Favorite hammer bullet 6.5 creedmoor loads

[Hespco]

Take a look at these two 6.5 bullets. Nosler 6.5 140gr AB on the left & the Badlands Precision 6.5 125gr on the right. Nosler 140gr BC, .509. Badlands 125gr , BC .510. The Badlands out of the 22" Bbl of my 260 with 47.5grs Rel 26 for 3032fps. You can figure the math on trajectory. The Badlands is every bit as accurate as the Hammers in my rifles..

 

[snox801]

Take a look at these two 6.5 bullets. Nosler 6.5 140gr AB on the left & the Badlands Precision 6.5 125gr on the right. Nosler 140gr BC, .509. Badlands 125gr , BC .510. The Badlands out of the 22" Bbl of my 260 with 47.5grs Rel 26 for 3032fps. You can figure the math on trajectory. The Badlands is every bit as accurate as the Hammers in my rifles..

But will the kill like hammer?
Look like I gotta get some rl16 and try that seems to be about 100 FPS faster than varget with hammers and other 125ish pills

 

[Hespco]

The Badlands bullet is a mono just like the Hammer & they will kill just like the Hammer. But the Badlands have a higher BC.. Before you discount the Badlands try them. You will be amazed how flat they shoot. I have shot both of these bullets. There is a difference. The Hammer is a good bullet, but so is the Badlands.

 

[BEEMAN]

The Badlands bullet is a mono just like the Hammer & they will kill just like the Hammer. But the Badlands have a higher BC.. Before you discount the Badlands try them. You will be amazed how flat they shoot. I have shot both of these bullets. There is a difference. The Hammer is a good bullet, but so is the Badlands.

Do the Badlands shed the nose petals like the Hammers? The Badlands seems like a good bullet. But I think I'll wait for more on game results before going away from the 124HH which has performed perfectly for me so far. As far as a mono Is a mono, I don't think so. Different types of copper for one seem to make a big difference. Maybe they are very similar and will perform on game; that would be great. Always nice to have options.

 

[Wedgy]

The Badlands bullet is a mono just like the Hammer & they will kill just like the Hammer. But the Badlands have a higher BC.. Before you discount the Badlands try them. You will be amazed how flat they shoot. I have shot both of these bullets. There is a difference. The Hammer is a good bullet, but so is the Badlands.

Badlands are hard as a rock copper alloy like the Barnes while Hammer and Cutting Edge use a much softer alloy that acts more like lead as far as pressure goes so you will get more velocity, and expansion philosophy is different altogether. On Hammer and CEB the front expands and petals sheer of and radiate out and cause tissue damage while the ~70% retained weight shank with a flat face penetrates thru causing a large wound channel. The barnes and badlands are super hard, pressure up quicker, and design to retain ~100% weight. I have gotten away from the harder alloy bullets as I feel I get better performance from the softer copper. I have been shooting all the non-leads for a long time.
See post # 76 for the story on this bulldozer, one of those " I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it" things.

Badlands Precision Bullets thread - From BC to terminal ballistics

Sounds outstanding to me. " CodyAdams", wish I were there to share your sucess.. Because of all the trees on the place I have two ranges. 108 & 424yds with a big deep canyon between me & the 424 yd target. Would love to have a 200 & 300 yd range , which I do have except I can't use it because...

www.longrangehunting.com

I have a couple dozen Barnes like the .308 150 grain mushroom in the photo showing proper expansion, but all calibers don't seem to do that consistently. Hence my move to softer copper bullets and faster twist barrels.

 

[Hespco]

What game I've seen taken with the Badlands 6.5 125gr says it's a killer. Opens up quite well. The Aluminum tip is hard & it gets driven back into the tip to cause expansion. Better than any plastic tip. Just like the old Rem, Bronze Tip. Don't say it won't work unless you try it. Easy to say no when you have not seen the results. I have taken a fair amount of elk with the Barnes starting in 1994. It has never failed me. Have taken one elk with the Hammer & it worked perfectly. The game I've seen taken with the Badlands also worked perfectly. The Badlands has a much higher BC than the Barnes TTSX or the Hammer. They need to seat deep like the Barnes. Sub 1/2" groups in my 6.5's with Barnes , Hammer or Badlands. They all shoot great. They all take game quite well. I prefer the higher BC.

 

[PLHunter]

@Kmccord i don't have my notes but I think I started around 42 grains. There was a node around 43.5 that worked well in all rifles used. I loaded to 2.81. I haven't played with seating at all in the hammers. They shot as good as I do at that seating length.

 

[Hespco]

The 121 gr 6.5 Hammer I load shoots quite well at about .30 off. No complaints about accuracy . The 121 gr Hammers I weighed came out at 122.8 grs. All in a box weighed the same.

 

[PLHunter]

@Hespco Oh you are using the heavy hammers. I am referring to the 123 hammer hunters. These actually weighed 126 when I weighed them a few years ago. I do think they made changes to the hollowpoint depth since then however.

 

[snox801]

They have two around that weight one is a 123 absolute hammer and they have the 124gr hammer hunter.

 

[snox801]

The Badlands bullet is a mono just like the Hammer & they will kill just like the Hammer. But the Badlands have a higher BC.. Before you discount the Badlands try them. You will be amazed how flat they shoot. I have shot both of these bullets. There is a difference. The Hammer is a good bullet, but so is the Badlands.

Ya I was not saying they were bad I was shooting the cutting edge which were good but the hammers are great with a bit less bc. That being said the creed for me only has a range of about 600 yards I feel good taking game at after that I don't have 100 percent faith the monos of any brand will open. So at that range speed wins.
If using for duel purpose hunting and steel at 1k hammer is not the bullet

 

[PLHunter]

Ya I was not saying they were bad I was shooting the cutting edge which were good but the hammers are great with a bit less bc. That being said the creed for me only has a range of about 600 yards I feel good taking game at after that I don't have 100 percent faith the monos of any brand will open. So at that range speed wins.
If using for duel purpose hunting and steel at 1k hammer is not the bullet

I'm going to be giving the badlands a try after trying all the other non-toxic bullets. Just for the BC.

I love the mode of action for the cutting edge and hammer bullets. Seems reliable and has been for me through several kills. Longest kill was 500 yards. The thing I like about the pedal shedding design is it's easy to guarantee a certain amount of energy transfer. It is either fast enough to lose petals or it's not. Calculating energy imparted is easy you know the mass dumped into the animal and the speed. Fairly failsafe.

The mushroom type design of Barnes and the badlands has hardly any expansion at lower impact velocities but more guaranteed penetration. So it's a more gradual reduction in impact effectiveness. The way I see it the hammer strategy is better for bang flops on cartridge appropriate game and has more point of impact forgiveness (I've hit the lungs three times only to watch the animal drop on the hoof because a pedal strikes the spinal cord or heart)

The badlands/Barnes strategy is better for tackling large game for caliber but for that application requires better tracking and shot placement. So like a quartering away bull with a creedmoor at 400 yards. You're going to get almost the entire bullet weight driving through at the speed impacted. Increasing penetration. But your wound channel while deeper won't be quite as traumatic.

 

[snox801]

I see your line of thinking but think it's lacking.
For the most part u are right. That being said I've never been able to catch a shank from a hammer or cutting edge. So penetration is equal and I've shot a good amount of African game. Now the real problem is with the way bulldozer and Barnes act at long range. You are correct they petal out. Which I believe at slower speed the hammers will do.
But the badlands has a higher bc. But is a useless bc in my book because they take more FPS to open correctly that bc is meaningless.
Run the numbers on both once. See where the lowest FPS for the bullet puts you. 1800 I believe is it for badlands and Barnes 1600fps for hammer. Now you can tend to drive hammers and cutting edge faster than the other two because of the design. That design lowers bc but adds speed. So between the extra starting FPS and the lower opening speed I bet the hammer still wins as a long range. No if the goal is pigs and other eradication animals or targets sure but a mono just won't beat a cup core at that game. So I think the hammer still is the best hunting bullet you can get.

 

[Hespco]

I agree with most of what you all are saying. But ,elk is my main game each season. I hunt for the meat not horns . Having taken a considerable amount of elk over the years there has been many times where a tough angled shot had to be made. Either from the front or the rear. Regardless of brand the mono bullet has proven to me with out a doubt to be the most dependable to penetrate thru dense muscle & thick bone. I have never had any mono fail me. Barnes , Hammer , Hornady. They have always got the job done. Over the years most elk I have taken have been under 200 yds , & many under 100. They, the mono's don't blow to pieces, they penetrate. Last season , a very mature elk at 80yds. A 121gr 6.5 Hammer completely thru both front shoulder & no tracking required. Almost zero blood shot meat. Eat right up to the hole as the expression goes. Before 1994 I hunted with a 338 mag which I still have but just look at it. No longer shoot it. Yes it put elk down , but I can't even begin to explain how much meat was destroyed by it's bullets.
If you are just taking deer , even large mature muley's a mono isn't required, but I definitely like them. My muley buck from last year , hit the extreme back edge of the left shoulder blade. Deer was angling toward me. The bullet was a 129gr bonded. It exploded like a bomb. Lost almost all of the front shoulder . A considerable amount of the flank meat & a portion at the bottom of the neck. Had I use a Barnes 100gr mono I would have saved all that meat. The mono's aren't perfect , but I'm sure over time they will be perfected. Also I see other states talking about lead free bullets. I hate to see this but believe it is just a matter of time.
Anyway to my fellow shooters , Happy New Year, I hope . And for sure God bless to all .