I'm currently shooting a 98 grain hammer hunter out of a Hart barreled Winchester 70 in 25-06. Velocity is 3100ish, with accuracy at .5moa from a cold barrel. I'm not sure what to expect as far as terminal performance on large whitetail, so my question is whether someone has some experience with this bullet and can give me some real world expectations? Thanks in advance for any help.
Hammer question
- Thread starter RCMSTER
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Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
Expect a lot of….jello internals when field dressing.
That's okay. I don't fancy the internals anyway. LOL.
rob257
Well-Known Member
I shoot a 257 roberts with 95 hr hammers at over 3200. Killed two big boars, a sow and a buck that weighed 195 lbs. the biggest boar was well over 250 lbs. close range-first shot a gut shot with an exit. Second shot in middle of ribs. Passed through armor plate and chest and lodged in neck by the skull. Ran 75 yards
Second boar about 200 lbs. 100 yard shot through chest and exit. He ran maybe 40 yards. Great internal damage on both of them
The buck was almost 200 yards. Hit just behind shoulder bones. Ran/slid 50 yards down very steep hill. Lungs destroyed
Also 3 sows with the 90 gr hammer. All one shot kills. One dropped in her tracks, one twenty yards and one went 30 yards
Second boar about 200 lbs. 100 yard shot through chest and exit. He ran maybe 40 yards. Great internal damage on both of them
The buck was almost 200 yards. Hit just behind shoulder bones. Ran/slid 50 yards down very steep hill. Lungs destroyed
Also 3 sows with the 90 gr hammer. All one shot kills. One dropped in her tracks, one twenty yards and one went 30 yards
Here's a pic from 90 absolute hammers out if a 25-06. This was a whitetail buck at 100 yards he was quartering towards us slightly and she went for a high shoulder shot and the bullet found it's mark. In the picture the bullet entered in the right. Plenty of hammer soup inside the chest cavity. Shoot with confidence I'm sure you'll be happy.
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Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
You can expect the 3 petals to shear off from the base. Normally the base will continue on in a straight path and exit. The petals will veer off at a 30 deg angle (give or take) and create secondary wounds. The petals will, occasionally, exit.
That's just my experience. YMMV
That's just my experience. YMMV
Expect the same as others have reported, massive damage. But, you should be getting couple of hundred feet per second more speed than 3100sh. I'm at 3500 using the same bullets.
Well. I kinda blundered into the bullet and load I'm shooting. I've been shooting the 116 grain hammer at about 3050 fps, and had very good accuracy, between .25 and .50 moa. So, shot all I had, and Sunday I loaded up 30 rounds of what I thought were the 116 grain, but after the fact, found out they were only the 98 grainers I had bought for my 257 roberts, so I'm sure they're loaded quite light, but didn't want to pull the bullets and start over. I thought, well, what the heck. Just as well shoot a group and see how bad it is. I'm guessing on the velocity. I haven't run any across the Labradar to verify. The pic below is the first group out of a stone cold barrel. If they would've shot bad, I would've pulled the bullets, but the way they shot, figured I just as well take them hunting. I hadn't killed anything but milk jugs with them outta my 257, which is why I posed the question.
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RCMSTER,
I've shot 92HH's (3,000 fps) outta my 250 Savage ultra light. Smoke a bunch of axis deer does around 250ish yards, high shoulder. I think a couple shanks exited with a few petals. Also, feral pigs around 100 yards, DRT…They work really well!
95HHT's (3,400 fps) in my 25SST. Shot an axis buck last month. Ran maybe 20 yards….done!
I've shot 92HH's (3,000 fps) outta my 250 Savage ultra light. Smoke a bunch of axis deer does around 250ish yards, high shoulder. I think a couple shanks exited with a few petals. Also, feral pigs around 100 yards, DRT…They work really well!
95HHT's (3,400 fps) in my 25SST. Shot an axis buck last month. Ran maybe 20 yards….done!
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I took last years whitetail buck, a full bodied well fed mature Saskatchewan deer, with a 75 grain hammer hunter doing 4150 out of a .257 wby. It killed it. Very swiftly. Also, to my genuine surprise, there was an exit wound. Broke two ribs going in and two more going out, very violent, no real meat loss with a double lung shot. Staggered like he was drunk about 10-15 paces and then down and done.
You should find that Hammers will group nearly the same regardless of charge weight/velocity. Run a pressure ladder up till you get a faster velocity with the 98gn Hammers and adj zero there, the faster velocities make the Hammers really devastating.
