7mm 90grain bullet?

[Rich Coyle]

Recently I heard about some hunters using what I would call ultralight bullets for hunting. Has anyone used the 90 grain Hammer Hunter 7mm at very high velocity? What velocity and what results. Do you get full penetration? I have a .338 RUM necked to 7mm to try.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[jessej]

I've got a box of 101s to try in a 7RUM. It's on my list of things to do.
I'd like to here some success stories also.

 

[338weatherby]

Recently I heard about some hunters using what I would call ultralight bullets for hunting. Has anyone used the 90 grain Hammer Hunter 7mm at very high velocity? What velocity and what results. Do you get full penetration? I have a .338 RUM necked to 7mm to try.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Interested to hear if this has been done. Gotta be fast as hell.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Using very light bullets in large capacity rounds can produce extreme velocity and extreme terminal results but generally, at a price of consistency. This is because large capacity cases need some degree of bullet resistence to ensure consistent powder ignition. The larger the powder charge the more of an issue this generally becomes. The easier the bullet slips down the bore, the more this issue can also be exaggerated. Hammer bullets slip through the bore extremely easily with a much lower engraving force needed to drive them down the bore. This is great and they are very fast for bullet weight but it can cause consistency issues.

my professional opinion is these larger capacity rounds are much better served with a bit more bullet weight. Velocities will be easier to get consistent.

there is also always the debate between hyper velocity compared heavy weight bullets for long range use. Hyper velocity will get you to 500-600 yards with amazing results, however past that they bleed velocity, energy and gain drop and drift fast. In comparision, at ranges past 500-600 yards, they heavy weight bullets often have much less drift, higher retained velocity which make bullets perform better terminally and higher retained energy which displaces more tissue terminally. Add to that the generally more consistent shot to shot velocity and again, in my professional opinion, heavier bullets are a better combo with large case capacities and simply make it easier to hit small targets at long ranges….. not saying go away from hammer bullets, just use a heavier hammer bullet for best results if wanting to go past 500 yards. All one has to do is run the numbers on a ballistic program and compare at long range.

 

[Longshotjames]

For my children's deer rifle I am running the 113gr Shock Hammer in a 7mm08 @ 3200fps. We have shot 1 WT spike at approx 115yds. It was a perfect heart shot slightly quartering away. The bullet did not hit bone and exited. I noticed some extra holes from the petals going out around the main bullet body. Very clean kill, nothing crazy but perfect shot and most bullets preform well when you cross paths with the main pump organ. Everything worked as expected.
James

 

[jessej]

Using very light bullets in large capacity rounds can produce extreme velocity and extreme terminal results but generally, at a price of consistency. This is because large capacity cases need some degree of bullet resistence to ensure consistent powder ignition. The larger the powder charge the more of an issue this generally becomes. The easier the bullet slips down the bore, the more this issue can also be exaggerated. Hammer bullets slip through the bore extremely easily with a much lower engraving force needed to drive them down the bore. This is great and they are very fast for bullet weight but it can cause consistency issues.

my professional opinion is these larger capacity rounds are much better served with a bit more bullet weight. Velocities will be easier to get consistent.

there is also always the debate between hyper velocity compared heavy weight bullets for long range use. Hyper velocity will get you to 500-600 yards with amazing results, however past that they bleed velocity, energy and gain drop and drift fast. In comparision, at ranges past 500-600 yards, they heavy weight bullets often have much less drift, higher retained velocity which make bullets perform better terminally and higher retained energy which displaces more tissue terminally. Add to that the generally more consistent shot to shot velocity and again, in my professional opinion, heavier bullets are a better combo with large case capacities and simply make it easier to hit small targets at long ranges….. not saying go away from hammer bullets, just use a heavier hammer bullet for best results if wanting to go past 500 yards. All one has to do is run the numbers on a ballistic program and compare at long range.

Agree on everything you said. But it's still mighty fun to drive a hot rod every once and a while for no other purpose than to blister the asphalt.

 

[comfisherman]

Fifty could have saved me some barrel wear a few years back.....

Lightest my 7 rum cared for was 120 b tips. It with 100s and the 270 running 85 grain e tips had a blue ring with the muzzle flash and pretty broad extreme spread. Didn't finish the box of either, didn't warrant the throat erosion.

 

[Fiftydriver]

For my children's deer rifle I am running the 113gr Shock Hammer in a 7mm08 @ 3200fps. We have shot 1 WT spike at approx 115yds. It was a perfect heart shot slightly quartering away. The bullet did not hit bone and exited. I noticed some extra holes from the petals going out around the main bullet body. Very clean kill, nothing crazy but perfect shot and most bullets preform well when you cross paths with the main pump organ. Everything worked as expected.
James

Perfect example of using lighter weight bullets in smaller cases. very good results, much better then with big capacity cases. Plus can use powders that will produce surprisingly good velocity numbers and consistency.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Agree on everything you said. But it's still mighty fun to drive a hot rod every once and a while for no other purpose than to blister the asphalt.

I can agree with that. I often load my 25 Stalker up to 4000 fps with 100 gr bullets and my 26 Stalker to near 4100 fps with same weight bullets, lightening strikes on whitetail out to 1/4 mile for sure.

this was with the 25 Stalker a few years back.

 

[GLTaylor]

Look at the Hammer Hunter Load Data on this Forum.
I've tested light bullets in my 7 RUM with very mixed results. Between the huge freebore (.400 or so) and a huge powder charge, consistency was a problem as mentioned above. 120 gr was about as light as I could go with anything close to reasonable groups. Got some spectacular fire balls!

 

[Fiftydriver]

Look at the Hammer Hunter Load Data on this Forum.
I've tested light bullets in my 7 RUM with very mixed results. Between the huge freebore (.400 or so) and a huge powder charge, consistency was a problem as mentioned above. 120 gr was about as light as I could go with anything close to reasonable groups. Got some spectacular fire balls!

If you cant seat to the lands, you will run into huge issues as you say.

 

[wdrjr]

I built a 7mmbr on a Remington 600 action with a 26" Bart. to use 90 gr. Hammers. Haven't done much with it yet. Will work on it this winter after hunting season. The Hammers should improve this little cartridge.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Thanks, guys, for the input. I guess I will purchase a sample pack and go from there.

 

[Hard rock]

Agree on everything you said. But it's still mighty fun to drive a hot rod every once and a while for no other purpose than to blister the asphalt.

According too the little survey , on what most shooting distances are with members on this forum that little fast bullet will cover about 93 percent of us.