Hammer bullets

[critterstalker]

In my winchester coyote lite 300 wsm I've used 200gr accubonds they work good but I got bored and fell for the ELD-X hype. That was a big mistake, I shot 4 elk and recovered most of my bullets at least the jackets anyways. Every elk required 2-3 shots and were on their feet moving for several minutes after being shot through the lungs. One cow was one her feet long enough that a bull came over and tried to bred her. I switched to barnes LRX bullets and never recovered a bullet almost every elk went down within 50 feet or less. But there was massive amounts of blood shot meat. This year I switched to Hammer hunters 196gr. I just shot a cow elk last week did not make a great shot, I rushed it at 460yds but she went down in 30-40 feet hit liver and backedge of the lungs exit hole was silver dollar size just under the spine. No blood shot meat. I went out shooting a few days later trying to blame the rifle for my bad shot and it was right on, I shot a 1 inch group at 300yds. I have another elk in December and deer tag that opens tomorrow. So I'll hopefully get a few more tests in this year. Accuracy has been phenomenal so far .5 or under at 100yds

 

[z987k]

You’re never going to see the BC near what you can get with a lead core. It’s just physics.


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For the same weight, the badlands seem to have higher BC than most lead bullets. There are higher BC lead bullets for caliber, but they're also a lot heavier.

 

[OXN939]

How are they worse?

They're not. I killed my sixth big game animal with them yesterday, good sized Pronghorn doe from a little over 200 with the 70 grainers from my .243 Win. Watched her drop on the spot through my scope. Wound channel indicated excellent expansion.

 

[gabenzeke]

Every shot is going to be different. The farther the shot the more issues you are going to see with monos that break apart. A couple of animals shot with hammers that I have witnessed have been Ok. The animals were dead. But the shots were perfect, so you would expect the bullet to kill. The wound channels were not impressive. I guess if I had to shoot copper bullets, I would not want my bullet to break apart like a lead cup and core bullet. I would want it to mushroom as big as possible but keep its mass. Like a Barnes or, better yet, a McGuire bullet.

Holy cow...someone with McGuire experience. I've been looking all over for someone that has real world experience with these. Care to share more? Can you compare them to ce lazers? Do you see a poi shift between single feed and mag feed versions? Is the bc accurate?

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[wapitibob]

Go light for caliber and the hammers work just fine.
Yesterday, 143 hammer hunter vs mule deer


Same results vs elk and antelope

 

[cacklercrazy]

I would be surprised if an elk has not been shot 3 times with most bullets out there before dying.

Seen a small bull elk take 4 rounds of lead from a 300 win at less than 100 yards and travel at least 250 yards

 

[S.Clancy]

I've used both, my brother still shoots Barnes TTSX and I shoot Hammer 126's. We limit our shots to 5-600 (generally withing 400) yards, so we are well within the velocity guidelines. Everything I have seen shot with either bullet has died quickly but I like the performance on animals better with the Hammers than the Barnes and the Hammers are more accurate out of my rifle. If you are pushing those velocity barriers you are going to run into problems with either, but you are either shooting a slow cartridge or poking wayyyyy out there, neither of which I do.

 

[S.Clancy]

Go light for caliber and the hammers work just fine.
Yesterday, 143 hammer hunter vs mule deer
View attachment 461826

Same results vs elk and antelope

That is a gnarly picture...

 

[Northpark]

My 9 year old used a 64gr hammer hunter out of an AR in 5.56 last week to take an exotic sheep. Literally wasn’t a heart left. Granted was only like a 50 yard shot on a 125lb critter.

 

[CanyonHunter]

Used a 308 win with the 137 hammer this year, took out the top of the heart and some lungs. Performance was good and left about a 2 inch exit. Buck made it maybe 15 yards after the shot.

 

[Manakh]

I walk around with a 199 hammer hunter tubed in my 300 PRC and I eject it for longer range shots in favor of my 230 bergers that my gun shoots MUCH more accurately.
With that being said the hammer hunters hammered a blacktail for me and a whitetail for a buddy this year and there was no tracking for either animal... But a 199 grain turd at that velocity at 120-150 yards through the heart of a deer sized animal would of killed it. The whitetail wasn't as good of a shot and in insane wind at 408 yards, hit behind the lungs and traveled a couple inches under the spine and the buck took 1 step and piled up. Dunno if the shock was enough or a petal hit the spine or what happened but it still killed it instantly and completely missed lung.

Again, 199 from a 300 PRC... So take it with a grain of salt- that's beyond overkill for any deer. But I just love the rifle and set up so much I just keep reaching for it over everything else.

 

[stevevan]

I walk around with a 199 hammer hunter tubed in my 300 PRC and I eject it for longer range shots in favor of my 230 bergers that my gun shoots MUCH more accurately.
With that being said the hammer hunters hammered a blacktail for me and a whitetail for a buddy this year and there was no tracking for either animal... But a 199 grain turd at that velocity at 120-150 yards through the heart of a deer sized animal would of killed it. The whitetail wasn't as good of a shot and in insane wind at 408 yards, hit behind the lungs and traveled a couple inches under the spine and the buck took 1 step and piled up. Dunno if the shock was enough or a petal hit the spine or what happened but it still killed it instantly and completely missed lung.

Again, 199 from a 300 PRC... So take it with a grain of salt- that's beyond overkill for any deer. But I just love the rifle and set up so much I just keep reaching for it over everything else.

Shot a large WT this morning with rhe 120 gr 7mm Hunter Hammer. DRT!!!!

 

[dlee56]

Shot mu buck this year with hammer hunter 30-06 152g, 3025fps. Neck shot at about 90yds, made lots of damage at the short range with minimal flesh to cause expansion. Dropped the deer instantly and made a quick kill. I'm going to keep this load for years to come I think.

 

[Huntingnorseman]

This year is shot 4 animals with my hammer hunter 152gr from 40-200 yards out of an 30-06. All were dead in 40 yards or less. All shots went through and through with massive wound channels. Keep in mind that different models of hammer bullets have various hollow point depths which is directly related to petal shedding. These are by far the easiest mono metals bullets to reload in my experience.

 

[cbuck516]

I started using hammer bullets last year when I needed to develop a load very quickly for a new rifle I had just purchased. I had heard load development was very easy with hammer bullets and I have now tried them in four different rifles with a variety of powders and have been very pleased in every case.
I found a 1/2MOA load for my new 300 PRC in under 20 shots and it has failed to let me down. I shot an elk with that load last fall and was very pleased with the performance. It was a heart shot at 100 yards that resulted in quick expiration of the animal and very minimal meat loss. My experiences with lead core bullets on elk at 100 yards haven't been as pleasant for me. I just really dislike losing meat when I have to drive 18 hours to my hunting spot so I was very happy with that hammer bullet last year. I have several new hammer loads ready for hunting this fall and will gladly continue to support their business.

 

[NK Hunter]

Yea what barnes bullet were you using? The LRX out of my 6.5 x284 is a killing machine at almost any distance on deer, elk, moose. Always get large expansion and 90% + weight retention with animals never moving more than 20 yards give or take. I really want to try to load hammers but I keep reading bad things and the youtube videos against them are pretty convincing.

Yo, I just signed up here a few posts ago after being referred here by a friend to follow a rifle build that we were interested in duplicating. Ran across some of this stuff.

We run a lot of different projos. From my personal experience, and some things I've been privy too, there are reviews and tests done for the explicit purpose of "failing" the test subject. We've played with Badlands, McGuire, Apex, Barnes, and Hammer (maybe some others I'm missing). I know Ryan likes the McGuire and the traditional mushroom model. I've spoken to him about it and I get that. But after rather extensive witness evaluation and also personal terminal testing on game, I have yet to be disappointed in the results of a Hammer kill other than 1 or so that it border-lined on too destructive. Fast opening. Deep penetration. Quick kills. Never a pencil through. Don't be fooled by the exit wound size. The damage is done in the middle where it counts. Sloshy stuff. My biggest hesitancy is in regards to extended ranges where some improved BC would benefit the application. Having said that, for the vast majority of hunter capabilities you're GTG. It was designed primarily around terminal performance, so I don't hold that against them. They do work very well. You'll get failures if you are under-stabilized. This is a critical factor to consider in selecting the right projo.

 

[NK Hunter]

How many of you use or used the Hammer bullets? I’m loading the 143 hh this year for elk in my 7mm. Getting 3390fps and 5/8” groups with them. I’m curious as if they are better then the Barnes line up? I’m not a fan at all of the Barnes form past experience with them. Are these the same or better?

I have found them to be more consistent in terminal performance than the Barnes, though I've never lost an animal w/the Barnes. The 143 HH in 7mm is a lethal combo. Don't think you'll be disappointed. Sure, other options will work good too, but you got the load running strong - no need to change from a practical view in my opinion.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My 300wm is shooting the 180g HHs well over 3100 fps and easily shooting sub 3/4” groups.

I’ll be taking that load for aoudad in November and moose in September.

 

[grizz19]

Hopping in on this late but I’ve shot the Barnes LRX for years and had fantastic luck with them but could only ever get them to shoot .75-1” groups at 100. My dad started shouting hammers and the leaked my interest and so I started shooting them last summer. They do require a fast twist so if you have a factory barrel you will probably be shooting what feels like light for caliber which I struggled with at the beginning, but being able to shoot sun 0.5 and mostly sun 0.4” groups at a 100 convinced me to give them a try. Killed 2 bucks with them last year and was very impressed. Both were marginal shots based on a scope mounting issue I didn’t know I had at the time. But both were quick clean kills. And the shed peddles worked as described, which I was also skeptical about. They just came out with a tipped higher BC version that I just shot a big boar with last week and was just as impressed as before. I don’t think you can go wrong with them.

 

[Average Dave]

7 SAUM specialty pistol:
3 deer 300-320 yds one shot each DRT with the 143 Hammer Hunter. One at 500 yds DRT one shot.
One with the 120 Hammer Hunter DRT at 200 yds one shot.
257 Weatherby Mag rifle:
One whitetail at 510 yds went about 40 yds. I rushed the shot and hit liver no lungs. 124 Hammer Hunter.
Buddy’s 300 Winchester Mag:
Bull elk 360 yds one shot DRT with 166 Hammer Hunter. Said when he recovered from the recoil all he saw was legs sticking up in the air.
Are they the only good bullets out there? No, but I sure have been happy with them. Working up loads in .250Ai and 6 SAUM specialty pistols and a Ruger Number 1 in .405 Winchester.