How far are you shooting monos?

[finner]

I need to feed my 6.5 CM barrel some hammers. Been too long since I used those but I did like what I saw.

They flat out work and help dissolve my own stigma towards the creed a little. I shot the 143 ELDXs out of that gun for a few years and while accurate, terminal performance was super inconsistent and I lost a lot of meat on deer and antelope. I'm shooting the hammers around 2920 with Varget and performance has been consistently excellent.

 

[sndmn11]

I think 3050 fps and 5000 ft.

What caliber 130? I think they make a few.

Longest for me was ~520yds on a bull elk with a 155g Hammer Hunter out of my 7SAUM. One shot and he was down in sight. Complete pass-through of the shank. Found some petals in the off-side hide.

I don't plan to shoot that far with any regularity and a mono wouldn't be my top choice (for a variety of reasons) if I were trying to be a "long range" hunter.

I've shot deer out to 470 yd and elk over 500 yd with .270 win, 126 gr HH 3250 fps. Only one elk didn't exit, longest distance traveled after was ~50 yds. All one shot kills.

It sounds like neither bullet was caught. Did either of you open up the cavity to see if the damage was comparable to past experiences? Were blood trails good?

I had a DRT experience with the tiny 85gr hammer this year, so I have so gauge on blood trail production.

 

[Newtosavage]

They flat out work and help dissolve my own stigma towards the creed a little. I shot the 143 ELDXs out of that gun for a few years and while accurate, terminal performance was super inconsistent and I lost a lot of meat on deer and antelope. I'm shooting the hammers around 2920 with Varget and performance has been consistently excellent.

That does sound appealing.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I'll post again what I posted on the other thread, as it's relevant here.
A new Rokslide Sponsor, G9 Defense, is releasing their 6.5 Creedmoor 113g. Long Range Hunter ammo soon.
The Brass bullets look very promising. With a claimed .585 BC and upwards of 3,000 fps in a full length barrel, they could very well up the performance of mono's out of the 6.5 CM. The 127 LRX worked well for me on the 500 yard sheep kill from a couple years ago, but being able to carry even more velocity out to that range & further would be great. The problem with light mono's is that they generally have lower BC's than bonded bullets. If the .585 is even close to accurate, it will put these in the same range as an ELD-X or M, but at significantly higher velocities.

 

[Mark at EXO]

It sounds like neither bullet was caught. Did either of you open up the cavity to see if the damage was comparable to past experiences? Were blood trails good?

Didn't do any notable investigation to the internal damage. I was a looooong way from the truck with a lot of work to do. From doing the gutless method and flipping the body over, the sound and feeling of "slosh" inside was noticeable.

Entry and exit was essentially a pin-hole, no blood trail to speak of. That has always been my concern with Hammers, but I have shot several critters with hammers and they have always been down in sight.

The fragments found in the off-side hide...

 

[sndmn11]

flipping the body over, the sound and feeling of "slosh" inside was noticeable.

Entry and exit was essentially a pin-hole, no blood trail to speak of.

That describes what I saw perfectly. I had some petals go through the off side scapula, I shoot back lungs, but in and out were caliber sized holes.

 

[ljalberta]

I'll post again what I posted on the other thread, as it's relevant here.
A new Rokslide Sponsor, G9 Defense, is releasing their 6.5 Creedmoor 113g. Long Range Hunter ammo soon.
The Brass bullets look very promising. With a claimed .585 BC and upwards of 3,000 fps in a full length barrel, they could very well up the performance of mono's out of the 6.5 CM. The 127 LRX worked well for me on the 500 yard sheep kill from a couple years ago, but being able to carry even more velocity out to that range & further would be great. The problem with light mono's is that they generally have lower BC's than bonded bullets. If the .585 is even close to accurate, it will put these in the same range as an ELD-X or M, but at significantly higher velocities.

I’m intrigued. I was going to start loading up some CE Lazers for the 6.5cm this year. But I might hold out and see how these look on release. I think my biggest question will be the lower threshold required for expansion or fracturing.

 

[S.Clancy]

What caliber 130? I think they make a few.



It sounds like neither bullet was caught. Did either of you open up the cavity to see if the damage was comparable to past experiences? Were blood trails good?

I had a DRT experience with the tiny 85gr hammer this year, so I have so gauge on blood trail production.

I opened the cavities or went in through the ribs to investigate. Didn't take pictures so it's hard for me to really say whether the damage was the same as when I used to shoot lead bullets. It looked like it was shot with a gun, and the internal damage was significant. I have found petals in a couple animals, usually on the off-side while skinning. I haven't found a 'core' yet. I will say that they do not shed energy like the 130 gr SST I used at some points in the past, but those are radically different bullet designs. I will say, anecdotally, that the longest shot where the bullet did not pass through was the only "drop in its tracks" on a ~320" mature bull. It was a full 1400 ish ft/lb energy dump into that animal (I never located the core).

Blood trails were never needed but varied between really good to not very good at all. For me, blood trails seem to vary based on the positioning of the animal and angle of the shot. Downhill shots blood trails are really good, quartering too not so good.

 

[rclouse79]

What caliber 130? I think they make a few.



It sounds like neither bullet was caught. Did either of you open up the cavity to see if the damage was comparable to past experiences? Were blood trails good?

I had a DRT experience with the tiny 85gr hammer this year, so I have so gauge on blood trail production.

Barnes .270- ttsx

 

[prm]

For those using the Hammer bullets, can you state whether its a Shock Hammer or Hammer Hunter. The Shock Hammer has a much larger tip opening.

 

[Rick M.]

Most of the animals I've killed have been inside of 200 yards, but I have a self-imposed limit of 400 yards, and I try to practice well beyond that.

 

[Rick M.]

For those using the Hammer bullets, can you state whether its a Shock Hammer or Hammer Hunter. The Shock Hammer has a much larger tip opening.

I believe the Shock Hammer is also intended for performance at closer ranges. The Shock Hammers are the one's I don't hear much about, people seem to either go with the Hunters or the Absolutes, so I'm also interested in any data on the Shocks.

 

[antlerz]

Even the boring old 308 130gr TTSX at 3000fps is effective at 350yds. 175TMK after that.

 

[ahlgringo]

Barnes 208lrx 300wm, 2890fps muzzle
Shot a cow this year at 674yds, quartering to, through front shoulder, peeled petals still attached to base found in offside hide. 2 steps and dead, couple blood drops in snow.
674=approx 2150fps and 2150ft/lbs

Was really happy with bullet performance, almost looked like a Barnes ad picture of how it’s supposed to work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Conrad101st]

Shot an elk bull at 605 yards with 180 grain Barnes TSX in 300 win mag at 11,000 feet elevation and muzzle velocity of 2,960 FPS. Impact velocity was about 1,800 FPS. This bullet went through both front shoulder blades and stopped against the hide. Rolled him right over to do the kicken’ chicken.

Recovered TSX bullet is on right side.


Bullet on left is 300 win mag 200 grain Nosler Accubond shot at 300 yards on an elk.

 

[Newtosavage]

They flat out work and help dissolve my own stigma towards the creed a little. I shot the 143 ELDXs out of that gun for a few years and while accurate, terminal performance was super inconsistent and I lost a lot of meat on deer and antelope. I'm shooting the hammers around 2920 with Varget and performance has been consistently excellent.

Which hammers if I may ask?

 

[35WhelenAI]

Longest shot, 35 Whelen AI 341 yds (lasered after the fact) 200 gr original X broadside cow elk. 2910 MV, 2109 fps impact, 8400' elevation, 30 deg temp (Federal ballistic calculator).

Went down, slid down the snowy slope. Exited, lungs were tattered/chunked up. My take is a "center" lung shot or more forward is what I want. A deliberate back of the lungs/vital shot for my liking leaves more room for a fringe hit that isn't as immediately fatal.

Without seeing the damage done, a sloshing sound is the animals blood moving around because it just lost most of it from damage to the lungs, especially if the heart is not hit. Not an indication of effectiveness, IMO. As well, hide is elastic and unless a rib is hit, an exit could easily be bullet size as the hide comes back into place.

 

[Marmots]

My extremely back of the envelope math has an 150 grain TTSX out of my slow 30-06 flirting with the minimum impact velocity of 2000 fps at just a little over 400 yards at 5k feet of elevation.

I've been happy with the TTSX performance but for whatever dumb luck I have only ever witnessed their performance on big game at firing squad distances.

 

[Macintosh]

what do you all use as your personal minimum acceptable impact velocity? I have seen everything from 1800fps to 2400 fps all referencing the same barnes bullets, all just in the last week or so.
Best I can gather from talking to others I am using 2200 for lrx, higher for ttsx, to achieve reliable expansion even in a soft hit. (2300-2400 for ttsx was suggested to me). A guy like me (east coast hunting mainly in thick woods where anything over 100 yards is “long range”) just doesnt have the opportunity to test the outer limits enough to have much of an opinion on it though. This fall I did have a pronghorn I would have shot in a heartbeat standing broadside at 504 yards for a long time, I had a great rest on the rockpile I was sitting behind, no wind, and there were 25-30 other antelope milling around looking for dudes in orange hats, and zero terrain to hide behind to get any closer. Thats a shot I am perfectly capable of making, but impact velocity would have been below 1900fps (Factory copper 6.5cm 120gr). That was by far the best buck I saw that week, and we never saw him again. Made me rethink my cartridge selection for copper.

 

[SDHNTR]

Man you guys overthink this stuff. I’m as technical as they come with most things and I almost exclusively shoot monos. I worry about accuracy and field practice. The critters die.