HAMMER Bullets Performance on Game

[Charlie-NY]

I taken whitetails, elk and moose with the Hammers. Used bullets between 124gr and 402gr. All shot well on paper and had impressive terminal performance. Only a single whitetail doe got more than 15yds. I was shooting a 6.5PRC and 124gr HH bullets. She was shot at 225yds from an elevated box blind. Bullet entered behind the shoulder, penetrated the heart, and exited low with a 1.5" hole. That animal zig-zagged through the woods for 75yds or so but left an impressive red trail behind her. One tough critter.
While I continue to also hunt with Berger, Barnes and Nosler bullets, the Hammers have gained my attention lately and have earned their place IMO.

 

[woodmoose]

I'm always late to parties but just heard of the Hammer line and doing my research - good info/performance results reports (pros and cons) - thanks folks

 

[PRC_GUY]

I killed an Auodad last year from Texas , it is 180 gr on my 300 WM and soot at 200 yards, dropped the Auodad and falling from top of the ridge down. I don’t remember the bullet exit or not , but the heart is blew up , can’t see the heart at all.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Hammer Bullets has a Memorial Day sale that is good for a couple of more hours - 15% off a $200 order. The 199s are shooting well in my 30 Nosler and the 124s are shooting well in my 300 RUM (with the benefit of lighter recoil), so I ordered some more of each.

 

[huntnful]

Hammer Bullets has a Memorial Day sale that is good for a couple of more hours - 15% off a $200 order. The 199s are shooting well in my 30 Nosler and the 124s are shooting well in my 300 RUM (with the benefit of lighter recoil), so I ordered some more of each.

Thank you for posting this!! Just stocked up on bullets for the next two years lol. They aren't going to get any cheaper.

 

[tom338]

Son shot a mule deer last year with 7mm mag 143 HH. About 120 yards broadside. 1st shot right behind the shoulder, deer did a 180 and he shot the deer behind the shoulder again. Then buck started to walk downhill so he shot again, spine hit. I watched all thru a spotter from about 500 yards away. No follow up shot was needed but he didn't know that. Both bullets behind the shoulder were pass thru. shots behind the shoulder were 3 inches apart---both entrance and exit. Upon skinning you could see bits of copper against the skin, on both sides. Lungs jello. I've shot a elk and mule deer but both spine shots--my fault. So only this small sample.

 

[mossyoak52]

ill stick with my eld x

 

[TraderMike]

ill stick with my eld x

Thank you so much for for your profound contribution to this thread. I am sure everyone who has shared their meaningful experiences with Hammer bullets will sleep better....

 

[willfrye027]

Two more pigs hammered since this thread started and another rifle with painless load development in about 20 rounds..shooting 300 fps faster than the previous TTSX load. Call me a fanboy I guess..

 

[WKR]

Two more pigs hammered since this thread started and another rifle with painless load development in about 20 rounds..shooting 300 fps faster than the previous TTSX load. Call me a fanboy I guess..

Is your seating depth pretty similar across your loads or are you having to play around a bit?

 

[Elkangle]

Hammer Bullets has a Memorial Day sale that is good for a couple of more hours - 15% off a $200 order. The 199s are shooting well in my 30 Nosler and the 124s are shooting well in my 300 RUM (with the benefit of lighter recoil), so I ordered some more of each.

Curious on this 124 set up, I'm considering doing a build for this..any thoughts ?

 

[OXN939]

I'm not really debating lead vs mono, just having fun with trauma. None of this contradicts your observations and it is really just in case you are interested, not because it contributes meaningfully to the discussion at hand.

To develop a sucking chest wound the hole in the chest wall must be about 66% or larger than the diameter of the trachea. Most entry wounds are not large enough, many exit wounds are. However, sucking chest wounds make breathing ineffective, but hypoxia from this would take several minutes to cause death. Same as hypoxia from simple loss of lung tissue (which would take a greater than 50% loss). The reason chest seals are vented is because most of the time a wound capable of causing a sucking chest wound also vents air back out preventing a tension pneumothorax.

Thoracic trauma (we will assume the heart and aorta are spared as this is a discussion on lungs) can cause death in a few ways. For rapid causes tension pneumothorax (possibly in the setting of tracheal rupture or bronchial rupture) and tension hemothorax (lungs are highly vascular, so hemorrhage is another possibility) come to mind. Most animals probably die from bilateral tension pneumothorax with a double lung shot. The more damage to the lung tissue itself, the faster air can accumulate in the thoracic cavity and the quicker obstructive shock develops from vena cava and cardiac compression. However, the majority of air that causes this likely passes through the trachea to enter the chest cavity.

The collapse of the lungs from the intrapleural pressure results in the undamaged lung becoming significantly smaller and adds to the impression that the lungs just turned to soup.

It is also important to note that there are flaws with trying to attribute death to one mechanism as they have cumulative effects. The loss of intravascular volume from hemorrhage results in earlier vena cava compression and onset of obstructive shock while the loss of lung tissue reduces physiologic reserve at a moment when the body is entering a hypermetabolic stress state and the increased respiratory effort to fuel that state speeds up tension pneumothorax development, Etc.

As promised however many months ago.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Curious on this 124 set up, I'm considering doing a build for this..any thoughts ?

I am shooting mine in a factory Remington 700 KS 1:10” twist barrel. I got 3956 fps with Retumbo before my chrono quit reading. I went up a little from there so I suspect I hit 4000 fps. I settled on a load at 3800 fps with H4831sc that shot sub-MOA for me. A guy on LRH reported 4200 fps with H4350. Recoil in my 8.25 pound rifle is significantly lower with the 124s compared to 200 gr Accubonds.

If building a gun around a particular Hammer bullet, I would suggest calling Steve at Hammer. He has been very helpful to me.

 

[willfrye027]

Is your seating depth pretty similar across your loads or are you having to play around a bit?

I have not yet had to change seating depth for a load. It’s usually just under magazine length as long as that is not in the lands. My uncles 300 weatherby jumps about .250”, my 30-06 jumps about .030”

 

[OXN939]

I have not yet had to change seating depth for a load. It’s usually just under magazine length as long as that is not in the lands. My uncles 300 weatherby jumps about .250”, my 30-06 jumps about .030”

Same. I tried playing with seating depth on one load and saw virtually no difference in any kind of performance. Think I have now 4 sub MOA loads that I found by just seating everything .045" off the lands

 

[MattB]

Same. I tried playing with seating depth on one load and saw virtually no difference in any kind of performance. Think I have now 4 sub MOA loads that I found by just seating everything .045" off the lands

I have done a lot of reading on Hammer loading and it sounds that they are in generally quite insensitive to seating depth for whatever reason. It is nice to potentially have one part of the equation taken off the board when settling on a new load.

 

[Elkangle]

I am shooting mine in a factory Remington 700 KS 1:10” twist barrel. I got 3956 fps with Retumbo before my chrono quit reading. I went up a little from there so I suspect I hit 4000 fps. I settled on a load at 3800 fps with H4831sc that shot sub-MOA for me. A guy on LRH reported 4200 fps with H4350. Recoil in my 8.25 pound rifle is significantly lower with the 124s compared to 200 gr Accubonds.

If building a gun around a particular Hammer bullet, I would suggest calling Steve at Hammer. He has been very helpful to me.



View attachment 416646

I've talked to Steve on a few other projects, he's been a good guy

Have you see any performances on game yet with that 120 going that fast ?

 

[BAKPAKR]

I've talked to Steve on a few other projects, he's been a good guy

Have you see any performances on game yet with that 120 going that fast ?

The only thing I have shot with the 124 gr was a whitetail doe. It was a broadside shot behind the shoulder. She didn’t drop in her tracks but she didn’t go far. Lungs were a mess.

I am getting ready to try the 124 gr in a 308 for my daughter.

 

[wyojdubya]

My limited Hammer experience is as follows: a 117gr HH 270 win load was easy to develop and wreaked havoc on a mature muley at a couple hundred yards last year. Three petals passed all the way through along with the core, exiting in about a 5-inch pattern. DRT.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Two more pigs hammered since this thread started and another rifle with painless load development in about 20 rounds..shooting 300 fps faster than the previous TTSX load. Call me a fanboy I guess..

Same or similar bullet weight? Powder charge similar, different powder, etc? Very interested in this. I love the TTSX but a significant velocity gain is worth asking about.