Hammer bullets barrel life

[WildRose]

With any long range hunting setup you should be training with it. Not only for training but also for truing and verifying your ballistics. Everyone has to choose what works for them and how they shoot and at what distances. If you're only shooting short range you can minimize rounds. For long range however I shoot my dedicated hunting rigs every couple weeks. Generally minimum in the off season I'll shoot at least 500 rounds per hunting rifle. This ensures that everything is working perfect and I know my equipment. When the time comes to squeeze the trigger on a animal I'm 100 precent confident in the shot.

That's a great way to end up replacing barrels every 2-5 years with about any high pressure round. Not many folks can afford to be rebarrelling constantly.

 

[Petey308]

Since I continue to get notifications on this thread and have kept up with it, I will say I've been accused and called out by some of you appearing to get offended by things I've said or claimed, and without any real reason in my opinion. A lot seems to go unchecked around here and sometimes things get a bit hypocritical. Overall, I don't see the harm in questioning something that does indeed seem at least out of the ordinary to most. I've yet to see anyone straight up call anyone a liar in this thread.

Either way, I didn't mean to stir up drama. My apologies. I think at this point it's probably best to drop the matter until at least Mr. Ford responds on his own terms and in his own time.

I'd hate to see anyone get upset, banned, or the thread get deleted or shut down. Let's all adhere to the site rules and all should be well.

 

[FEENIX]

I'd hate to see anyone get upset, banned, or the thread get deleted or shut down. Let's all adhere to the site rules and all should be well.

Agreed!

 

[orkan]

What animals did you kill that many of?

Prairie dogs

 

[baldhunter]

Smaller the bore,the slower the powder on the burnrate scale and the more powder you pack in the case,the shorter the barrel life,

 

[orkan]

the slower the powder on the burnrate scale, the shorter the barrel life

I've had the opposite experience. The slower the powder, the better the barrel life.


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[baldhunter]

Here is a heat chart.I see quicker erosion on my magnum cartridges in .284 and .308 cal burning 65-80grs of powder.

 

[NorthRiverGuide]

That's a great way to end up replacing barrels every 2-5 years with about any high pressure round. Not many folks can afford to be rebarrelling constantly.

I'm not worried about the money I'm actually getting ready to re barrel a rifle in the next couple months. Given the feedback on my first post here I figured to go with hammer bullets and try them. Been reading up on here from links from the owner Steve and information from others. Given the responses here by a couple of guys I'm seriously starting to consider going with another company though. I've been all over the terminal ballistics thread and there's a decent amount there. Through my reading I came across fordy and I see he claims massive amounts of kills and boasts hammers are the best. I'm not see any of that in the pictures or anything. Apparently questioning his big claims gets you harassed and called a troll. If that's the kind of people associated with hammer I might be better off going with a different company. I do appreciate your time and help here and actually trying to answer my questions.

 

[NorthRiverGuide]

Prairie dogs

That's a lot of blown up critter's. Where are you seeing that many of them?

 

[Petey308]

I've also experienced lower barrel life with double base powders compared to single base, but I've yet to really nail it down to a quantifiable amount. There are always going to be trade offs and if what you're gaining in the trade is worth it, it's worth it.

I agree barrels are expendable, but they're pretty much the highest upfront cost expendable, so it's not fun when the time comes. Prolonging that is definitely desirable if can be done without sacrificing the performance you're after.

If you're truly not a fan of changing barrels often, using the most efficient cartridge and bullet combo is the best approach. I'd think the 308win is a classic example. You can get upwards of 8000 rounds through a 308win barrel before it's shot out. For the example the OP gave, saying he shoots 500 rounds a year, well that's up to 16 years with a 308win barrel. A large magnum with a small bore is much less efficient and will burn out a barrel much faster.

Pressure, heat, and friction are the biggest factors in barrel wear. Increasing any or all of those things will increase the rate of wear and decrease the barrel life, decreasing any or all of those things will decrease the wear and increase the barrel life.

So it's fair to say increasing friction with certain bullets would play a part. Burn rates of powder, double base vs single base, amount of powder, etc would also play a part. Bore size and surface area would play a part as well. Time that the bullet is in the barrel plays a part too as it will determine how long the heat and pressure is affecting the barrel in regards to wear.

The question remains, how much does it all matter? Obviously the more dramatic any of this factors are, the worse it'll be. The .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer would be a good example of taking it all to the extreme lol.

 

[NorthRiverGuide]

Since I continue to get notifications on this thread and have kept up with it, I will say I've been accused and called out by some of you appearing to get offended by things I've said or claimed, and without any real reason in my opinion. A lot seems to go unchecked around here and sometimes things get a bit hypocritical. Overall, I don't see the harm in questioning something that does indeed seem at least out of the ordinary to most. I've yet to see anyone straight up call anyone a liar in this thread.

Either way, I didn't mean to stir up drama. My apologies. I think at this point it's probably best to drop the matter until at least Mr. Ford responds on his own terms and in his own time.

I'd hate to see anyone get upset, banned, or the thread get deleted or shut down. Let's all adhere to the site rules and all should be well.

It's amazing to me that people would get so upset and start calling people trolls etc for asking questions. Questions should be allowed to be asked without being censored. I'm looking at re barreling a rifle and after my first post figured I would go with hammer. They speak so highly of them. Then I dare to question one of the biggest advocates of hammer about his extreme claims and now I'm target number one. If he's legitimate and proves it I'll gladly man up and say that I was wrong and apologize. By the reaction you would think I shot his dog. Gotta say though you have been very professional and I appreciate that.

 

[Petey308]

It's amazing to me that people would get so upset and start calling people trolls etc for asking questions. Questions should be allowed to be asked without being censored. I'm looking at re barreling a rifle and after my first post figured I would go with hammer. They speak so highly of them. Then I dare to question one of the biggest advocates of hammer about his extreme claims and now I'm target number one. If he's legitimate and proves it I'll gladly man up and say that I was wrong and apologize. By the reaction you would think I shot his dog. Gotta say though you have been very professional and I appreciate that.

Passions tend to run high at times. I think it's fair to question things. Jumping to conclusions can get messy, on either side of things.

It's a lot of subjectiveness and matter of perspective. You questioned him, and now you get questioned. People need to just keep calm and civil about it, and allow the questions to be answered. That said, I don't agree with snide remarks laced in with the questions, as it only makes the situation worse.

I've definitely had my own experiences discussing Hammer bullets on this forum and for whatever reason it gets messy quick a lot of times, even if you're just trying to have a civil discussion about certain things. It's a touchy subject, for sure. Since you're new here, I will warn you about that lol. I learned the hard way. I continue to try to to better about it though. I have nothing against mono bullets or Hammers in particular. I have my own personal preferences based on my experience and I just try to share that here from time to time. Sometimes that gets seen as bias, apparently

Either way, I feel like I rambling. Good luck on your quest regarding your original question in this thread, and good luck on your hunts this year, whatever bullets you use!

 

[bamban]

I've also experienced lower barrel life with double base powders compared to single base, but I've yet to really nail it down to a quantifiable amount. There are always going to be trade offs and if what you're gaining in the trade is worth it, it's worth it.

I agree barrels are expendable, but they're pretty much the highest upfront cost expendable, so it's not fun when the time comes. Prolonging that is definitely desirable if can be done without sacrificing the performance you're after.

If you're truly not a fan of changing barrels often, using the most efficient cartridge and bullet combo is the best approach. I'd think the 308win is a classic example. You can get upwards of 8000 rounds through a 308win barrel before it's shot out. For the example the OP gave, saying he shoots 500 rounds a year, well that's up to 16 years with a 308win barrel. A large magnum with a small bore is much less efficient and will burn out a barrel much faster.

Pressure, heat, and friction are the biggest factors in barrel wear. Increasing any or all of those things will increase the rate of wear and decrease the barrel life, decreasing any or all of those things will decrease the wear and increase the barrel life.

So it's fair to say increasing friction with certain bullets would play a part. Burn rates of powder, double base vs single base, amount of powder, etc would also play a part. Bore size and surface area would play a part as well. Time that the bullet is in the barrel plays a part too as it will determine how long the heat and pressure is affecting the barrel in regards to wear.

The question remains, how much does it all matter? Obviously the more dramatic any of this factors are, the worse it'll be. The .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer would be a good example of taking it all to the extreme lol.

Agree on heat.

When I shot 14s in competition the 308 barrels loose their competitive edge (diminished X count at 6, shots off call) after 32 pounds of powder.

The 20 shot rapid fire strings (10 shots in 60,and 70 seconds) heat up the barrel badly way beyond touch hot.

 

[NorthRiverGuide]

I've also experienced lower barrel life with double base powders compared to single base, but I've yet to really nail it down to a quantifiable amount. There are always going to be trade offs and if what you're gaining in the trade is worth it, it's worth it.

I agree barrels are expendable, but they're pretty much the highest upfront cost expendable, so it's not fun when the time comes. Prolonging that is definitely desirable if can be done without sacrificing the performance you're after.

If you're truly not a fan of changing barrels often, using the most efficient cartridge and bullet combo is the best approach. I'd think the 308win is a classic example. You can get upwards of 8000 rounds through a 308win barrel before it's shot out. For the example the OP gave, saying he shoots 500 rounds a year, well that's up to 16 years with a 308win barrel. A large magnum with a small bore is much less efficient and will burn out a barrel much faster.

Pressure, heat, and friction are the biggest factors in barrel wear. Increasing any or all of those things will increase the rate of wear and decrease the barrel life, decreasing any or all of those things will decrease the wear and increase the barrel life.

So it's fair to say increasing friction with certain bullets would play a part. Burn rates of powder, double base vs single base, amount of powder, etc would also play a part. Bore size and surface area would play a part as well. Time that the bullet is in the barrel plays a part too as it will determine how long the heat and pressure is affecting the barrel in regards to wear.

The question remains, how much does it all matter? Obviously the more dramatic any of this factors are, the worse it'll be. The .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer would be a good example of taking it all to the extreme lol.

I've also experienced lower barrel life with double base powders compared to single base, but I've yet to really nail it down to a quantifiable amount. There are always going to be trade offs and if what you're gaining in the trade is worth it, it's worth it.

I agree barrels are expendable, but they're pretty much the highest upfront cost expendable, so it's not fun when the time comes. Prolonging that is definitely desirable if can be done without sacrificing the performance you're after.

If you're truly not a fan of changing barrels often, using the most efficient cartridge and bullet combo is the best approach. I'd think the 308win is a classic example. You can get upwards of 8000 rounds through a 308win barrel before it's shot out. For the example the OP gave, saying he shoots 500 rounds a year, well that's up to 16 years with a 308win barrel. A large magnum with a small bore is much less efficient and will burn out a barrel much faster.

Pressure, heat, and friction are the biggest factors in barrel wear. Increasing any or all of those things will increase the rate of wear and decrease the barrel life, decreasing any or all of those things will decrease the wear and increase the barrel life.

So it's fair to say increasing friction with certain bullets would play a part. Burn rates of powder, double base vs single base, amount of powder, etc would also play a part. Bore size and surface area would play a part as well. Time that the bullet is in the barrel plays a part too as it will determine how long the heat and pressure is affecting the barrel in regards to wear.

The question remains, how much does it all matter? Obviously the more dramatic any of this factors are, the worse it'll be. The .22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer would be a good example of taking it all to the extreme lol.

So I might be different just with my setup financially and my mentality. I plan on swapping barrels especially with certain cartridges etc. When planning I like to know what type of life I can expect so I can plan and know what to expect. Most guys aren't running 300's pushing 124 gr hammers at over 4000 fps so there's limited data on the results. It's very possible that the people here doing that haven't shot enough to actually reach that point. I do realize that I shoot more than normal. Though recently I've like most people have had to cut back based on trying to get supplies.