I'm interested to hear what any Rokslider's who have used Hawk bullets have to say about them. I became aware of Hawk bullets a couple years ago, and I have been intrigued by their seemingly simple construction yet advertised ability to expand readily and stay in one piece with high weight retention despite being a cup and core design with no bonding or special features other than being "soft". I'm interested in using them in a couple older rifles I have and some other C&R hunting guns I would like to acquire, as they make a lot of oddball calibers.
As I researched them, I read a lot of good things, but also enough bad to give me pause about using them. Of the bad things I read, there were a few that were fairly alarming: First, that they are actually a tube and core rather than a cup and core construction. The jacket is made form pure copper tubing rather than a cup which leaves the lead core partially exposed at the center of the base of the bullet. This apparently caused the rifle of someone using them in a 300 Win Mag to blow up because the core got ejected from the jacket in the barrel, leaving the jacket as a barrel obstruction. The second thing is that the soft copper jackets build more pressure than guilding metal jackets. Another forum member blew up his 35 Whelen, twice, shooting Hawk bullets. They do state on the site that their bullets build pressure differently and I believe it says to start 10% below START loads. No idea if this guy did that or not, but it is of concern. Other detractors say they are old technology at a premium price, there's a lot of snake oil in their marketing, and that they arent as accurate compared to a lot of other bullets.
I for one am a believer that no matter how good a product is, you'll always have a handful of stupid people that won't use it correctly and then talk poorly of it. There is still a lot of people that seem to like them, especially in the levergun community. Also they're loaded by Alexander Arms and Black Butterfly ammo, so they can't be that terrible. Their claims seem believable to me as an mechanicial engineer who reads alot about terminal ballistics. I think they are likely best suited to lower pressure and lower velocity applications, and that's what I intent to use them in (6.5x54 MS, 30-30, etc) but Kabooms are also scary and I dont want to lose half my face and a nice old gun. Would love to hear your input if you are a Hawk fan or hater.
As I researched them, I read a lot of good things, but also enough bad to give me pause about using them. Of the bad things I read, there were a few that were fairly alarming: First, that they are actually a tube and core rather than a cup and core construction. The jacket is made form pure copper tubing rather than a cup which leaves the lead core partially exposed at the center of the base of the bullet. This apparently caused the rifle of someone using them in a 300 Win Mag to blow up because the core got ejected from the jacket in the barrel, leaving the jacket as a barrel obstruction. The second thing is that the soft copper jackets build more pressure than guilding metal jackets. Another forum member blew up his 35 Whelen, twice, shooting Hawk bullets. They do state on the site that their bullets build pressure differently and I believe it says to start 10% below START loads. No idea if this guy did that or not, but it is of concern. Other detractors say they are old technology at a premium price, there's a lot of snake oil in their marketing, and that they arent as accurate compared to a lot of other bullets.
I for one am a believer that no matter how good a product is, you'll always have a handful of stupid people that won't use it correctly and then talk poorly of it. There is still a lot of people that seem to like them, especially in the levergun community. Also they're loaded by Alexander Arms and Black Butterfly ammo, so they can't be that terrible. Their claims seem believable to me as an mechanicial engineer who reads alot about terminal ballistics. I think they are likely best suited to lower pressure and lower velocity applications, and that's what I intent to use them in (6.5x54 MS, 30-30, etc) but Kabooms are also scary and I dont want to lose half my face and a nice old gun. Would love to hear your input if you are a Hawk fan or hater.
