Hammer bullet failure

Joined
Aug 7, 2025
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Last year I swore off Hammer bullets due to inconsistent performance, inflated BC estimates, and their bullet tester Dallas' attitude. I still had half a box left over of loaded ammo in 300prc so I figured I would just use them up insteading of pulling and discarding them. These "199s"(really 197gn🙄) hammer hunters were moving 3107fps at the muzzle out of my 300prc. These are over 4200ft/lb energy at the muzzle for those interested. Impact velocity was 2880fps. I shot a pig last year at 150yds with this same setup behind the shoulder and it penciled in and out, zero blood, and ran about 400 yards but thankfully we were able to watch it die on the opposite hillside and we were able to recover it. This shot was 352 yards. My buddy behind his swaro BTX's said impact was right behind the shoulder and was surprised it didnt drop it. We tracked this pig for 1.3 miles up 2 canyons until it dropped into a chaparral thicket and we lost the blood trail. Never recovered it. That shot should have absolutely anchored that pig or at the very LEAST not run over 50 yards. For a reference video I added my previous much larger pig shot with a 308win and a barnes 110 ttsx flat base going around 3k muzzle velocity with a substantially further back shot placement. This is my 2nd failure with the 199s and the 3rd out of 5 we've seen with the HH line. 2nd unrecovered pig. I had better performance out of the 110gn TTSX and actually a darn 45gn tsx out of a 22 hornet on pigs this season than the 199s.
 
Animals can run till their brain is depleted of oxygen, 50 yards is nothing. I've seen a Pronghorn run almost 100 yards with no heart.
I believe in light for caliber solids, and did that when I shot Hammers. I personally wouldn't shoot a 199gr solid from anything. 160ish would have been my choice. I ran the 143's at 3470 with great on game results, Elk/Deer/Pronghorn, target results not so much so I stopped using them.
 
Shot looks high and forward to me if you hit it. I’ve shot pigs that ran an 100 yards and had their hearts blown in half. Some of them have a strong will to live.
 
Slowed the video down to 1/4 speed. You can see the bullet trajectory in a few frames and see a puff of dust on the hide just about center mass. Looked clean to me.
 
I was using the 199HH but decided that the stability factor was not high enough for me in my 8-twist so I switched to the 182HHT. Both give very small groups on paper but hoping for better terminal performance with the smaller bullet (it is a lot faster too).
 
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