and penetrate deep) and can be loaded heavier than traditional coppers or pushed decently faster than traditional copper bullet weights.

I’ve read that the BCs may be lower than more traditional copper bullets. Is this significant? Can this be overcome by the initial muzzle velocity? Is there a distance threshold to where the speed gained by Absolutes is more advantageous than the BC of a traditional copper bullet? If so, I’m guessing it is relative to the bullet weight and load. If not shooting beyond 400 yards, are there any downsides to the Absolutes?

Are there any other downsides other than lower BC and maybe cost?

What am I missing or not thinking about? I’m still trying to learn and may not know what I don’t know. I appreciate any insight.

 

[Miflatlander91]

Really thinking hard about selling my 300 win buying an 06 and shooting the 166 absolutes as an all around kill everything inside 500 yard gun

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[jeremy.b]

Hammers do have a sligtly lower BC than any tipped copper bullet. I don't think its significant out to 500, but if you plan to push the outer edges of effective range (hammers are designed to perform down to 1800 fps) then it is certainly something to consider.

There is something that may come up; there is a reduced BC found on the 30 cal Absolutes when compared to like size Hammer hunters. Smaller than 30 cal don't show this behavior and usually have the same or slightly improved BC compared to like sized Hammer Hunters.

There is one downside: since the absolutes behave differently than other bullets (requiring faster than expected powder to reach the "improved" velocities) they can require more experimentation, meaning more components and more time.

 

[MrTim]

I agree with the last paragraph above. I would consider starting out with the hammer Hunters to build confidence. They fall more in line with conventional loading data and are very forgiving.

 

[Bluumoon]

In my very limited experience it is easy to get a little too hot with the absolutes. The speed is def there and I have room to back off and still get better than traditional 30-06 borderline .300 win mag speeds out of a .308 Win the 151 absolute.

 

[JoeDirt]

Two downsides with higher BC copper. They're a lot longer than standard lead bullets. In a lot of rifles its hard to get .020" off the lands and still fit in the magazine.

Since they're longer they require a faster twist rate barrel which most factory gun run pretty conservative on.

My vote is 400 yards and under I wouldn't worry about BC. Any modern style bullet will perform great under 500 yards.

Barnes X's work great also

 

[rootacres]

If your only shooting out to 400 yds than the BC isnt a huge concern. In high winds you just need to understand the perimeters of your bullet selection. They are expensive but do shoot really well. The only other con I've found is the bullets are light for caliber which is consistent with traditional copper bullets too. You can get heavy hammers but the bullets are very long. My 7mm 143gr hammers are longer than my 168gr Bergers with a much lower bc. Where that could present a problem is on mag box lengths. To push heavier/longer bullets in many SAUMs/WSMs/PRCs etc many would want a long action mag box.

 

[Loper]

Really thinking hard about selling my 300 win buying an 06 and shooting the 166 absolutes as an all around kill everything inside 500 yard gun

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Yes a 30/06 with the Absolutes sounds like an excellent combo for an all around rifle/cartridges.

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There is something that may come up; there is a reduced BC found on the 30 cal Absolutes when compared to like size Hammer hunters. Smaller than 30 cal don't show this behavior and usually have the same or slightly improved BC compared to like sized Hammer Hunters.

There is one downside: since the absolutes behave differently than other bullets (requiring faster than expected powder to reach the "improved" velocities) they can require more experimentation, meaning more components and more time.

Good to know about the 30 cals, as I didn’t know this.

What kind of extra components are needed?

I agree with the last paragraph above. I would consider starting out with the hammer Hunters to build confidence. They fall more in line with conventional loading data and are very forgiving.

Yeah I’ll probably start out with the Hunters and if/when I feel comfortable with the process, I may move to the Absolutes.

Great feedback on the long bullets and them fitting into traditional magazines. This is defineky something that I didn’t think about.

Thanks for all the quick replies and education on these bullets! Lots of knowledge and experience here.

 

[jeremy.b]

....

What kind of extra components are needed?
....

Just talking about burning up powder, primers and bullets.

 

[Nealm66]

I think if you’re just starting out reloading they are an excellent choice. Very forgiving for accuracy. Don’t worry too much about coal just make sure they feed out of the magazine good. I use standard full length dies that provide good neck tension. There’s quite a bit of reloading info already out there as far as charge weight. Probably a good idea to stay with hammer hunters rather than the absolutes of your just getting started. I’ve had excellent results backing down a couple grains from max load and laddering .01 grains for accuracy and not messing with seating depth. Although they may just shoot very accurate without having to mess with them.

 

[BFR]

If you go to the Hammer Forum there is a ton of info available on loads, how to, etc. Also, it’s my understanding they are great about giving help on the phone too. I do know that the next time I’m in Kalispell I’ll be going into their shop.

 

[eoperator]

I have switched to hammers for all of my hunting rifles, so easy and consistent. I would not recommend absolute hammers to anyone that is not a veteran reloader imho. In my experience Absolute's are more "picky" and seems like recoil and blast is significantly more than loads with hh's.

 

[Northpark]

There was a warning about only experienced handloaders using absolute hammers.

For just starting out just go with some hammer hunters and call it good. Easy to tune. Just seat to mag length then run them up half grain at a time til you hit pressure signs like flattened primers or a sticky bolt lift then back off a grain and shoot a group. I’ve done load development in as little as 16 rounds this way. Which is important in this day of limited powder and primers.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

There was a warning about only experienced handloaders using absolute hammers.

Really? Why? I’ve found them to be easy to load and get shooting. Hell, I loaded some up for my 300win mag and didn’t even need to go back to tune them. There shots were touching so I went back and made 50 more of the exact same thing. I just got some hammer hunters but havnt tried them yet.

 

[Northpark]

If you read on the website for hammer they recommend only experienced handloaders use absolute hammers due to the fact that they don’t behave like a normal bullet. I think as long as you are good at reading pressure signs your good to go.

Hammer hunters I’ve found to line up with published load data much more readily.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

If you read on the website for hammer they recommend only experienced handloaders use absolute hammers due to the fact that they don’t behave like a normal bullet. I think as long as you are good at reading pressure signs your good to go.

Hammer hunters I’ve found to line up with published load data much more readily.

Strange. I never read that and never treated the absolute hammers any differently than any other bullet I’ve used and they work fine.

 

[Johnc427]

One thing i've noticed with loading hammers is you need newer/softer brass (I.e. new, 2 or 3x fired, annealed, etc).

I was loading my 300 win mag w/ 199 Hammers and 5x fired RWS Brass (Which should have been annealed) and the brass wouldn't contract back down once you loaded a bullet. I would go to change seating depth and the bullet would then become loose. Once I annealed my brass, it was a non issue. The guys at Hammer are great and helped me figure this out. Something to keep in mind.

One thing I really like about Hammer bullets is how consistent they are. Length and weight have been almost identical.

 

[Nealm66]

I think the reason for caution with the absolute’s is that your likely going to be using faster burning powders than normal and that can definitely be dangerous. Some of the posted data is with custom chambers with high end brass that won’t show chamber pressure quite as well. Ive finished load work up with a vanguard 25-06 with the 90’s @ 3750 and after some tinkering it shoots one rounded hole at 100. It took a lot more time with the absolute to find the right powder/charge. The regular hammers go much quicker and finding an accuracy load was very simple when compared to the absolute’s. The additional fps gain with the absolute probably won’t make much difference in my case but was fascinating. I shot out to 540 inside 6” and they hit hard for a 90 gr bullet!!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

The first time I used absolute hammers in my 300wm, I pulled a load straight out of the nosler book for 165g bullets (hammers are 166). I didn’t adjust my dues or anything, just pressed out 8 of them with h4350 and went to the range. They worked right away.

 

[amassi]

If you read on the website for hammer they recommend only experienced handloaders use absolute hammers due to the fact that they don’t behave like a normal bullet. I think as long as you are good at reading pressure signs your good to go.

Hammer hunters I’ve found to line up with published load data much more readily.

Probably because to wring out max velocity they require a ludicrous amount of fast burning powder.

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