Hammer Hunter on Game Performance

[Doc Holliday]

Have tried searching but am only seeing wts or wtb threads. Anyone out there have any experience shooting game with Hammer Hunters? Curious what kind of performance you have had.

Would be great to know animal and yardage as well

 

[sndmn11]

I shot a mule deer buck at about 125 yards that fell where he stood. 6.5creed with their 85gr, middle of the ribcage because we love eating heart.

 

[A382DWDZQ]

Thread here on it: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/hammer-bullets-performance-on-game.244429/

 

[deerhunter628]

I shot a whitetail at about 100 yards with a .308. I was actually using the 151 absolute hammer. The deer did die so I wont say i was not happy with the terminal performance, but it did run about 50 yards and there was barely any blood trail. That was the last time I hunted with hammers.

 

[cubdriver84d]

Official Hammer bullets Terminal Performance (picture heavy)

Let’s try to keep Discussion to a minimum in this. Details-animal, distance, caliber/cartridge, bullet and weight. Animal weight if you know it. I’ll kick it off, Water buffalo, 60 yards-full broad side 300AX Hammer hunter 181@3490fps Dressed without the hide, head and guts 902lbs.

www.longrangehunting.com

Also good stuff on the Hammer Time forum: https://hammerbullets.com/hammertime/

 

[willfrye027]

I load them for myself and 5 other buddies for use in my home state where nonlead is required. Lost track of all the kills it’s somewhere in the 30s…deer, lots of pigs, one elk. I feel the wound channels and terminal performance are a little more dramatic than Barnes. The best “test” was a thin skinned blacktail at 520 yards with my 30-06 and 151 absolute hammer. Impact around 2100 or so; crushed him. They’re far from magic but they are incredible easy to load for and always available.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I load them for myself and 5 other buddies for use in my home state where nonlead is required. Lost track of all the kills it’s somewhere in the 30s…deer, lots of pigs, one elk. I feel the wound channels and terminal performance are a little more dramatic than Barnes. The best “test” was a thin skinned blacktail at 520 yards with my 30-06 and 151 absolute hammer. Impact around 2100 or so; crushed him. They’re far from magic but they are incredible easy to load for and always available.

Excellent. Was especially curious how they compared to Barnes, and thinner-skinned on-game performance, but didn't want to lead anyone. I recently picked up a 280 AI with a 23" barrel, and with 59 gr of Reloder 19, the 131 Hammer Hunters are what the barrel likes (also tried Barnes LRX, TTSX, Nosler Ballistic Tips, and ELD-X). I don't have a chrono, but based on what I'm seeing in the Barnes and Nosler manuals, I'm guessing my muzzle velocity is 3100-3125 fps.

 

[willfrye027]

Excellent. Was especially curious how they compared to Barnes, and thinner-skinned on-game performance, but didn't want to lead anyone. I recently picked up a 280 AI with a 23" barrel, and with 59 gr of Reloder 19, the 131 Hammer Hunters are what the barrel likes (also tried Barnes LRX, TTSX, Nosler Ballistic Tips, and ELD-X). I don't have a chrono, but based on what I'm seeing in the Barnes and Nosler manuals, I'm guessing my muzzle velocity is 3100-3125 fps.

I load those same bullets for two guys in 7mm mag and they’ve worked well

 

[BFR]

6.5 CM 124gr Hammer Hunters, 2925 fps.

2 Cow elk, 85 yds & 395 yds,
2 Antelope, 305 yds & 365 yds,
2 Mulie bucks, 185 yds, & 225 yds,
WT buck, 295 yds,

All pass thru, lungs jellied, all dropped where standing.

 

[Doc Holliday]

6.5 CM 124gr Hammer Hunters, 2925 fps.

2 Cow elk, 85 yds & 395 yds,
2 Antelope, 305 yds & 365 yds,
2 Mulie bucks, 185 yds, & 225 yds,
WT buck, 295 yds,

All pass thru, lungs jellied, all dropped where standing.

Thank you Sir, great to hear

 

[WKR]

I've had good performance on game with the 169 gr hammer hunters out of my 7 rem mag
But the BC isn't great and is not what they list so make sure to do your own drop validation and true up your dope.

 

[rootacres]

7 SAUM -- 143gr HH -- 3030fps -- coues buck -- 425yds

On my sample size of 1 with this bullet here's my results. In 2021 I was struggling to find comments so I picked some of these up. They were extremely accurate and load development was super simple. I shot this buck twice. First shot was traditional behind the shoulder. Bullet landed behind the shoulder but the deer stayed on his feet. Hobbled maybe 20 yds. Sent a second shot, aimed high shoulder, bullet landed behind the crosshairs again. Buck dropped.

Upon recovery, the first shot exit hole wasn't anything special, the second shot exit hole was impressive. My personal opinion with monos is they are happy when they hit something hard. The second bullet hit shoulder, and opened up the way it should. The first bullet appeared to expand less.

I know it's a coues, it may not give the most accurate representation. I had a similar experience last year with a bull elk (300 win mag, 180gr TTSX, 175yds). This bull was shot 3 times. The first 2 were behind the shoulder lethal hits but the bull didnt go down and didnt act as hurt as you'd think. The third bullet was a shoulder impact and that folded the animal.

No question in both these examples the elk/deer were mortally wounded with the first hits but the bullet performance appeared more devastating with the impacts on shoulders. These experiences won't stop me from using monos, it just sits in the back of my mind when deciding my shot placement.

 

[Bluefish]

Two white tails, .358” 203g shock hammer (big hollow point), 2375 muzzle velocit, estimated bc .235 (based on LabRadar). First was 30 yards, high shoulder, took one step dropped, then got up 30 sec to a min later and ran 100 yards. Exit was a lot of damage and possibly a broken leg, but still ran a ways. Blood trail was good.
second was at 35 yards, double lung behind front leg, ran 10 yards and dropped.

I have a box of 200g with the small hp and some 200g ttsx on the way to test this year.

 

[BjornF16]

The unconventional wisdom on Hammertime forum is that the bullets perform best with SF around 2; in that the bullets will better shed all the petals and track straight with the blunt edge forward.

My one and only kill with Hammer bullets was from 6.5 RPM launching 124 HH at Texas WT deer at 100-110 yards. First bullet exited sideways (deer ran about 20 yards in a U-turn and stood there). Put a second one through the same wound channel from opposite direction. Deer dropped a bit after second shot. SF from that rifle was about 1.4

 

[Doc Holliday]

The unconventional wisdom on Hammertime forum is that the bullets perform best with SF around 2; in that the bullets will better shed all the petals and track straight with the blunt edge forward.

My one and only kill with Hammer bullets was from 6.5 RPM launching 124 HH at Texas WT deer at 100-110 yards. First bullet exited sideways (deer ran about 20 yards in a U-turn and stood there). Put a second one through the same wound channel from opposite direction. Deer dropped a bit after second shot. SF from that rifle was about 1.4

What is SF?

 

[9.1]

What is SF?

I was guessing it's gyroscopic stability factor, also known as SG. I believe the theory is that an over-stable hammer hunter bullet is supposed to better resist tumbling after the petals come off.

 

[BjornF16]

I was guessing it's gyroscopic stability factor, also known as SG. I believe the theory is that an over-stable hammer hunter bullet is supposed to better resist tumbling after the petals come off.

Yes, stability factor. If the Hammer bullet tumbles early, there is greater chance one or more of the petals will not shed.

The twist rates listed on their website typically give an SF (or SG) of 1.5.

In the forum, some of the users have found more stability has better results.

 

[Elite]

I’m not sold on them yet…

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[BjornF16]

I’m not sold on them yet…

Good laughs at this guys expense on the Hammer forum

 

[Elite]

Good laughs at this guys expense on the Hammer forum

Definitely not trying to laugh at the bullet or the founder at all. Just looking for some discussion on them

Hoping someone can change my thinking on them and how they bullet wouldn’t tumble


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