Hammer Bullets: Worth the Hype?

[cabelasken]

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.

Yep - I do an autopsy on every animal I take and try to file away additional information on every animal our party takes. I've found some so called premium bullets do not perform as I desired and they are reserved for practice only. The few that I now use strictly for hunting are all copper or copper alloy. Being formed from a single homogeneous material, they typically are very accurate in my rifles and the meat loss is minimized.

 

[01Foreman400]

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

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

Population control in the southeast is necessary in a lot of areas to maintain a healthy herd.

I also forgot to add my youngest sons first buck which we gave to the property owner of that property for letting us hunt it. He used a 223 with a Barnes 62 gr. TTSX.

 

[01Foreman400]

Yep - I do an autopsy on every animal I take and try to file away additional information on every animal our party takes. I've found some so called premium bullets do not perform as I desired and they are reserved for practice only. The few that I now use strictly for hunting are all copper or copper alloy. Being formed from a single homogeneous material, they typically are very accurate in my rifles and the meat loss is minimized.

I have shot Barnes exclusively for 19 years until this year when I tried the Hammer's. I've personally killed over 150 animals with them during that time and have watched probably close to 50 more while others were behind the gun. Even in my handguns all want to shoot is copper bullets. I have recovered 1 Barnes bullet in all those years and it was a muzzleloader bullet that performed perfectly. I'm a firm believer in copper bullets. I also ordered 100 of the 250 gr. .458 bullets for my 45-70 to try next season.

 

[01Foreman400]

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?

Thanks and we hunt in Georgia. I just recently had a discussion with a buddy of mine after his daughter killed her first deer. That was a fun hunt and I'm was honored to be a part of it. She used the rifle I setup for my kids. It's a 223 and I load the Barnes 62 gr. TTSX for it. I've killed several with it and I've seen close to 20 other deer killed with it. She made a perfect heart shot right at 100 yards away. That deer ran farther than any other deer that's been killed with it. Behind the shoulder and they go less than 50 yards. Most go less than 30. This one ran a little over 100 yards. I've seen deer drop with the behind the shoulder double lung and drop with a liver shot before. Every once in a while you get one that's got you thinking you made a bad shot though. Sometimes it is but sometimes they just run a lot further than they are supposed to. Some just don't follow the script. My favorite shot of within 200 yards is the high shoulder shot. Most of the time they are DRT. A pass through confirms it even more (which is where the copper bullets shine).

 

[Allen Kitts]

Thanks and we hunt in Georgia. I just recently had a discussion with a buddy of mine after his daughter killed her first deer. That was a fun hunt and I'm was honored to be a part of it. She used the rifle I setup for my kids. It's a 223 and I load the Barnes 62 gr. TTSX for it. I've killed several with it and I've seen close to 20 other deer killed with it. She made a perfect heart shot right at 100 yards away. That deer ran farther than any other deer that's been killed with it. Behind the shoulder and they go less than 50 yards. Most go less than 30. This one ran a little over 100 yards. I've seen deer drop with the behind the shoulder double lung and drop with a liver shot before. Every once in a while you get one that's got you thinking you made a bad shot though. Sometimes it is but sometimes they just run a lot further than they are supposed to. Some just don't follow the script. My favorite shot of within 200 yards is the high shoulder shot. Most of the time they are DRT. A pass through confirms it even more (which is where the copper bullets shine).View attachment 526701

Love seeing the young ones out their continuing our hunting heritage. Look at that smile!

 

[Allen Kitts]

Population control in the southeast is necessary in a lot of areas to maintain a healthy herd.

I also forgot to add my youngest sons first buck which we gave to the property owner of that property for letting us hunt it. He used a 223 with a Barnes 62 gr. TTSX.

View attachment 526686

Taking after the old man, huh? Love it!

 

[Rosebud]

I have shot Barnes exclusively for 19 years until this year when I tried the Hammer's. I've personally killed over 150 animals with them during that time and have watched probably close to 50 more while others were behind the gun. Even in my handguns all want to shoot is copper bullets. I have recovered 1 Barnes bullet in all those years and it was a muzzleloader bullet that performed perfectly. I'm a firm believer in copper bullets. I also ordered 100 of the 250 gr. .458 bullets for my 45-70 to try next season.


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So, about $5,000.00 or more in Barnes bullets. You should be set up for the Armageddon event. Nice. I'm jealous.

 

[Seabeeken]

Now I know why I couldn't get Barnes bullets a few years ago and switched to Hammers.
Took pickup loads of deer with Barnes over 2.5 decades and no regrets until they disappeared. Not going back now.

 

[ajkellerusmc]

I have shot Barnes exclusively for 19 years until this year when I tried the Hammer's. I've personally killed over 150 animals with them during that time and have watched probably close to 50 more while others were behind the gun. Even in my handguns all want to shoot is copper bullets. I have recovered 1 Barnes bullet in all those years and it was a muzzleloader bullet that performed perfectly. I'm a firm believer in copper bullets. I also ordered 100 of the 250 gr. .458 bullets for my 45-70 to try next season.


View attachment 526693View attachment 526694View attachment 526698View attachment 526699

So You are the guy hoarding all the bullets! Pic #3 LOL

 

[ajkellerusmc]

Once You try hammers you will feel empowered!

 

[01Foreman400]

Two more down this afternoon. I was by myself so no great pictures. By the time I field dressed them, cut the jaw bones out and weighted them it was getting late. All that information is required for DMAP. One dropped and the other ran about 35 yards. I will say I have noticed better and more consistent blood trails with the Hammer's vs Barnes. If I kill some in the morning I'll try and get some pictures of the inside of the animal.

 

[mnoland30]

I shoot javelina with a 7mm TCU in a 21" TC Contender. I'm wondering if the 113 gr. Shock Hammers would work well at a terminal velocity of 2000 fps. Speer quit making their 115 gr. varmit bullet with a huge h.p., and Sieera 100 gr. Varminters are not available. You have to love Hammer bullets for the fact that they are available.

I hunt mostly by myself, so I got a super light mini tripod and a bluetooth remote for my iphone. Works great.

 

[QuietTexan]

I'm wondering if the 113 gr. Shock Hammers would work well at a terminal velocity of 2000 fps.

They should, but there's the 101 and 90gn also to pick up more speed. I've been meaning to try the 85gn HH in my XP-100 6.5 TCU, they work so well in the 6.5 CM I have high hopes in the smaller case.

 

[cabelasken]

So, about $5,000.00 or more in Barnes bullets. You should be set up for the Armageddon event. Nice. I'm jealous.

I might have more !!!