First time load development with Hammer bullets

[PapaSmurff]

So I didn't give myself enough time this afternoon to complete my load development with Hammers for the 7 Rem Mag, but I am close to the finished load. My 7 RM is a Proof Elevation MTR model and has a 24" barrel 1 in 8.4 twist rate. This rifle just didn't seem to like the 143's or the 155's as much as I would've liked. Now, I will say that I am very particular about super accuracy with my loads and it's just because I have my own private 1,250 yard shooting range located literally only 50 yards away from my reloading press. So I can go back and forth over and over again and again adjusting seating depth and/powder charges, etc. until I can almost always get my rifles shooting under 1/4" consistent groups. The Hammers that my Proof 7 Mag seems to like are the 169 grain Hammer Hunters. I could only get around half MOA sized groups with the 143's and the 155's but I did get the 169's shooting one inch groups at 300 yards this afternoon; average velocity was 3035 fps using IMR-7828ssc. Another hour or so of fine tuning and I think I will be able to get them under 1/4" consistently. Will finish fine tuning this load later in the week when I have time to do so and will post pics then with my final results.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Interesting. Did you get to pressure with the 143's and 155's? Sometimes a primer change can make a huge difference. Maybe something in the harmonics if this barrel doesn't like the higher vel?

 

[PapaSmurff]

Interesting. Did you get to pressure with the 143's and 155's? Sometimes a primer change can make a huge difference. Maybe something in the harmonics if this barrel doesn't like the higher vel?

I didn't put a lot of work into the 143's or the 155's; I might go back and work on them some more though. I was maxing out with pressure around 3,200 fps with the 143's, around 3,100 with the 155's, and mid 3,000's with the 169's. About 100 fps slower than where I was hoping to be with the lighter pills but decent velocity with the 169's and that's why I was putting more time into the heavier bullets. If I could get up into the 3,300's with the 143's or 3,200's with the 155's I'd stay with lighters but IMR-4831 just won't do it; but IMR-7828ssc does great with the 169's so im gonna fine tune that load. Right now it's shooting around 1"-1 1/4" groups at 300 yards so not too bad around 1/3 MOA right now. A little more fine tuning I can get it shooting under 1/4" though I think.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I didn't put a lot of work into the 143's or the 155's; I might go back and work on them some more though. I was maxing out with pressure around 3,200 fps with the 143's, around 3,100 with the 155's, and mid 3,000's with the 169's. About 100 fps slower than where I was hoping to be with the lighter pills but decent velocity with the 169's and that's why I was putting more time into the heavier bullets. If I could get up into the 3,300's with the 143's or 3,200's with the 155's I'd stay with lighters but IMR-4831 just won't do it; but IMR-7828ssc does great with the 169's so im gonna fine tune that load. Right now it's shooting around 1"-1 1/4" groups at 300 yards so not too bad around 1/3 MOA right now. A little more fine tuning I can get it shooting under 1/4" though I think.

I think I would try a diff powder. Should be able to see about 100 fps more.

 

[PapaSmurff]

I think I would try a diff powder. Should be able to see about 100 fps more.

I now have the 169's shooting 1/2" sized groups at 300 yards. That's another factory built rifle in another caliber that I've been able to get into the mid .1 MOA group sizes with Hammer Hunters. I'm loading 67.2gr of IMR-7828ssc with the 169gr Hammer Hunter, CBTO length is 2.797" and COAL length is 3.454". Muzzle velocity is 2,976 FPS average with only 6 fps extreme spread per the 5 shots in a row that I chronied. The cool thing about this rifle is I did a dual load for it also loading Berger 180gr VLD's at a muzzle velocity of 2,995 FPS. The Hammers are sighted in at 150 yards while the Bergers are sighted in at 200 yards using the same 0 setting on my elevation dial. The Hammers do shoot about 5 clicks to the right though and that has been the same for my 338 Lapua that I dual loaded for as well, but the elevation knob setting can stay in the same setting with that rifle as well. Will attach a picture of my pig target on next post that shows the Berger 180 impact and the 169 Hammer Hunter impact on the target which is at 600 yards. The all copper Hammer impact is almost dead center of the bullseye. That makes a total so far of 6 of my rifles in a row that I have been able to load Hammer Hunters into sub 1/4" loads. Very impressed with the accuracy of y'all's bullets to say the least Steve. Thanks, Jon

 

[PapaSmurff]

Proof Elevation MTR factory rifle dual purpose loaded with Berger 180 VLD-H and also 169gr Hammer Hunter, impacts on 600 pig target
from same rifle.

 

[PapaSmurff]

Will be doing load development this weekend with Hammer Bullets for another Proof Elevation MTR rifle; this one chambered in 6.5 PRC. I'm planning on using RL-26 to start with and/or N560, maybe some Magnum powder if all else fails. Looks like I will also try using Fed 210 Match Large Rifle primers for this load development instead of the 215M's given what I've been reading on some of the post on here. It's got a 7.5t 24" barrel so I will be working with the 124's and the 131's to see which gives me the best possible accuracy. If you have any recommendations before I start load work up this weekend Steve then please feel free to make any suggestions you would like? So far I've got 6 rifles in a row of mine in varying calibers shooting y'all's hammer hunter bullets easily under 1/4 MOA"; hoping this will be number 7! Will post my results with pictures when completed.

 

[Hard rock]

Will be doing load development this weekend with Hammer Bullets for another Proof Elevation MTR rifle; this one chambered in 6.5 PRC. I'm planning on using RL-26 to start with and/or N560, maybe some Magnum powder if all else fails. Looks like I will also try using Fed 210 Match Large Rifle primers for this load development instead of the 215M's given what I've been reading on some of the post on here. It's got a 7.5t 24" barrel so I will be working with the 124's and the 131's to see which gives me the best possible accuracy. If you have any recommendations before I start load work up this weekend Steve then please feel free to make any suggestions you would like? So far I've got 6 rifles in a row of mine in varying calibers shooting y'all's hammer hunter bullets easily under 1/4"; hoping this will be number 7! Will post my results with pictures when completed.

I'm not Steve , but you won't be disappointed with N560

 

[RockyMtnMT]

For us, both powders ran grain for grain. For the 124g Hammer Hunter start both at 57g. For the 131g Hammer Hunter start both at 55g. These will be nice mild start loads to work up from. We did see a bit more velocity from n560.

 

[PapaSmurff]

So I settled in on RL-26 60.0gr with the 124gr Hammer Hunters with a CBTO length of 2.317" or COAL of 2.924". Approximately .080" off the lands is where I found under 1/4" MOA accuracy with this rifle and bullet. Muzzle velocity out of the 24" Proof Elevation MTR rifle average is 3,230 FPS with very minimal sd or es. I didn't take any pictures of the actual groups but most of them were clover leafing and overlapping each other on my 300 yard target; approximately 1/2" group sizes on the 300 yard target. Largest group size was maybe 3/4" in size on that target; so on average it shoots in the .1's as are most all the others I've load developed the Hammer bullets for. That makes 7 rifles in a row, 2 custom builds and 5 factory rifles in a row shooting 1/4" or under consistently using Hammer Hunter bullets.

 

[PapaSmurff]

In sharing my results, today I also did another medium-long range expansion test with the above mentioned rifle shooting the 124gr Hammer Hunters. The target impact was at 300 yards for this time. I shot one without using water; just simply using the tightly stacked magazines for my backstop and one with a jug of water in front of the same magazine backstop. The one that shot through the jug of water did seem to open up and break off it's petals perfectly and the one without any water did pretty darn good as well but had just a touch of petal left on one corner that peeled back and didn't come all the way off. I just wanted to see what the difference would be using water vs not using water on a 300 yard impact/expansion test. The bullet on the left is the one without any water media, and the bullet on the right is passing through a gallon size jug of water and then into the magazine backstop.