Hammer bullets?

[CasperOutdoorsman719]

Working up a load for my 270 and would like to go with a mono-metal bullet. I have shot Barnes in the past but have heard good things about Hammer bullets. I am wondering if anybody would share personal experiences with Hammer Bullets specifically the performance on animals. I saw that the bullets shed the nose of the bullet and then leave the shank to pass through the animal with minimal expansion. To me, that sounds almost like bullet failure but I am open to learn new things.

 

[mtmuley]

Working up a load for my 270 and would like to go with a mono-metal bullet. I have shot Barnes in the past but have heard good things about Hammer bullets. I am wondering if anybody would share personal experiences with Hammer Bullets specifically the performance on animals. I saw that the bullets shed the nose of the bullet and then leave the shank to pass through the animal with minimal expansion. To me, that sounds almost like bullet failure but I am open to learn new things.

Go to LRH. There is a lengthy terminal performance thread there. Also some info on African kills on their site. I can't believe all the misinformation that is out there on bullet failure. The petals shredding is in the design. On a whitetail buck I killed with the 80 grain HH in .243, I found two petals in the heart after a perfect double lung shot. No failure at all. mtmuley

 

[BRI]

Switched to the 143 grain Hammer's last year for my 280AI. Accuracy was great and 6 animals taken last year. 4 animals dropped where they stood, 2 ran about 25 yards each. Minimal bloodshot or meat loss. I'm impressed and won't be switching any time soon.

 

[TheJason]

If passing through a hard quartered bull elk is failure, I guess so. I switched to Hammers after shooting Barnes for 20 years. I won’t switch back.

 

[TheJason]

I saw that the bullets shed the nose of the bullet and then leave the shank to pass through the animal with minimal expansion. To me, that sounds almost like bullet failure
To me, that sounds almost like bullet failure but I am open to learn new things.

Exactly what Partitions do.

 

[MThuntr]

I really like them and am switching to them in all of my hunting rifles when I burn through the bullets I have on hand.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I used 134gn hammers for a really finicky Tikka T3X 7mm08. Killed my son's pronghorn buck this last fall. Died where it stood. Passed through as one would expect with a mono and pronghorn. Easy to load, ran fast, shot straight. The owner was super helpful - nice guy. While I will definitely keep using them in that rifle and will not hesitate to use them again if I have trouble getting TTSX to shoot in a particular rifle, for now I am not switching other guns from TTSX as I just feel more comfortable with more established vendor over time and prefer the expanding tip design over the shedding petal design (preference, not "failure"). But they definitely work and are a great option from my limited experience.

 

[wseidel]

I'm switching two rifles to Hammer Hunter bullets - 7mm-08 and 30-06. No experience with terminal performance on game yet as I'm just finishing up developing my loads (easy process by the way) but there is ample evidence on the performance of Hammer bullets. I chose Hammer over TTSX for a number of reasons but, more importantly, I want to avoid the potential lead contamination issue from now on. Overall, Hammers are extremely well constructed (tight tolerances - better than Nosler Accubonds IMO), easy to work up a load, and accurate. Hope this helps...

 

[VikingsGuy]

I chose Hammer over TTSX for a number of reasons but, more importantly, I want to avoid the potential lead contamination issue from now on.

Just so other readers new to lead-free bullets don't misread, TTSX are lead-free bullets too.

 

[wseidel]

Absolutely, VikingsGuy. Thanks for clarifying the lead-free point of all mono bullets. Appreciated.

 

[MO Betta]

I'd like to give these a try in my 270, wish mine wasn't a 1 in 10 so I could push the heavier ones.

 

[mtmuley]

I'd like to give these a try in my 270, wish mine wasn't a 1 in 10 so I could push the heavier ones.

Me too. Steve told me to push the 117 as fast as I could and not be worried about the weight of the bullet. mtmuley

 

[marksjeep]

I killed a mule deer last fall with a 124HH out of a 6.5-284. About a 100 yard shot, shot was a pass through, so no bullet was recovered. Deer dropped dead in his tracks

I'm happy with them, will continue to use them.

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

I'm a little confused. Why would you want a bullet to shed the four petals?

 

[MThuntr]

I'm a little confused. Why would you want a bullet to shed the four petals?

The idea is to shed the 4 petals creating 5 moving pieces to damage the tissue. The petals move away from the base which continues on causing it's own damage on the way through the animal.

The last deer I shot, the bullet entered in behind the shoulder. 1 petal when up into the spine and another went into the heart. I have no idea where the other 2 went and the base exited creating a nice exit hole.

Here is a quote from Steve about how his bullets work

How Hammers work on game | Hammer Time

I wrote this in response to a question about how our bullets expand and work terminally on game on another forum. Figured it would be a good idea to post it here too. If anyone has questions about

hammerbullets.boards.net

I wrote this in response to a question about how our bullets expand and work terminally on game on another forum. Figured it would be a good idea to post it here too. If anyone has questions about this feel free.

We all grew up being told that the bigger in dia the bullet deforms the better. The old classic rounded mushroom. The fact is the larger the bullet mushrooms or opens compared to caliber and sectional density the faster it slows down. As the bullet slows down it does less and less damage up until the point that is slows to a stop at which point it does no damage. The next problem is the nice rounded mushroom shape vs a flat frontal area. The rounded shape will part its way through the soft tissue not imparting as much disruption as a squared off flat frontal area the displaces soft tissue perpendicular to the direction of travel. So if you think about it the faster the deformed shape continues to travel the more damage it will do. If I could make a magic bullet I would want it to instantly deform on impact and then travel through the animal without losing any vel. That way the tearing of tissue would stay consistent all the way through the animal and not become less and less as the bullet slows down. This brings us to the next fallacy that we all grew up accepting as fact. Energy. It is really a small part of the equation, not nearly as important as we have all been lead to believe. I obviously takes energy to get the bullet to the target and energy to make it deform and move through the animal. The idea of "energy dump" is nothing more than campfire lore. If we take it to the logical end you can see the problem. If a bullet hits and flattens out to the point that it is stopped on the entrance hide of a deer, all of the energy of that bullet was 100% absorbed by that deer, yet he will run off with a nasty bruise. Now that we all agree that would be bullet failure with 100% "energy dump". If a bullet hits the deer and is unable to use it's energy to deform properly and parts it's way through the animal in its ballistic form doing little damage to the vital soft tissue. That is another obvious bullet failure, not because it failed to "energy dump", but because it did not disrupt enough vital tissue because of the shape or form of the bullet after impact. I think we can all agree on the these two obvious scenarios.

Brings me to the next marketing ploy. We've been lead to believe that bullets are smart. They have the ability to sense when they have penetrated 3" at which point they deploy their energy as they travel to the far side and then hit the brakes to stop leaving all of the energy in the animal. This is truly marketing hype at its best. Bullet deformation is a product of target density, bullet construction, and impact vel. Bullets do not have depth sensors in them. The rate of deformation is a function of how fast fluid is pushed into the hollow point to make the bullet deform from the inside out. The faster it is going the faster it deforms. Stands true for the converse. All bullets are a form of a hollow point. They all need fluid to enter the nose and cause the expansion needed for good terminal performance. We have three basic types of hollow point. An open hole, a tipped hole, and a lead filled hole. The old lead filled soft point bullets are quite effective since the lead acts as the fluid necessary for expansion from the inside out. Tipped hollow points have been marketed as an aid in terminal performance. The fact is the tip has to be evacuated from the hole to let fluids enter the hole and cause the bullet to properly deform. Unless the tip is of a more robust construction than the bullet there is no way for the tip to initiate deformation. Once the tip is evacuated from the hole then the hollow point is relatively large and deforms easily as fluid enters and causes the bullet to deform from the inside out. Fact is, remove the tip and that bullet will deform much more rapidly and consistently without the tip. The tip is a plug in the hollow point that aids in bc and durability in the magazine, not in terminal performance. Then last we have the open hollow point. The larger the hollow point the easier it is to get fluid into the hole and cause the proper bullet deformation. If an open hollow point bullet has yaw the size of the hole is reduced in relation to the direction of travel making it more difficult to get the needed fluid into the hole. The larger the hollow point the greater the margin of error can be and still achieve proper deformation.



This is a 221g 8mm Hammer Hunter recovered from a blacktail shot end to end. This is perfect bullet performance. With our copper we are able to get this result throughout the range of impact vel. They always deform to the depth of the hollow point and square up the front of the bullet. What we are after, is this bullet deformation as fast as possible, in order to have that terminal form all the way through the animal. We want the bullet to change from its ballistic form to its terminal form as quickly as possible. Kind of like when the old timers used to load bullets backwards for dangerous animals. We want our bullets to take on that dangerous game form as quickly as possible after impact.

That is about as well as I can explain it. If you want a better scientific explanation, check out this link. rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html If you truly want to expand your knowledge of how bullets work, this is worth your time.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[cahunter805]

I'm a little confused. Why would you want a bullet to shed the four petals?

Due to the fact that bullets kill by causing massive trauma, tissue damage and blood pressure loss. The more damage caused the more likely it is for a quick kill.
Hammer bullets are IMO the best option if you want/need a lead free bullet on the market and owned by a great guy who tests and pushes designs that work.

 

[Europe]

mtmuley.

those fellows started up just as I was winding down, so never had the opportunity .

I did use the GSC all copper bullet's, both the HV in the 6.5 x 55 and their solids in the 375 H & H. Both performed well. They have now opened a plant in the U.S.

There is a fellow I know in Pa. that speaks very highly of the Hammer Bullet.

 

[Jasher]

I really like them and am switching to them in all of my hunting rifles when I burn through the bullets I have on hand.

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@Carbon this is a good load es is 5 not 20 or more

 

[The Yetti]

Steve of Hammer bullets was recently on a Hunt Backcountry podcast. Very interesting how much testing went into their bullet design. and how they came around to it.

 

[noharleyyet]

Using em in a .257 Wby and .300 Rum. Tempted to switch dials on another couple of rigs for them. They run fast, accurate, and have, IMO, the best hands on support in the industry.