Lead free .223

[PLhunter]

Recently, used a hammer 69.5 hbc in my contender to take an antlerless whitetail. Bullet performed very well and caused a large wound channel.

Impact velocity was 2520. Hit high in the back of the shoulder. Entrance wound channel was large. Exit was about a 50 cent piece. Overall the wound channel and penetration of this bullet appeared adequate for bigger work. I’ll use it with confidence again.

Pedals radiated about 5 inches from shank and were imbedded in offside hide.

 

[Loper]

How far was the shot?

 

[PLhunter]

How far was the shot?

Close, 150 yards. But given the very quick expansion and wound channel size. I think that my goal for this little head-stamp of shooting to 400 is reached with this bullet. It’d be going about 2000 fps at 400.

 

[PLhunter]

As an aside the performance of that hammer hbc has completely validated this fun little rabbit hole I got into making a contender carbine. This little thing is a fun handy little rifle. I’ll probably use it for every whitetail and blacktail hunt from here on out.

 

[Aux Arc]

What is the barrel length and mv with that setup?

Also, is it possible to seat the bullet so that the 1st drive band (nearest the boat tail) is at the neck-shoulder junction and have the second drive band inside the case neck? Hard to tell in the picture but it looks close and Im wondering if they could be seated farther out for more powder room and remain concentric. And I don’t expect significant effort on your part, a quick eyeball measurement is probably good enough.

Im wondering because Ive considered increasing the throat length on my .223 for seating longer bullets farther out and while Ive both shot a lot of animals with 223s and a lot of animals with hammer hunters in faster 22s, Ive always been hesitant with monos in my 223 because of the speed. I’ve also not shot any of the tipped hammers but that wound channel looks better than most Ive seen with the regular HH.

 

[PLhunter]

What is the barrel length and mv with that setup?

Also, is it possible to seat the bullet so that the 1st drive band (nearest the boat tail) is at the neck-shoulder junction and have the second drive band inside the case neck? Hard to tell in the picture but it looks close and Im wondering if they could be seated farther out for more powder room and remain concentric. And I don’t expect significant effort on your part, a quick eyeball measurement is probably good enough.

Im wondering because Ive considered increasing the throat length on my .223 for seating longer bullets farther out and while Ive both shot a lot of animals with 223s and a lot of animals with hammer hunters in faster 22s, Ive always been hesitant with monos in my 223 because of the speed. I’ve also not shot any of the tipped hammers but that wound channel looks better than most Ive seen with the regular HH.

Right around 2850 with a 17 inch barrel. Yes you could but my throat isn't close to long enough. Being a single shot with a custom throat anything is possible, no mag restrictions. It is chambered in .223 wylde. When I had the barrel made I had the opportunity to have it throated for a dummy bullet but the hbc wasn't out yet and there was little terminal performance data on monos with .223 so I wasn't willing to make the jump. As is it shoots the 75 eldm very well and to a similar POI so even though I lose some case capacity I am pleased with it as is. My goal was 400 yards above 2000 fps and I got there.

I have shot or loaded for others who have shot a pile of animals with the hammer hunters. This year was our first season using tipped hammers. If you are familiar with the hammers you know that there can be significant differences from one hammer hunter to the other on mode of kill. Some like the later 124 6.5 HH were more violent and shed a lot of weight. Others like the 121 HH were more controlled expansion. This season we took 3 deer with 6mm 104 tipped hammer hunters, 1 with 6mm 75 grain tipped HH, 1 with the 69.5 HBC and 1 with the 120 HBC. The performance was all good and every deer was a bang flop. But the HBC line was much more violent with massive entrance side wound channels and acceptable but smaller exits. Whereas the tipped hammers were more controlled but still excellent. I will confidently use the 69.5 going forward and the results make me want a slightly faster .22 cartridge for those 76 hbcs. But the 69.5 seems to have realized every goal I was after when I got the wild hair to make that little carbine.