HAMMER Bullets Performance on Game

[TraderMike]

This year is my first hunting with Hammer bullets. I took a bull and a buck with 152 g Hammer Hunters .308 caliber. The bull was less than 100 yards, quartering towards me; shot took him on point of his left shoulder breaking the bone and dropped him instantly. He never regained his feet. Bullet did not exit and I did not recover it. Very quick death, I might add. The buck was 150-200 yards and I put the bullet through his neck. He was likely dead before he hit the ground. I realize just about any bullet out of a 300 WSM would have killed the deer instantly with a neck shot. This scenario is more a testament to the accuracy and confidence I have in these bullets since loading them. I am curious what others have experienced in "on game performance". I don't recall ever hearing anything but good regarding Hammers performance on game and their accuracy reputation is well known.
Please share your experiences. The more details the better....

 

[bigsky2]

Is it common for Hammers to not have an exit hole? My dad tried them out this year. He shot a mule deer at about 350 yards with his 300 win mag and there was no exit. He was hesitant to use them on elk after seeing that. We did not open up the deer to see what kind of damage was done on the inside.

 

[Bluumoon]

Almost identical to my experience this year on a bull at 180-190ish yards. 151gr absolute out of .308 win starting at 2950fps. Quartering to, entry just midline of left shoulder. Almost instant death, no exit. Didn’t open to find bullet, would have been a chore on that hillside. Chest cavity sounded like a washing machine when I rolled him. I was more than happy w the result.

 

[Newtosavage]

My results on whitetail with the 131 7mm Hammer were very similar, although I did get an exit hole (shot behind the shoulders through both lungs). Dropped where he stood, but oddly enough not a lot of meat damage or bloodshot. I was impressed.

 

[fattyboy70]

I shot a deer with the 124g hh out of my 6.5 creed. 275 yds extremely hard quartered away and downhill. Shot was a little lower than what I wanted, entered just about back hinds and traveled through cavity but not exit. There was damage to the back hinds but nothing too crazy. Ran 10yds and piled up

 

[Tremain4414]

I was really impressed with the performance on my spike this year. Shot him at 400 yards bedded broadside. Was aiming to break his shoulders and keep him bedded. Ended up hitting about an inch in front of his shoulder (my fault) and he never got out of his bed. Somehow, and I can’t figure this one out, he had an exit hole in the offside shoulder and about a golf ball size exit at the base of his neck in the offside.

 

[bhylton]

I always have had an exit, but its often very small. the rear shank passes through with minimal expansion while the petals break off the jelly the insides. i often dont find the exit until skinning. Ive shot 2 bulls and 5 deer so far and been very happy

 

[Miflatlander91]

Miss communication with a buddy lead to a hard 1/4 away shot on an antelope buck at about 200 with a 300 win mag and a 181 going about 3000 fps that shot entered the back right hip and and stopped just under the hide just past the front left shoulder. Easy 4 foot of penetration I won't load another.bullet in that gun

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[OXN939]

This year is my first hunting with Hammer bullets. I took a bull and a buck with 152 g Hammer Hunters .308 caliber. The bull was less than 100 yards, quartering towards me; shot took him on point of his left shoulder breaking the bone and dropped him instantly. He never regained his feet. Bullet did not exit and I did not recover it. Very quick death, I might add. The buck was 150-200 yards and I put the bullet through his neck. He was likely dead before he hit the ground. I realize just about any bullet out of a 300 WSM would have killed the deer instantly with a neck shot. This scenario is more a testament to the accuracy and confidence I have in these bullets since loading them. I am curious what others have experienced in "on game performance". I don't recall ever hearing anything but good regarding Hammers performance on game and their accuracy reputation is well known.
Please share your experiences. The more details the better....

My buddy who is a professional videographer actually got a video that will show the answer to this question, I think, pretty definitively. Two large Sitka Blacktail bucks going "bang-flop" in one frame within about 15 seconds of each other.

 

[CApighunter]

Hard quartering on shot, 50-60 yards from a 338-06 with the 205 at 2800fps. Right pic is entrance, left is exit.

 

[Sykes]

280 AI 143 Hammer hunter, 3120 fps if I remember correctly, 1 cow elk 75 yards, instant death, bullet did exit and took lung matter with it and spread it on the willows behind her.
1 bull elk at 360 yards, no exit. Bull staggered a bit then hit him again and down he went for good. Insides were jelly.

Cow elk 300 wsm 152 hammer, 3350 fps, at 80 yards, similar to the cow I shot with the 280AI but staggered for a bit before going down. Shot was high lung

Doe mule deer at 115 yards with the 6 creed 88 hammer 3350 fps, perfect shoulder shot, bullet did exit, broke the offside leg bone. Deer ran 20 yards before going down.

6mm creedmoor with the 88 hammers again, took 2 TX whitetail at 150 yards. One shot was low just clipping the deer, perfect left to right just low, she went 20 yards and stood around before giving up. Second deer died on the spot, both bullets exited.

One more TX whitetail at 180 yards with my 300 H&H,I know i know, 152 hammer 3230 fps, quartered to hard, bullet hit the point of the shoulder and exited the flank. Deer dropped instantly.

Love hammers. Just loaded some 92 gr hammers in my 25-06. Can't wait to try them out next year

 

[IDHUNTER]

Shot a mule deer at about 200 yards quartering slightly toward me and shooting uphill. The shot went through the meat (no bone hit) of his front shoulder and exited near the back of the lungs on the opposite side. He ran at least 30-40 yards around the hill and out of sight and I found him piled up in the draw 75 yards down the hill. I assume he died just after he went out of sight and tumbled down the steep hill into the draw. Lungs were liquified and it blew some lungs out the exit hole but the hole itself wasn't very big. Didn't find any blood on the ground between where he was shot and where he died. I wasn't really impressed or disappointed. They did what they're supposed to do. I'll keep using them due to their accuracy. 7mm Weatherby Mag. 151 Grain Shock Hammers.

 

[amassi]

15 animals from small black bears to cow elk 124 hh 6.5-300 wby. None were very spectacular or magical in fact they perfrom just like the old barnes x bullet did. Everything died but far from the stories you'll read about them somehow behaving different from other mono metal bullets due to them shedding petals.
One failed to open and made a caliber size entrance, heart hole and exit(looked like a field point) on a mule deer doe hammer replaced the lot with some that had larger hps. For mandatory non lead(CA) I switched back to the lrx.

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[TraderMike]

15 animals from small black bears to cow elk 124 hh 6.5-300 wby. None were very spectacular or magical in fact they perfrom just like the old barnes x bullet did. Everything died but far from the stories you'll read about them somehow behaving different from other mono metal bullets due to them shedding petals.
One failed to open and made a caliber size entrance, heart hole and exit(looked like a field point) on a mule deer doe hammer replaced the lot with some that had larger hps. For mandatory non lead(CA) I switched back to the lrx.

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Interesting experience you had on the doe. How long ago was this? Was it with some of their first bullets, perhaps? Thanks

 

[amassi]

Interesting experience you had on the doe. How long ago was this? Was it with some of their first bullets, perhaps? Thanks

2018- that was the gist that they were old bullets, bad lot of copper or new machinery but the hp was certainly larger on the replacements

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[35WhelenAI]

Seems like some Hammer bullets are not exiting when it would be expected they should unless this sample of animals in the previous posts is not indicative of what a larger sample would show.

Read an earlier post in another thread from Hammer.

Hammer indicates the desire to leave all of the bullet energy in the animal is a wives tale. That petals are shed in order to keep internal bullet velocity high inside the animal to create more permanent damage.

But yet a number of these bullets seem to slow down enough they don't exit? Or lose enough weight they don't carry the momentum to continue penetrating even with a smaller frontal area?
The results are counterintuitive to the description of why the bullets are designed the way they are.

I talked with a ballistician five or six years ago about mono's in general. They maintain their weight and have a decently large diameter petal surface leading the way with sharper edges versus a mushroom. They cut the tissue more so than a traditional mushroom. Therefore maintaining higher internal velocity. In my experience, mono bullets almost always exit (the two that haven't were 100% weight retention) on large animals such as elk other than hard quartering shots (never recovered one from a deer or pronghorn from any angle). And while the destruction isn't liquification, many chunks of lung and heart do the animal no better than heart and lung soup in the body cavity. Ultimately, what I do know is the wound channel is long, destructively consistent and is very likely to coincide with the vitals from just about any sane angle.

I'm not trying to stir the pot but by saying that I know my post probably will. It's absolutely true when the old guys say "At what point in the animal's death did the bullet fail". Nonetheless, there is differing information from credible sources as to what it's supposed to do versus what some guys in the field are showing it does. I would really like to try the Hammers however I am not seeing it would more than a sideways move or less from what I'm currently using.

 

[waitforit]

7mm08, 131gr hammer hunters, loaded over Varget at ~3015 fps.

I shot an antelope at 265yd broadside in October - baseball sized exit hole, massive damage to chest cavity. Surprised to see it run 40-50 yards but it was clearly dead before it knew it..

Update from my elk hunt last week - shot a cow in the neck, facing me directly at 70 yards in its bed. It never got to its feet, it immediately slumped over. I didnt closely investigate the damage track but saw that it entered in the 'open space' into the chest cavity and passed between heart and lungs, rupturing the aorta. It ended somewhere in the guts, I didn't explore further Best part - no meat damage whatsoever!

These shoot really well for me (0.5 MOA) and perform well on game. I'm a fan!

 

[wapitibob]

Elk, Antelope, and Hogs. 7stw with 143 hammer hunters. All three shed the petals as they were designed to do.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Oh geez - I actually stopped visiting LRH because of all the Hammer Fanboys…Steve is a dbag and his bullets are super overrated. Take this shit to LRH.

 

[amassi]

Oh geez - I actually stopped visiting LRH because of all the Hammer Fanboys…Steve is a dbag and his bullets are super overrated. Take this shit to LRH.

This
It's crazy how a forum originally geared towards long-range hunting has been hijacked by a bullet that is ‍ at long range. I especially like that one gas bag shooting light 30 cal "absolute " over 4000 fps out of a 300 rum and proclaiming how effective they are on whitetails under 300 yards ( duh)

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