Hammer hunters

[sticknmofur]

Looking to try them in a 28 nosler (if i can find brass) and 6.5 prc.
They seem to have great reviews for accuracy but can anyone attest on how they preform on animals?

 

[jltroberg]

I've been running the 124HH for 6.5 PRC, 3200fps. Shot a few coyotes, mixed results on those. Not large exit holes, they seem to run a ways after being hit. 2 deer, one at 75 yards, DRT. the bullet shed all petals. Another shot at 250, hit in high shoulder, bullet ran up and into the spine, then traveled about 4 " up the spine, unbelievable, strange.
166HH 30/06- 150 yards , 3000fps. Mule deer DRT. I load for a step dad. 300 Ultra Mag 166HH 3450fps, 275yards, cow elk DRT, brother in-law shot it.
Overall I like them, but the Coyote shots made me pause, wishing for lead. They came out with 115 Power Hammer in .264. When I need more bullets I'll be switching to the Power Hammers. They have a larger hollow point for better expansion and shedding. Speed is your friend with solids.

 

[amassi]

Sometimes they worked great
Sometimes you'll get a caliber sized wound and some petals shedding.
They're underwhelming like most monos.
If your forced to use a mono then they're good enough above 2000 fps. 2200 is better


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[willfrye027]

I’m a fan. Somewhere around 30 animals, pigs and deer for myself and hunting partners I load for. Never had an issue and had quite a few impressive kills. Lowest impact velocity was 2000fps with a 151gr absolute hammer out of 30-06. It blew a chunk of liver and lung out of the exit wound.

I still use Berger’s in my dedicated long range rigs but hammers are the first choice for everything else I load where expected shots are 500 and closer.

 

[sticknmofur]

Sometimes they worked great
Sometimes you'll get a caliber sized wound and some petals shedding.
They're underwhelming like most monos.
If your forced to use a mono then they're good enough above 2000 fps. 2200 is better


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I would defiantly have speed on my side with the 28 , the load they recommend should push a 143 around 3600.

 

[amassi]

I would defiantly have speed on my side with the 28 , the load they recommend should push a 143 around 3600.

I shot the 143 at 3400 out of a 7mm wby.
Don't sweat it if you can't hit the velocity Steve is getting
There will be a couple of nodes they shoot well in velocity wise every 100fps you add will only increase their effect range ~ 30 yards.
Fwiw- the fastest throat erosion I've ever seen was 28 nos, n570, 143 hh. You could measure throat erosion in dozens of shots.

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[sticknmofur]

I shot the 143 at 3400 out of a 7mm wby.
Don't sweat it if you can't hit the velocity Steve is getting
There will be a couple of nodes they shoot well in velocity wise every 100fps you add will only increase their effect range ~ 30 yards.
Fwiw- the fastest throat erosion I've ever seen was 28 nos, n570, 143 hh. You could measure throat erosion in dozens of shots.

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Wow, only dozens?? It would be hard to swallow needing to rebarrel before it even got broke in.

 

[huntnful]

I've loaded the 155's and 169's in three 28 Noslers. So far they've killed 3 elk, 4 deer, a giant pig and a pile of coyotes flawlessly. Actual "wow" factor on impact doesn't really even compare to a berger. But for a mono, they kill damn good. Here a buck I killed at 307 yards with a 169 going like 3260fps I believe. Bullet entered the point of the shoulder and maintained a straight line for over 24" before exiting at the last rib. IMO, a 195 berger with this placement would have shut his lights of right there due to the energy dispersion. But can't complain about this performance one bit either.

 

[huntnful]

I shot the 143 at 3400 out of a 7mm wby.
Don't sweat it if you can't hit the velocity Steve is getting
There will be a couple of nodes they shoot well in velocity wise every 100fps you add will only increase their effect range ~ 30 yards.
Fwiw- the fastest throat erosion I've ever seen was 28 nos, n570, 143 hh. You could measure throat erosion in dozens of shots.

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FACTS lol.

Ultra fast monos in a big catridge with N570 erodes the throat at an unreal rate!

 

[huntnful]

Also, I'm loading the 124's in a PRC also. Hopefully kill a giant timber buck up close and personal with them in about 2 months. Easily get 3300fps in a 26" barrel.

 

[amassi]

Wow, only dozens?? It would be hard to swallow needing to rebarrel before it even got broke in.

N570 is terrible for the 28nos. You'll get great velocity but you'll pay for it. With the 195 eol you'll see throat erosion about every 50rds. The hammer is about 2.5x faster.


Add to that a bullet that builds pressure slower/differently than a lead core and you've got issues.

Many of the hammer zealots on hammer time/long range hunting are big proponents of light and fast~ if I owned a 28 the 169-177 would be more attractive if you have the twist rate.

They'll work up a load that's crazy fast and post a pic of a 3 shot group and a whitetail doe and claim they're the best thing since sliced bread. ( I initially bought into this as well changed a ton of guns over, shot a bunch of critters) Nothing special

Also verify your bc they won't be what hammer suggests frim their shot drops.

Steve and his pals will yell you that bc is over rated and can't be measured on their bullets. If you have applied ballistics some of the hh are in there and are pretty accurate.

Also if you've shot some other bullets cleaning out all that copper may help.

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[sticknmofur]

N570 is terrible for the 28nos. You'll get great velocity but you'll pay for it. With the 195 eol you'll see throat erosion about every 50rds. The hammer is about 2.5x faster.


Add to that a bullet that builds pressure slower/differently than a lead core and you've got issues.

Many of the hammer zealots on hammer time/long range hunting are big proponents of light and fast~ if I owned a 28 the 169-177 would be more attractive if you have the twist rate.

They'll work up a load that's crazy fast and post a pic of a 3 shot group and a whitetail doe and claim they're the best thing since sliced bread. ( I initially bought into this as well changed a ton of guns over, shot a bunch of critters) Nothing special

Also verify your bc they won't be what hammer suggests frim their shot drops.

Steve and his pals will yell you that bc is over rated and can't be measured on their bullets. If you have applied ballistics some of the hh are in there and are pretty accurate.

Also if you've shot some other bullets cleaning out all that copper may help.

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Thanks for the info! I will defiantly take all that in to consideration.

 

[huntnful]

N570 is terrible for the 28nos. You'll get great velocity but you'll pay for it. With the 195 eol you'll see throat erosion about every 50rds. The hammer is about 2.5x faster.


Add to that a bullet that builds pressure slower/differently than a lead core and you've got issues.

Many of the hammer zealots on hammer time/long range hunting are big proponents of light and fast~ if I owned a 28 the 169-177 would be more attractive if you have the twist rate.

They'll work up a load that's crazy fast and post a pic of a 3 shot group and a whitetail doe and claim they're the best thing since sliced bread. ( I initially bought into this as well changed a ton of guns over, shot a bunch of critters) Nothing special

Also verify your bc they won't be what hammer suggests frim their shot drops.

Steve and his pals will yell you that bc is over rated and can't be measured on their bullets. If you have applied ballistics some of the hh are in there and are pretty accurate.

Also if you've shot some other bullets cleaning out all that copper may help.

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Hahaha I did the same thing on the hammer train. The easy accuracy is an immediate attraction. For a mono option, they are damn legit though. And I do like their terminal performance design. But they really aren't anything crazy crazy special. I really liked their ease of accuracy in the 28. But even though accuracy always stayed really consistent, the fast throat erosion would constantly have me chasing velocity. Like my initial load with the 169's was 83gr. N570 at 3330 fps. By the end I was at 88gr. N570 and 3260fps.

I've also only had one bullet meet the stated BC's and it was the .264 124 Hammer Hunter. All the 7mm hammers and now the 181 hammer came up WAY short of advertised. Normally .03-.04 under the advertised G7.

 

[huntnful]

i've seen a few people using H1000 with the 155's in the 28N and getting well over 3300fps. I would imagine that would be a great combo.

 

[jltroberg]

I would defiantly have speed on my side with the 28 , the load they recommend should push a 143 around 3600.

I also load the 143HH for 7 Rem Mag. 3300fps, Haven't shot anything with it though. I run 175 Hybrid VLD as my preferred bullet. I'm sure they do well. So many choices!

 

[willfrye027]

So far I’ve loaded for

151 absolute hammers, 150 hammer hunters in multiple .30-06s (3230 and 2930 fps)

110 hammer in 6.5 creed reduced load for wife at 2900 fps

117 hammer in 270wsm at 3410fps

181 hammer in 300 weatherby at 3240fps

131 hammer 7mm mag (two different guns, 3230-3300 fps)

Sometimes I get close to Steve’s expected velocity, sometimes not.

Shot for drops out to 670 yards which is max at my home range with most of the above loads and I have not had to change the BC to match drops. Re-zero, yes. That is almost always the issue when dope is not lining up at moderate distances. Wouldn’t shoot a hammer much farther than that with the wind drift they experience..but for me BC has been close enough to published to not make any changes in my data. Could be it off a little? Yes, I’m not shooting them down to transonic to verify…but it doesn’t matter in the guns that they are loaded for.

And honesty if your drops are not lining up out to 600 yards in a magnum caliber…it’s probably not the BC that’s off.

 

[huntnful]

So far I’ve loaded for

151 absolute hammers, 150 hammer hunters in multiple .30-06s (3230 and 2930 fps)

110 hammer in 6.5 creed reduced load for wife at 2900 fps

117 hammer in 270wsm at 3410fps

181 hammer in 300 weatherby at 3240fps

131 hammer 7mm mag (two different guns, 3230-3300 fps)

Sometimes I get close to Steve’s expected velocity, sometimes not.

Shot for drops out to 670 yards which is max at my home range with most of the above loads and I have not had to change the BC to match drops. Re-zero, yes. That is almost always the issue when dope is not lining up at moderate distances. Wouldn’t shoot a hammer much farther than that with the wind drift they experience..but for me BC has been close enough to published to not make any changes in my data. Could be it off a little? Yes, I’m not shooting them down to transonic to verify…but it doesn’t matter in the guns that they are loaded for.

And honesty if your drops are not lining up out to 600 yards in a magnum caliber…it’s probably not the BC that’s off.

Yeah it takes .03 G7 to add just one click at 600 yards. Take the same load out to 900-1000 (still way above transonic) you'll 100% notice the BC's being off and impacts coming up low. But I agree with your 600 yard assessment when wind really starts playing a role in bullet drift and where the limitations of the hammers really come into play anyways.

155's in two different 28 noslers came up with .220-.230 G7. 169's in two different 28 Noslers came up with .237 G7. My 181's at 3400 in my 300 NMI came up at .248 G7. All basically .03 below advertised. I hardly, even remotely, think it's anything other than the BC of the bullet causing consistently low drops across a decent range of bullets, calibers and scopes.

Really bashing on the BC's here lol, but it's just not right. Berger and Hornady consistently match, or even exceed their advertised BC's in some cases in these same rifle/scope combos. So it's definitely an incorrect BC analysis by hammer on a lot of their bullets. I still like the bullets, don't get me wrong lol.

 

[huntnful]

Before I get on a tangent bashing their shitty incorrectly advertised BC’s (because it bugs me). Here’s some animals I killed with them haha. They shoot good and kill good ….. and impact low at 900 yards if you use their advertised BC… .

 

[amassi]

Steve(owner of hammer) had a golden opportunity to have applied ballistics do his bc. When ab bc didn't match what Steve had guessed from shot drops he claimed ab couldn't run the bc on his patented bullet design and that bc was useless.

Agree that for hammer range bc isn't the be all end all for elevation BUT these bullets get pushed around by wind pretty bad. That's what needs to be verified and trued.

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[JakeSCH]

Before I get on a tangent bashing their shitty incorrectly advertised BC’s (because it bugs me). Here’s some animals I killed with them haha. They shoot good and kill good ….. and impact low at 900 yards if you use their advertised BC… .

Not going to lie, I was really hoping to have the last photo of a shot about 1' below the target.