Bullet question, Hammer Bullets vs others

[VLD Pilot]

So I'm running a Cooper 92 in 6.5x284 with the 1:8 twist.

I found the 124 Hammer hunters to be great.

I also had great results with the Sierra Match Kings, but was concerned as I plan to hunt and the SMK's aren't a hunting bullets.

I just shot this yesterday...

Let me try and put your concerns to rest on the SMKs. I've killed many big whitetails with the 142 SMK. They dropped in their tracks. Shot placement remember. I understand anyone's concerns using match bullets and I won't try and convince anyone to use them. This is only a reassuring comment that they do kill very well.

 

[C-Crist276]

Let me try and put your concerns to rest on the SMKs. I've killed many big whitetails with the 142 SMK. They dropped in their tracks. Shot placement remember. I understand anyone's concerns using match bullets and I won't try and convince anyone to use them. This is only a reassuring comment that they do kill very well.

Agreed, I know they will do the job with proper placement. I had time to try out other hunting specific bullets, so went that path.

I didn't want to take the chance on out of state hunt at ranges out to 300-500 yards...

 

[Deleted member 107796]

Going from leaded to mono, you will find them pretty easy to dial in, regardless of brand for the most part. No core, no core concentricity issues. The Hammers are designed to lose weight, others are not, like the GMX. I am not judging which is better but it is a difference. All expand to about 2x, in my experience, in everything from pronghorn to elk. That being said, I am still finding cored bullets that are giving me excellent accuracy, so for those with many calibers, there is no magic bullet, pun intended!

 

[Dean2]

I did not read all six pages of this but i read a fair bit and I will bet dollars to donuts it is the shooter and not the gun or load. It is a lot harder to group at 500 yards than the average guy understands. Between shooting form and wind it is very easy to open up your groups. I would get some quality coaching or take a LD shooting school. You can learn to play tennis hitting a ball against the wall, but you will learn faster and better palying with a really good player/coach. You can burn thousands of dollars in ammo learning to shoot or save a whole bunch of aggravation and get a whole lot better in 2 or 3 days at a school.

 

[Bob Wright]

I loaded 18 rounds of my best test group. (57.8gr of Retumbo, 140 Berger Elite Hunters)
I ran a brush down the barrel and a quick patch.
I attached my Magnetospeed, shot 1- 3042 FPS, shot 2- 3081, shot 3- 3084. (I'm guessing the first shot was slow due to pushing a brush and dry patch down first?
I removed Magnetospeed and threaded on my suppressor, I added 1% velocity gain (based off shots 2-3) and that's what I used for my drop calculations.
I shot 5 shots @ 100, 5 shots @ 200 and 5 shots @ 300.
Weather, 30 degrees and a 15-20mph wind almost at 90 degrees.

I'm going to assume the 200 yard test was my shooting.

Thoughts?
I think I'll load more of this and shoot some more for practice till my Hammer Hunters arrive

Looks like you're diagonally stringing. That indicates trigger or shooter. Top left to bottom right is a right handed shooter.
Try dry firing at a 200 yard bullseye and see if you reticle is moving anywhere off the bullseye. Ideally, it should snap and stay pretty much on your point of aim....

 

[flyguy1]

You know, it's easy to understand how he is frustrated. It's because every factory HUNTING rifle on the internet shoots bugholes. 1.3 inches at 300 yards is very, very good shooting. As an aside, I'm a Barnes and Partition guy, but if SMK works on deer, that is the bullet Cooper uses in their tests (at least it used to be). Cooper will give you the exact load, so you know any inaccuracy is in the shooter or reloading technique, not in the load itself. Keep in mind the test target that came with the rifle is shot at 44 yards in a wind-free environment with a 25x target scope.