Hammer bullets

[TXAoudadKlr]

I drive the 181 at 3500fps FWIW and killed a water buffalo with it. You won't be hurting yourself with it

 

[loaders_loft]

On the water buffalo, Did the bullet mushroom or fragment into multiple shards?

 

[MkJose]

I did a load workup for a 30-06 with the 166 gr. Hammer Hunters. Pretty easy to find a load. Total bullets shot in load workup... 17. Shot some nice groups at 100 and 517 yards. No experience on game yet. I doubt you'll find a more consistent bullet in terms of manufacturing specs and others say they do great on game.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

On the water buffalo, Did the bullet mushroom or fragment into multiple shards?

The nose is designed to break off into petals/blades. It almost punched all the way through. Was in the muscle under the hide of the far side shoulder. Went 30 yards and died.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Regarding the hammer hunter 30 cal 181 vs 199 in 30 nosler with 9.4 twist for CA hunting near sea level, please give me input on which to choose. The chamber will be throated @ .2328" to match a 300 prc throat.

My gut says a 181 is selling this cartridge short of its potential, but the 199 hh states 9.25 twist, and yet the 199 sledge hammer is along the same BC as the 181 at a heavier weight.

Can I expect to drive these bullets faster than nosler bullets based on their grooves?

The 199g Sledge Hammer its a estimate on bc. Really not designed for pushing the range. Should be close But I have a feeling it may not be that high. When we have shot them long range The big meplat seems to slow them down faster the father out they get. @yorke-1 has shot a few of our Sledge Hammers pretty far and the bc lined up well.

As far as the 181g Hammer Hunter goes. I know it "feels" light, but it doesn't preform light. I prefer to use the min recommended twist as a min and run closer to 2.0sg when possible. It simply helps with terminal performance. All that said the 199g Hammer Hunter Should preform well for you. If it shows any stability issues key me know and we will swap you out.

 

[HARPERC]

.....I did a load workup for a 30-06 with the 166 gr. Hammer Hunters. Pretty easy to find a load. Total bullets shot in load workup... 17........I doubt you'll find a more consistent bullet in terms of manufacturing specs and others say they do great on game......

I loaded the 145 Sledge Hammers in a .270 for my son in law, 12 rounds to meat on the ground.
I have one of each in front of me 166HH 174HH 181HH and the 199 Sledge Hammer. I'm really hooked on the Sledge Hammers, the 199 is a mean looking SOB, but if you're concerned with BC I'd go with one of the others, as there isn't much they won't do. You'll likely make up in velocity the little you lose in BC.
I'd choose more based on platform, range and intended target.
The 174 gets overlooked a bit (possibly because no picture on site ), but I think dependent on your magazine length, it could be your best choice.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I fell into the no less that 200gr bullets for my 300 Lapua. I held off from running the 181 for quite some time. My cousin even joked about it being an over grown varmint gun running sub 200's with that amount of case capacity.

Fact is they punch above their weight. One being the non conventional design and two you can get them rolling faster than a similar weight bullet

 

[yorke-1]

The 199g Sledge Hammer its a estimate on bc. Really not designed for pushing the range. Should be close But I have a feeling it may not be that high. When we have shot them long range The big meplat seems to slow them down faster the father out they get. @yorke-1 has shot a few of our Sledge Hammers pretty far and the bc lined up well.

As far as the 181g Hammer Hunter goes. I know it "feels" light, but it doesn't preform light. I prefer to use the min recommended twist as a min and run closer to 2.0sg when possible. It simply helps with terminal performance. All that said the 199g Hammer Hunter Should preform well for you. If it shows any stability issues key me know and we will swap you out.

I've shot the 275gr Sledge Hammer out to 780 yards in a 375 Ruger with very good results. I used a BC or .405 with a muzzle velocity of 2690 and got very good results. I wouldn't hunt with this load at that range just because the impact velocity is so low, but making hits was easy. A high BC looks good on paper but I don't get too concerned with it for the majority of my actual hunting. LR target shooting is a little different though.

 

[Elkeater]

My .300 WM is running the 181s at 3070 and sub .5 MOA. Maybe a 30 nosler might push them 3100-3150.

I'll hopefully be testing them out on a bear in a couple weeks. They are flying like a lazer out to 500 so far. Need to shoot some out to 800 this week.

 

[Champ25]

What works best for you guys on a Seating depth. Lands or a jump

 

[yorke-1]

What works best for you guys on a Seating depth. Lands or a jump

It doesn't seem to make a difference. If you're mag feeding them just go with whatever works through your gun.

 

[Elkeater]

What works best for you guys on a Seating depth. Lands or a jump

I started at mag length in my x bolt so 3.550 COAL, adjusted my powder charge at that length got down to about .6 MOA. Then I adjusted down in .015" increments ended up at 3.505 shooting .4 and quit there.

 

[Champ25]

I started at mag length in my x bolt so 3.550 COAL, adjusted my powder charge at that length got down to about .6 MOA. Then I adjusted down in .015" increments ended up at 3.505 shooting .4 and quit there.

Sounds good. I'll be shooting these in a x-bolt as well.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I jump mine .010 off, just to get max capacity, I wish I had my throat cut .100 longer. Seating it out to 3.8" would get the base to sit right at the bottom of the shoulder vs in the case body. But I'm not worried about it currently.

I'll have it in mind when I move to a faster twist to run the 199 and some of the other big bullets coming out