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169 Gr Hammer Hunter at longish distance

Tagging in. Now could you please test and report on the 172g Absolute hammer.
Both the 172 and 177 shoot fantastic in my 28 Nosler but the 172 is 100+ FPS faster and I'm thinking it might just have a better BC too
 
Korhil78 said:
I wanted to test out the Hammer Hunter bullets and see how they did in my 7mm Sherman Max. I picked the 169 Gr Hammer Hunter as I thought it would be a good all around bullet. I found a load that shot very accurate at 100 yards. Groups were measuring in the .2-.3 range. 63 Gr of RL23 with the bullet seated .040" off the rifling was getting me an average of 3120 FPS with ADG brass. Velocity was acquired with a Lab Radar. The estimated BC from the Hammer website was .285 G7.

This morning I loaded up 15 rounds and went out to shoot this load at distance. I zeroed the rifle and then entered all the info into my kestrel for my 800 yard target. I shot 1 shot and it was 10" low which meant that I would have to lower my BC. Kind of bummed about that. I lowered the BC from .285 to .230 to get 16.25 MOA for elevation. I shot 3 shots at the 800 yard target and it was about 2" above my point of aim and measured in at 2.5" for a three shot group. You can see in the picture that the rounds labeled 1 are the first three shot group.

I raised the BC to .237 to give me 16 MOA of elevation and turned my turret to 16 and fired three more shots. These shots were right on the money for elevation. The wind was blowing at 6mph from the 10 o'clock. This 3 shot group measured 3.4". The six shots even though I moved one click down after the first group still measured 4.3" which I was really happy with.

This is the same BC as I got from the 177 Gr hammer hunters when I tried them but for some reason the 169 Gr hammers are giving me 100 fps more. I do wish the BC had stayed .260 or higher but I can live with .237 since it will give me the needed 1800 FPS all the way out to 860 yards.

Next I will test these out on a couple of pigs at 700-800 yards and see how they do.

View attachment 287163
Click to expand...
Very interesting and thanks for the thorough details. From what I've found with the HH's even with identical rifles the BC's will vary slightly and clarification at distance should always be done and not assumed. The good thing is that they've have always exceeded my expectations.
 
I don't really care too much. The thing that I was worried about was having the 1800 FPS velocity at impact which is what hammer hunters are supposed to need to open reliably. Now you can go about retaining that 1800 FPS at longer distances by using a light bullet and pushing it really fast which I didn't want to do or you can play the numbers game with heavier weight bullets and see where the impact velocity goes below 1800 FPS.

I chose to go with the heaviest bullet I could that would give me 1800 FPS impact velocity at my required distance (800 yards). Being that I could only push the 169 Gr hammer hunter to an average of 3120 FPS at the muzzle, I am then relying on BC to be my friend and help me retain that velocity to my desired distance. Even though I had to lower my BC to .237 from the estimated .285, I still have an impact velocity of 1800 FPS all the way out to 865 yards based off computer calculations. The only reason I wish I could have kept .285 BC is that my velocity would have been even higher at 800.

Keep in mind that BC is going to differ even if ever so slightly from barre to barrel. That's why you have to verify everything by shooting it at the longest distance you plan on shooting.

With the Hammer hunters supplied BC from their website, you have to take that as a starting point that will help you get on paper at distance and adjust if from there. When they give you an estimation, it's not for one to take it as if it's written In stone.
 
Korhil78 said:
I don't really care too much. The thing that I was worried about was having the 1800 FPS velocity at impact which is what hammer hunters are supposed to need to open reliably. Now you can go about retaining that 1800 FPS at longer distances by using a light bullet and pushing it really fast which I didn't want to do or you can play the numbers game with heavier weight bullets and see where the impact velocity goes below 1800 FPS.

I chose to go with the heaviest bullet I could that would give me 1800 FPS impact velocity at my required distance (800 yards). Being that I could only push the 169 Gr hammer hunter to an average of 3120 FPS at the muzzle, I am then relying on BC to be my friend and help me retain that velocity to my desired distance. Even though I had to lower my BC to .237 from the estimated .285, I still have an impact velocity of 1800 FPS all the way out to 865 yards based off computer calculations. The only reason I wish I could have kept .285 BC is that my velocity would have been even higher at 800.

Keep in mind that BC is going to differ even if ever so slightly from barre to barrel. That's why you have to verify everything by shooting it at the longest distance you plan on shooting.

With the Hammer hunters supplied BC from their website, you have to take that as a starting point that will help you get on paper at distance and adjust if from there. When they give you an estimation, it's not for one to take it as if it's written In stone.
Click to expand...
That goes with any bullet from any manufacturer
 
DWier said:
I just got my labradar and haven't had a chance to play with it yet. Thanks for the education.
Click to expand...
I don't know if you meant "education" as meaning I was being rude. If so, it wasn't my intention at all. I'm just explaining my way of choosing what bullet I wanted to use.

If you read Butterbeans posts, he does the opposite of me. He takes light for caliber hammers and pushes them really fast to get his desired effect. Is his way better than mine? I don't really know nor does it really matter. It works for him and others and I'm glad it does.

We all have to make a bullet choice and we have to make it work for our desired application. I imagine that these hammer bullets will work for many applications.
 
Korhil78 said:
I don't know if you meant "education" as meaning I was being rude. If so, it wasn't my intention at all. I'm just explaining my way of choosing what bullet I wanted to use.

If you read Butterbeans posts, he does the opposite of me. He takes light for caliber hammers and pushes them really fast to get his desired effect. Is his way better than mine? I don't really know nor does it really matter. It works for him and others and I'm glad it does.

We all have to make a bullet choice and we have to make it work for our desired application. I imagine that these hammer bullets will work for many applications.
Click to expand...
Great post!

I try not to be an either or shooter, but find myself more in the the light fast category these days for big game. As my parameters/inputs change.

The mono's just survive some things cup, and core struggle with.

While Hammer has alway stressed terminal performance, and has said many times their BC's are just rough to hopefully get a shooter started, those high BC copper and lead still have a place.

Although pure target mono's close the gap a bit.
 
Korhil78 said:
You are absolutely correct but I like the hammer bullets being all copper, shedding the petals for extra damage and being CnC built for consistency. So I made a choice to work with them.
Click to expand...
I'm just stating that it seems like folks take Bergers BC numbers as the Gospel, I have never had any advertised BC match up perfectly
 
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