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Bullet Expansion - Hammer Hunter vs HHT

The response will be;

Too slow of twist
Too low of altitude
Bad batch of copper
Could be! What's your explanation?

Trouble being with such post evaluations (here) is they turn adversarial. My question becomes the bullet neither expanded, nor did it penetrate well. Generally poor expansion is associated with "penciling" whether its a Berger, Hornady, Sierra, Match bullet etc. One would expect a long narrow wound channel.

Entrance wound stated as about 1.5", nearly bullet length?

Congratulations to OP on elk, and thanks for posting this.
 
Any possible Chance of slight deflection... grass/stick...
I hope that wouldn't be the explanation. That makes for a very sensitive bullet. Something substantial like a branch, maybe, but it's pretty common to hunt through a bit of brush or grass and many other bullets do not get negatively affected like that.

ETA: the fact that entrance was 1.5" does make you think it may have tumbled prior to impact. Why is definitely a good question. Twist rate would not appear to be the issue unless his is not as advertised.

Just my two cents on the matter.
 
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I hope that wouldn't be the explanation. That makes for a very sensitive bullet. Something substantial like a branch, maybe, but it's pretty common to hunt through a bit of brush or grass and many other bullets do not get negatively affected like that.

ETA: the fact that entrance was 1.5" does make you think it may have tumbled prior to impact. Why is definitely a good question. Twist rate would not appear to me the issue unless his is not as advertised.

Just my two cents on the matter.
All depends on how close or far the "deflection" occurred from the target.
 
Curious if I can expect better expansion from Hammer HHT vs my current 199 gr Hammer Hunter? I'm a little surprised at the minimal expansion in my Hammer Hunter (pic below).

Bullet recovered from my Elk. The Quick story: spotted lone 6x6 at 15 minutes after sunset. Took shot at 520 yards. Hit high spine, bull arched up and was still on feet quartered away. Took a second shot (this bullet) hit left rear quarter. Bullet did not seem to penetrate far nor did it expand. I did notice that hollow point was filled with flesh. Hoping the HHT might be better.
View attachment 512387
So you pulled this bullet out of his ***.
Interesting. 🤔 All and it was tumbling.
How Embarrassing. 🤣
 
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All depends on how close or far the "deflection" occurred from the target.
Right. I'm aware how it works. I'm not saying it's not possible or not what happened, although since he had issues with two separate shots I'm not sure if that's what happened based on that detail alone.

I'm here looking for answers and to get whatever I can from this, just like others.

I've shot many bullets through many obstacles, such as corn stalks, bean stubble, grass, tree branches, saplings, etc, etc and most bullets I use do not have issues with it.

If the bullets in this case hit something substantial and that's the cause for the result, I'd be much happier with that explanation vs it being a bullet issue, don't get me wrong.
 
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