Hammer bullets for 300 win mag

[thinhorn_AK]

Is anybody loading hammers for their 300 win mag? I have a few hundred 166g hammers I was thinking of playing around with.

How did they work? What recipe did you use?

 

[carter33]

I’m loading the 196gr hammers for my 300win so not sure how much my input will help but I have found them to be pretty great. Loading for them was about as easy as I have heard it is.

I backed off 20 thousandths from the lands and am using H1000. I was shooting Berger 210 VLDs with 76.6 grains. Started out at 75 grains working up and hit very slight pressure at 76. Dropped to 75.5 and that’s where iv kept it. Muzzle velocity has been over 3000fps which I found impressive for that heavy of a bullet out of my 24” barrel. I have had odd muzzle velocity groups between reloading sessions but don’t believe that’s from the bullet at all. My groups have been great. Generally under 1 MOA. Usually my first group or two of the day are well under but start to open up some, I catch myself being a little sensitive to recoil from time to time as much as I hate to admit it.

No experience on game yet but am anxious to see how they do. May bring it out on my next trip for caribou to test it even though I have some other rifles that are more fitting.

 

[cmcpherson]

Used 199gn hammers all last year. Worked great on deer, elk, and pronghorn. Recipe was 77gn of h1000 with 215m primers and coal 3.60. Velocity was 3054 and single digit es.

 

[Jskaanland]

@92xj

 

[Northpark]

199 hammer hunters out of my .300 win mag. Moving at 3128fps muzzle velocity. ADG brass, H1000, Fed215m primers seated to 3.550”.

I messed with the 152 hammers in another .300 over RL22 and was seeing some velocities over 3400 pretty easy. Like all hammers just run them up to pressure them back off a grain or so and shoot a group. They’ve always been the easiest bullet I’ve ever done load development for.

 

[92xj]

I have no experience with the lower gr hammers in the 300wm. I've worked loads for the 180s, 181s, 196 and 199. All were loaded to max mag length in my factory rifle pushed by rl23. All loads were consistent and fast. My latest, that I'm settled on for awhile is the 180s around 3050 fps. I was around 3130 but backed it down for no reason other than to tinker.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Any experience with TTSX vs Hammers re: meat loss?
I have no issues with TTSX or LRX but Hammers are clearly intriguing!
Keep thinking the additional projectiles must cause more meat damage.
Any first-hand experience comparing these two?

For 300 WM I was looking at the 160 grain HH or 166 grain HH.

 

[cmcpherson]

Any experience with TTSX vs Hammers re: meat loss?
I have no issues with TTSX or LRX but Hammers are clearly intriguing!
Keep thinking the additional projectiles must cause more meat damage.
Any first-hand experience comparing these two?

For 300 WM I was looking at the 160 grain HH or 166 grain HHa

Any experience with TTSX vs Hammers re: meat loss?
I have no issues with TTSX or LRX but Hammers are clearly intriguing!
Keep thinking the additional projectiles must cause more meat damage.
Any first-hand experience comparing these two?

For 300 WM I was looking at the 160 grain HH or 166 grain HH.

All animals I have seen harvested with 199gn had very little meat loss. Very pleased with great bullet performance and little meat loss!

 

[Mule3006Elk]

All animals I have seen harvested with 199gn had very little meat loss. Very pleased with great bullet performance and little meat loss!

Awesome.

On the exit side, do you see 5 exit holes? I talked with Steve once and he said the projectiles are designed to come off at a 30 degree angle. Just wondering what you're seeing on game.

Thanks

 

[cmcpherson]

Awesome.

On the exit side, do you see 5 exit holes? I talked with Steve once and he said the projectiles are designed to come off at a 30 degree angle. Just wondering what you you're seeing on game.

Thanks

On all that I saw it was one exit. I would assume the petals designed to come off were absorbed by vitals.

 

[Northpark]

Any experience with TTSX vs Hammers re: meat loss?
I have no issues with TTSX or LRX but Hammers are clearly intriguing!
Keep thinking the additional projectiles must cause more meat damage.
Any first-hand experience comparing these two?

For 300 WM I was looking at the 160 grain HH or 166 grain HH.

I’ve killed like 14 animals with the 199s so far. Now I’m generally a meat saver shot kinda guy usually looking for bullet impact 2” or so behind the shoulders to eliminate meat loss. I have lost very little meat even on the shoulder shot ones.

Awesome.

On the exit side, do you see 5 exit holes? I talked with Steve once and he said the projectiles are designed to come off at a 30 degree angle. Just wondering what you you're seeing on game.

Thanks

And yes I frequently see five exit holes.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I hope this info is helpful for thinhorn_AK. I'm in the same boat only don't yet have any Hammers.

With Barnes, which I'm familiar, I stepped down in weight to get more velocity which is very important with monos. Does the same philosophy hold true with Hammers? Steve stated somewhere, can't remember where, he uses a softer copper when compared to Barnes. Hammers, for this reason, I suspect don't need as much velocity to fully open up and lose all projectiles? If so, I suspect their minimum impact velocity (MIV) is less than 1800 fps but I've never seen a quoted MIV.

Elk: I would normally go with 165 or 180 (cup/core, bonded, etc.). With Hammers, I was thinking 160 HH or 166 HH would work great especially with the 4 extra projectiles. I've even considered the 152 HH.

Deer: 152 HH or 137 HH.

Pronghorn: 137 HH.

I'm intrigued by the absolute hammers, in particular the 162 AH, but there's no load data and it seems like you are reloading at your own risk per Steve's warning. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

I would reload for 300 WM and 30-06.

 

[tdot]

I hope this info is helpful for thinhorn_AK. I'm in the same boat only don't yet have any Hammers.

With Barnes, which I'm familiar, I stepped down in weight to get more velocity which is very important with monos. Does the same philosophy hold true with Hammers? Steve stated somewhere, can't remember where, he uses a softer copper when compared to Barnes. Hammers, for this reason, I suspect don't need as much velocity to fully open up and lose all projectiles? If so, I suspect their minimum impact velocity (MIV) is less than 1800 fps but I've never seen a quoted MIV.

Elk: I would normally go with 165 or 180 (cup/core, bonded, etc.). With Hammers, I was thinking 160 HH or 166 HH would work great especially with the 4 extra projectiles. I've even considered the 152 HH.

Deer: 152 HH or 137 HH.

Pronghorn: 137 HH.

I'm intrigued by the absolute hammers, in particular the 162 AH, but there's no load data and it seems like you are reloading at your own risk per Steve's warning. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

I would reload for 300 WM and 30-06.

Hammer's list their Minimum Velocity at 1800fps, however it is reportedly lower then that, but Steve likes to maintain the 1800fps minimum to ensure extremely effective killing.

The Hammer's do function better with more speed, but not for the same reason as a Barnes. Hammer's primary method of producing damage is by pushing a flat faced bullet through tissue as fast as possible. This maximizes the amount of trauma in tissue.... picture a bowling ball being rolled through a puddle (slow 200grain lead bullet with a large mushroom) vs using the flat of your hand to slap the same puddle (fast 152HH with a flat face. The bowling will displace the water slowly and it will all return to normal, the hand slap will empty the puddle.

After 3 seasons of using Hammer's and seeing the on-game results, I have dropped several weight classes of bullets and have only had better performance. This year I'll be shooting a 151AH from a 300wsm vs 181HH from 300wm, a 124HH instead of a 152HH in 308win, 260Rem, 6.5SS and 338SS will all see a decrease in the bullet weights used, once I run out of my current supply.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Hammer's list their Minimum Velocity at 1800fps, however it is reportedly lower then that, but Steve likes to maintain the 1800fps minimum to ensure extremely effective killing. PERFECT

The Hammer's do function better with more speed, but not for the same reason as a Barnes. Hammer's primary method of producing damage is by pushing a flat faced bullet through tissue as fast as possible. This maximizes the amount of trauma in tissue.... picture a bowling ball being rolled through a puddle (slow 200grain lead bullet with a large mushroom) vs using the flat of your hand to slap the same puddle (fast 152HH with a flat face. The bowling will displace the water slowly and it will all return to normal, the hand slap will empty the puddle. GREAT EXPLANATION

After 3 seasons of using Hammer's and seeing the on-game results, I have dropped several weight classes of bullets and have only had better performance. This year I'll be shooting a 151AH from a 300wsm vs 181HH from 300wm, a 124HH instead of a 152HH in 308win, 260Rem, 6.5SS and 338SS will all see a decrease in the bullet weights used, once I run out of my current supply. THINKING THE SAME THING

In your experience, what weight do you like for elk and for deer in 0.308?
Sounds like I would do really well in the 150 grain range for all species.

Seating depth do you start 20 thousands off the lands?

On average, how much faster are you pushing the bullets over traditional load data?

Absolute Hammer, how are you approaching reloading?

Sorry about all the questions.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Thanks for the posts, it’s amazing to see the velocities of the ~ 200g hammers. I may need to grab a few boxes of those.

 

[choovhntr]

I’m using the 181 hammer hunters in my 300 mag pushed to 3180ish. I got over 3200 but was at pressure. Was using 7828ssc but will be switching to rl23 for better temp stability and supposedly even more velocity. Have performed fantastic on everything I’ve shot so far. I’m also using the 131 in my PRC going 3160. Got to 3245 but that was at pressure. Both barrels are 24”. They are extremely easy to load for. I would say to keep the bullet above 1800 for proper expansion, and adhere to the twist requirements. Supposedly there have been some improper expansion from marginally stable bullets according to Steve from hammer. I run 156 Berger’s in my PRC as well at 2990 and gain an extra couple hundred yards shooting distance for maintaining proper expansion speed.

 

[Miflatlander91]

I’m using the 181 hammer hunters in my 300 mag pushed to 3180ish. I got over 3200 but was at pressure. Was using 7828ssc but will be switching to rl23 for better temp stability and supposedly even more velocity. Have performed fantastic on everything I’ve shot so far. I’m also using the 131 in my PRC going 3160. Got to 3245 but that was at pressure. Both barrels are 24”. They are extremely easy to load for. I would say to keep the bullet above 1800 for proper expansion, and adhere to the twist requirements. Supposedly there have been some improper expansion from marginally stable bullets according to Steve from hammer. I run 156 Berger’s in my PRC as well at 2990 and gain an extra couple hundred yards shooting distance for maintaining proper expansion speed.

What did you seat the 181s at I don't have my.notes in front of me just curious

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[choovhntr]

I’ll have to look when I get home, but I believe it’s somewhere around 3.60 COAL. I basically ran them to just shy of mag length and I want to say it’s about a .050 jump in that rifle. I’ll confirm this with my notes.

 

[Miflatlander91]

Thanks I think that's about where I ran mine ran a few through chronoed them and put them up I need to revisit them since I can't find 215s anywhere

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[sneaky]

In your experience, what weight do you like for elk and for deer in 0.308?
Sounds like I would do really well in the 150 grain range for all species.

Seating depth do you start 20 thousands off the lands?

On average, how much faster are you pushing the bullets over traditional load data?

Absolute Hammer, how are you approaching reloading?

Sorry about all the questions.

There's a ton of reading on these on the HammerTime forum and on Long Range Only

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