Hammer bullets in 7mm

[njc89]

For those of you that have been using Hammers for a while -
Im new to mono bullets, and Hammers in particular. I'm looking at ballistics and thinking about shots out to about 500-600 yards on elk. I'm able to maintain the recommended 1800 FPS but the lighter bullets I would need to work in my rifle (131 or 143 due to slow twist) have me well under 1500 ft-lbs - say 1100-1300 ft-lbs give or take. In your experience, would the bullet still function well in this range? I'm guessing the shank will still have good penetration, but I would like the separated petals to do some good damage too. Any real world experience would be appreciated.

 

[cohunt]

Steve says they work down to at least 1800, I believe him and have seen no reason not to doubt his statement

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I'm shooting the 143HH bullet at 3,200 ft/sec from my 7WSM with a 25" Bartlein bbl. Looking at JBL ballistics; it looks like the bullet will still be above 1,800 ft/sec at 800yds. Energy at 600yds is 1,435 ft/lbs.

That should give you a fair margin of comfort.

 

[njc89]

Varmint, what twist barrel do you have. Mines 9.5. Berger's stability calculator says I should be right at 1.5 from my 7mm wsm at hunting altitude. Still, Hammer recommends 9.25 or faster. Think I'll try the 143 anyway, as 131 seems light for elk.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Varmint, what twist barrel do you have. Mines 9.5. Berger's stability calculator says I should be right at 1.5 from my 7mm wsm at hunting altitude. Still, Hammer recommends 9.25 or faster. Think I'll try the 143 anyway, as 131 seems light for elk.

My Bartlein is an 8.5" twist. RE23 got me to 3,200 ft/sec with no signs of excess pressure. May have been able to go higher but didn't see the need to try.

 

[PLHunter]

Some information from last years hunt. I hit a mule deer buck at 405 yards with a 121 HH .257. He was quartering away and I hit him in the last rib and the shank was just under the hide at the opposite neck shoulder joint. Impact velocity was around 2300 fps. One pedal severed the spinal cord. One went into the heart. The shank tore a 2 inch hole through the lungs. One exited entrance side and the other went through the liver if I remember correctly. The damage was extensive and the deer was dead before he hit the ground. A week later I hit a pronghorn at around 90 yards. Hit the buck very high. The damage was again extensive but even though I hit the spine I lost very little meat. The terminal performance is phenomenal. The great thing about losing a predetermined amount of mass is that it's very easy to determine the energy you dump into the animal, as opposed to the energy through the animal.