Hammer bullet failure

[Q_Sertorius]

Regardless, the 45gn Tsx from earlier this year clipped a singular lung and I found the pig less than 40 yards from where I shot it. Yet a bullet weighing more than 4x as much and traveling 1000fps faster at impact than the 45 did at the muzzle performed worse. This isn’t an argument about shot placement because I’ve proved you wrong. Go watch the video of the 110ttsx shot again. Under your logic and with that pig broadside I would have entirely missed both lungs yet that pig dropped on the spot with no spinal damage. Now full transparency that pig got back up and died 30 yards from where it “dropped”. But regardless if all 3 of the shots I am referring to are “marginal” shots, the one that should have had the absolute most margin of error failed. It shouldn’t matter whether I lost the blood trail 10 yards or 10 miles. The bullet didn’t do what it was supposed to do

I honestly don't know what point you are trying to make.

I am not casting aspersions on you as a hunter, shooter, tracker, whatever.

I am not defending the Hammer bullet. I don't care what bullet you use.

Some animals will die more easily and quickly than others. Anyone with a large sample size of killing will see some anomalies. "Good bullets" are those that perform more consistently in producing massive damage to the vitals. But even "good bullets" in the right spot don't guarantee a DRT hit. A 10-second death sprint is pretty usual for a good hit on a deer. And some percentage of animals are tougher, have more will to live, get a bigger adrenaline spike, whatever, and go further.

I am just calling it like I see it. That wasn't a traditional broadside angle like we would all love to get every time. Assuming that your hit is exactly where it appears to be on slow motion (and where AI thinks it hit), it wasn't where I would have tried to put the bullet on a hog. I would like to put my shot lower and more forward on a hog. Particularly at that angle. At best, the shot clipped that hog's right lung, high. I've seen animals hit through only one lung run a long way. I've seen animals hit high through both lungs run a surprising way (not 1.3 miles though). Worst case scenario, the shot narrowly missed the lung. I cannot say that for certain, one way or the other, without looking at the wound.

What I can say, however, based on all the indications - from the video, to the description of the reported blood trail, to the 1.3 mile track without recovering him - is that you definitely didn't get both lungs. Even a 62-grain .224 FMJ through both lungs will kill something like a hog in less than the time it takes a lung-shot animal to run 1.3 miles (unless he had a Corpsman get to work on him within a couple of minutes). I rate the possibility of a Corpsman patching him up as highly unlikely. So, he must not have been hit through both lungs.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Hey if you think my bullet choice was less than ideal we stand on some common ground. Things happen and flukes also happen. But I’ve had people reach out into my DMs claiming the same experience as me with the 199s and hammers alone. I built this load for elk. I just tested it on a pig and even gave it a second chance to perform. But if I was on a once in a lifetime elk hunt and had the bullet performance that I’ve seen twice in a row now that caused me to lose an elk I’d be devastated. And if I can prevent this happening to someone else then great that was the point of this whole post.

I posted my last response while you were posting this one. I just want to say that I think this was a great post.

 

[1000yards]

Hey if you think my bullet choice was less than ideal we stand on some common ground. Things happen and flukes also happen. But I’ve had people reach out into my DMs claiming the same experience as me with the 199s and hammers alone. I built this load for elk. I just tested it on a pig and even gave it a second chance to perform. But if I was on a once in a lifetime elk hunt and had the bullet performance that I’ve seen twice in a row now that caused me to lose an elk I’d be devastated. And if I can prevent this happening to someone else then great that was the point of this whole post.

But if you shoot enough hogs with the barnes you're going to start having the same issues (although less issues with the lighter bullets at closer range). I'll try to post a video later of a 200 lb boar my brother-in-law shot through the heart and lungs with a 130 grain barnes, 3,000 ft per second impact velocity. The hog fell over, and 18 seconds later stood up and required a follow-up shot.

 

[Halligan]

I'll try to post a video later of a 200 lb boar my brother-in-law shot through the heart and lungs with a 130 grain barnes, 3,000 ft per second impact velocity. The hog fell over, and 18 seconds later stood up and required a follow-up shot

… what in gods name are you feeding them down there?

 

[1000yards]

 

[mtnbound]

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.

I think the 199's are too heavy. When using copper, my choice would be light for caliber. What have you decided to try for a new load?