Hammer Bullets: Worth the Hype?

[General RE LEE]

Thanks for the responses. I've got a ladder worked up on the low end of 123 grain SSTs for this 16.5" suppressed 6.5 Creedmoor.

123 grain SST going a tad faster than 6.5 Grendel velocities should be good medicine for Tennessee whitetails out to 300 yards.

 

[01Foreman400]

I know I don't have near the experience with Hammer bullets as a lot of folks do. I jumped on the Hammer train this year when they introduced the HHT's. I've been very impressed with the results of the 154 gr HHT in my .308 Win. I've killed 13 does and 3 coyotes so far and my son has killed 3 does. Out of the 16 deer only 5 have ran after the shot. All 5 ran less than 30 yards and the blood trails were really easy to follow. The longest shot was 263 yards. Most shots were around 125 yards.

 

[VTbluegrass]

I am currently off the train but the 30-06 I recently sold loved them. I did have to crimp the 124HH in the 30-06 but i think that has to do with that particular bullet having such a short bearing surface.

My load development consisted of 10 shots of a load ladder finding pressure. Backed off 0.5gr and loaded a batch of 10 to confirm. Grouped just under an inch which was fine for what this rifle was being used for but when I read about adding the crimp the groups cut in half.

 

[Flatbow]

Side note, I've seen it often times before where the TSX/TTSX lost one or all 4 of the petals as well. In the case when they lost all 4 you effectively had a wadcutter pushing thru which annoyed most users....

I kinda like the "wadcutter" that continues to penitrate after the pedals shed and do their damage. Especially on larger game or smaller caliber rifles or marginal hit.
In my 6.5 cm I switched from 143gn ELDx to Barnes 127gn LXr after having poor penitration on deer with the ELDx, love the Barnes compared to the ELDx. I have not tried the Hammers and wonder myself if they would be any better than the Barnes.

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Been thinking about trying some 80-90 grain .264 bullets in 6.5 Creedmoor for hunting whitetail in a 16.5" barrel suppressed Tikka.

Are Hammer bullets worth the hype? I see in threads people ask about crimping them?

Yes!

 

[Allen Kitts]

I agree with some on here the best thing to do is try some for yourself. You will have guys on here that love them and guys that absolutely hate them so take everything you read with a grain of salt. I shoot them in several rifles as do several of my friends and for us they have worked great so far. No issues and no lost animals. The only one that can tell you if they are worth your hard earned money is you! I have been to the factory several times to talk shop with the owners and they have been very helpful in some of my load development. My experience with their bullets has been good so I would recommend them to anyone to try out. You might like them , you might not but you won't know if you don't give it a try. Good Luck!

 

[Allen Kitts]

I know I don't have near the experience with Hammer bullets as a lot of folks do. I jumped on the Hammer train this year when they introduced the HHT's. I've been very impressed with the results of the 154 gr HHT in my .308 Win. I've killed 13 does and 3 coyotes so far and my son has killed 3 does. Out of the 16 deer only 5 have ran after the shot. All 5 ran less than 30 yards and the blood trails were really easy to follow. The longest shot was 263 yards. Most shots were around 125 yards.
View attachment 526597View attachment 526598View attachment 526599View attachment 526600View attachment 526601View attachment 526596View attachment 526602

Out of curiosity what does a guy do with 16 does?

 

[01Foreman400]

Out of curiosity what does a guy do with 16 does?

3 for my family
3 for my sister in law and her family
1 for my other sister in law
2 for a coworker and his family
1 for a coworker for himself
2 for another coworker and his family
2 for the lady that cuts my hair and her family
3 for one of our football families

You probably noticed that the deer total adds up to 17. I did manage to kill a buck with my muzzleloader.

We are part of a state program called DMAP. DMAP stands for Deer Management Assistance Program. A state biologist came out and assessed our property and its carry capacity. After a trail cam survey he then determines how many does need to be taken off of the property. This year it's 80 does. We still have a long ways to go but we'll do our best until January 14th when the season ends. I also enjoy taking new hunters and friends to help with the population control.

I'm happy to provide our family and friends with venison each year. They are very grateful to get the meat as they are not hunters.

Any other question please ask away.

 

[Allen Kitts]

3 for my family
3 for my sister in law and her family
1 for my other sister in law
2 for a coworker and his family
1 for a coworker for himself
2 for another coworker and his family
2 for the lady that cuts my hair and her family
3 for one of our football families

You probably noticed that the deer total adds up to 17. I did manage to kill a buck with my muzzleloader.
View attachment 526657

Congrats, nice buck. Please understand I was asking for informational purposes only. I an envious that you get to shoot that many!

 

[memtb]

Out of curiosity what does a guy do with 16 does?

To put into perspective…..a 1200 lb beef yields about 490 lbs of trimmed/deboned meat! A Southern Whitetail doe deer will yield approx 50 pounds of trimmed/deboned meat, assuming that you didn't lose at lot of meat to poor bullet placement and are a pretty good processor.

That 490 lbs beef equals about 10 Whitetail does. Feeding a family of four…..it's pretty darn easy to go through more than 1 beef per year!

If any does are "gifted"…….16 is pretty easy to utilize ! memtb

 

[01Foreman400]

Congrats, nice buck. Please understand I was asking for informational purposes only. I an envious that you get to shoot that many!

It is a lot of fun. I'm a gun nut so seeing how different bullets and cartridges perform is just icing on the cake for me. It does get tiring at times though.

 

[memtb]

Congrats, nice buck. Please understand I was asking for informational purposes only. I an envious that you get to shoot that many!

There are some zones in Alabama that you may harvest one deer per day in a season that's a couple of months long. Without getting into too many details…..that's an approximate! memtb

 

[1980nano]

I agree with some on here the best thing to do is try some for yourself. You will have guys on here that love them and guys that absolutely hate them so take everything you read with a grain of salt. I shoot them in several rifles as do several of my friends and for us they have worked great so far. No issues and no lost animals. The only one that can tell you if they are worth your hard earned money is you! I have been to the factory several times to talk shop with the owners and they have been very helpful in some of my load development. My experience with their bullets has been good so I would recommend them to anyone to try out. You might like them , you might not but you won't know if you don't give it a try. Good Luck!

I recently picked up some hammer hunters to try out. I noticed there wasn't a lot # on the package. Do they use lot #'s??

 

[Nevrsummr]

3 for my family
3 for my sister in law and her family
1 for my other sister in law
2 for a coworker and his family
1 for a coworker for himself
2 for another coworker and his family
2 for the lady that cuts my hair and her family
3 for one of our football families

You probably noticed that the deer total adds up to 17. I did manage to kill a buck with my muzzleloader.
View attachment 526657

We are part of a state program called DMAP. DMAP stands for Deer Management Assistance Program. A state biologist came out and assessed our property and its carry capacity. After a trail cam survey he then determines how many does need to be taken off of the property. This year it's 80 does. We still have a long ways to go but we'll do our best until January 14th when the season ends. I also enjoy taking new hunters and friends to help with the population control.

I'm happy to provide our family and friends with venison each year. They are very grateful to get the meat as they are not hunters.

Any other question please ask away.

Stud buck. Congrats! Also congrats on the ability to help manage the deer population. For people like you that get to harvest that quantity you have a great opportunity to learn through experiments what would take others years and years. I really hope you get the chance to do some experiments and share your findings on here with us. Things like bullet types. Shot placement. Hanging times. Anything you are curious about really.

Btw, what state?