@Bullmark,
I can't speak to the much larger animals, since all I hunt is deer. However, many on this Forum do hunt elk, larger mule deer, moose, etc. and they use Hammer bullets (either the Hammer Hunters or the newer Absolute Hammers). Hopefully some others will chime in if they see this post.
I am fortunate (?) that I have a pretty good test bed where I live. I do a fair bit of depredation hunting because deer are an agricultural nuisance here. I started using Hammers about 3 years ago. I'm a serious (Old) gun nut and love precision rifles. I've shot rifles competitively and now just shoot for fun and hunting. I first started using Hammers because I got tired of blowing up so much bloodshot meat with traditional bullets.
The other thing which drew me to Hammers is their complete consistency. This is a carry over from my benchrest days when I used to have to sort bullets (even custom hand made BR bullets). Hammers are made on a CNS machine and are measured to maintain consistency to .0005! (wish they had been around when I shot BR)!
I've killed upwards of 50 deer in the last 3 years. I've tested multiple calibers and bullet weights. I am now fully convinced that "speed kills". I think Roy Weatherby had it right. With the construction of the Hammer bullets, they can withstand high velocity and RPMs. They penetrate and perform amazingly well and do not destroy a bunch of meat. They turn vitals into jello and always penetrate in my experience. The only one I ever recovered was the end to end shot on a 7pt buck I mentioned in the earlier post. I've shot deer with everything from an 80 gr 243, 121 gr 25-284, 117 and bigger 6.5 Creedmoor, 131 gr and bigger 7mm RUM and a 205 gr 338 Sherman. All shoot very well and all performed very well.
I am in no way affiliated with Hammer Bullets or Steve. I gain nothing from encouraging others to use Hammer bullets. They are an amazing product and are the first major step change in bullet manufacturing in my lifetime.
Regards,
George