Vapor Trails

[OXN939]

Lots of threads on here asking about the terminal effectiveness of Hammers, so I figured this might be helpful. This past August, two friends and I did a Blacktail hunt on Kodiak Island. My buddy @HunterMcWaters is an extremely talented backcountry videographer and got a pretty wild video of us both punching buck tags within about 20 seconds of each other. We were both shooting Hammers I loaded- 6.5 CM and 7mm-08 for Hunter and me respectively- and the results speak pretty clearly for themselves. Both bucks were very large and healthy, and the shots were about 240 yards. Some general load data is included in the video.

Hunter also produced a pretty cool short film on the hunt for anyone interested, which is even more impressive considering that he was filing solo for about 95% of the time. I think it came out really great and shows how awesome and challenging Kodiak can be. Hope you guys find this useful.

 

[TraderMike]

Very nice footage. The vapor trails are impressive, though not sure what causes them to be so pronounced in one video and not another.
Can you share any other details? Bullets recovered? Exact placement of bullet strike? I have to assume those deer eat super well, judging from what they get to feast on. What a lush habitat....

 

[wind gypsy]

Someone posted on here previously with very pronounced hammer vapor trails.

 

[Cahunter805]

Congrats on the buck. I knew it looked familiar when I watched that video last week on YouTube. That was an awesome hunt and trip!

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I seem to recall reading on the hammer forums that the vapor trail comes from left over cutting lubrication oil in the tip from the manufacturing process. I could be wrong on that though. Big grain of salt with that statement.

 

[OXN939]

I seem to recall reading on the hammer forums that the vapor trail comes from left over cutting lubrication oil in the tip from the manufacturing process. I could be wrong on that though. Big grain of salt with that statement.

I've heard that too, but it seems like it would be tough for the hollow point of a 6.5/7mm bullet to contain enough oil to produce a visible vapor trail several hundred yards long. Pretty confident it isn't coming from the exterior of the bullets, as I degrease them during the loading process. Either way, pretty cool to see!

 

[sneaky]

Atmospheric conditions are going to be the #1 cause for vapor trails. The cutting oil theory is nonsense. You can watch hundreds of videos on YouTube of every bullet known to man leaving pronounced vapor trails under the right conditions. A slight change in weather can mean one shot will leave a trace, the next one won't.

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[OXN939]

The cutting oil theory is nonsense.

Agreed. Definitely something about these Hammers that causes them to consistently produce wild trails- I've spent my fair share of time spotting LR shooting and have never seen anything like these. Actually very useful for spotting TBH

 

[sneaky]

Agreed. Definitely something about these Hammers that causes them to consistently produce wild trails- I've spent my fair share of time spotting LR shooting and have never seen anything like these. Actually very useful for spotting TBH

I think it's those drive bands on them causing that. Way guys talk on YouTube you'd think there was a half gallon of oil in every bullet lol

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[wind gypsy]

Drive bands and that un-sleek form factor pushing air around. <--- me BS'ing, no scientific knowledge on if it's true.