Hammer Bullets

[David Emerson]

If folks are tired of hearing about Hammers don't open the thread. It would be the mature thing.

I hear you. There are trolls here just waiting to jump. I have hit the ignore button many times

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I'll grant things look different in print, but so far it does look like badmouthing Hammer. Claiming "no it's about the people using them" is a poor cover.

If you follow their posts, providing ACCURATE BC's is important to them. New equipment has been ordered to improve the process.

You're correct, in the decades I've been doing this, complaints about the BC's of most any brand of bullets has been challenged. I've outgrown assuming it's a marketing scheme, and is genuinely a hard nut to crack, especially when 2 identical rifles side by side can give you different numbers.

X47guy you've been led to a thread with actual field experiences, and continue to moan about lack of supporting evidence. What exactly is your agenda?

Hammer was developed over time on this site. Very transparent every step of the way. Changes made when necessary, bullets replaced if they didn't perform, even bullets made to individual request. Collectively the 2 of you have less than a year as members here. Consider you may have missed a step or 2 in the process.

Meh - its no different than being annoyed of 6.5 creedmoor supporters or berger supporters. Usually there isn't animosity for the product at first, but I suppose over time that can develop if the individual overly sensitive too it. I am not quite there yet - I was honest about researching them and thinking about giving them a whirl.

 

[snox801]

I have shot over 20 whitetail, prob 30-40 hogs, several fox, an audad, a Corsican ram, and several sika deer with mine. Not gonna count fox and other unlucky trespassers.
I will say I made a long journey to them. If you follow me at all I always try new cutting edge stuff.
So from lead core I went to Barnes and thought ok good in some things not everything. Then I thought what if a bullet did what a cup and core did and a Barnes. Like great expansion and shed some weight, plus keep the shank and drive through like Barnes. So I moved to cutting edge Bullets. Was very happy. Then I tried hammers after talking with Steve about the very tiny short comings of cutting edge and his actually seemed to improve on cutting edge.
So I tried them and they have been perfect. So much so all my rifle forwards will be fed them and slowing moving older rifles to them now.

 

[snox801]

Not sure about others but I could care less if they sponsor the site or not. I've been a professional athlete in the past and realized if a company doesn't do anything for me I have no reason to help spread the word.
If it's a great product I'll use it and give honest opinion on it.

 

[snox801]

They are not a long range hunting bullet - so on this site, yeah it seems to me like they are oversold...just my opinion based on my research. Also, the fact that the guys that use them will recommend them on a thread that is asking for experience on the ABLR vs the Berger etc, further supports my point.

I think caliber matters. Because 1500 yards is considered long range and a .375 Am has no issue past 1500 with a 411 hammer.
Or say my .300 win mag with the 181 hammers I have no issue taking game at 1000.
I think part of the problem is just because you can hit something with a bullet at longer distance doesn't mean it has enough to do anything when it get there. Like my 6.5 creed. Great on steel at 1000 with a 147 but wouldn't dream of shooting anything alive that far. So at hunting distance the hammers are great and this is long range hunting.
Bottom line if you do t like them do t try them. This is America and the free market works. They keep providing great Bullets for me I'll keep buying.
But everything is worth a try once.

 

[X47guy]

Well there seems to be a lot of fan boys for the hammers and a few against them. I am neither for or against the bullet as I haven't used them. That is probably the reason I started this thread. My other thread about 6.5 hammers had 5 replies. For the people who say go search, I'm lazy and not going to do that. I want to start my own thread to get my own answers.

@HARPERC I have made three post in this thread. Neither of those have been moaning about hammer bullets. My agenda is to find real life experiences with these bullets. It seems as if several people who have never used hammers still continue to post on this thread spewing their opinion on something they have never used.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I've used Hammers in exactly 1 rifle. It's a 6.5 WSM 7 twist. I called Steve and picked his brain looking for advice. He recommended the 124 HH and thought I'd see 3200+. It was funny when the bullets arrived and went 3250+ , shooting sub .2 groups. My son used it to take a buck at about 175 yards, perfect bullet performance.

I'm a diehard Berger guy , but the rifle used in the above paragraph was a little different than normal, short barrel. I'll continue using Berger, but when potential speed is an issue I'll absolutely use Hammers again.

 

[snox801]

x47 I agree with starting your own post I do the same. I think it's wise to get real users feel for them also. Lots of people that have no experience with something usually saying something bad about them.
Like buying a new truck everyone has a friend that had a terrible time with x brand. Hell just look at the Ford ecoboost. I've heard so many bad things from people who never owned one. Its been by far the best truck I've ever owned and I've had a few. Been absolutely flawless and tons of hard miles. So I think your doing this the right way. Take in advice then decide if they fit what you want them to do.

 

[Ingwe]

I have used HH on hogs almost exclusively so I can not speak to other game other than one doe. 150lb @200yd. Thru-n-thru heart and lungs a mess. Shattered a rib on the way out. No recovery of bullet.

I have taken roughly 30 hogs with 155 HH 7RM. Distances from a few feet to roughly 500yd. Sizes were between 40lb sholts to a near 400lb boar. The later was the one at just a few feet coming off a deer feeder I was coming to fill. Neither of us saw the other until we were almost nose to nose. Yes there was uncomfortable pucker factor on my end.

The bullets performed well. Its one of the few bullets I have no issue taken double shoulder shots on big hogs. Normally we go for neck shots. While my numbers are limited, the shots that lined up properly to hit both shoulders shatter both shedding all pedals and left the base just under the hide. Overall these bullets seem to track well internally. IIRC I had 3 or 4 that hit that way. One I shot head on slight angle went thru edge of front shoulder and was actually lodged in the opposite rear hip bone. It broke it but was not shattered. That one was fairly large roughly 330lb The internals were a mess. Hogs are the nastiest smelling game when the guts are ripped open.

Then again according to some I'm not sure any of these meets some arbitary definition of LR so maybe these experiences are irrelavent and of no value? Of course we would loose over half of the game taken posts and pics on this entire forum if people want to start drawing arbirtuary lines in the sand.

If people have had a first hand failure of poor performance with these bullets speak up. I think most, and I know I personally, want to know. I want to know the limits or weaknesses in anything I use. I am confident Steve of all people would be the most interested as its his product and from his proven history is willing and active in improving his product.

Has there been any obviously wild exagerations or clearly false claims made in this thread by those posting first hand experience taking game with Hammer bullets? I dont see it.

In fact the only unsupported claims made are by those complaining about these wildly positive exagerated claims!?! The only not first hand comments are the negative ones. Thats kind of amusing ....lol

Another bit of irony , after the comment insinuating people talking up hammer bullets that have never used them, the most active poster in this thread, certainly in the first few pages, offering up info, has never owned any hammer bullets let alone shot or taken game with them by his own admission. Gotta love internet forums lol

Here's an original idea, if you have an issue with someones opinion or review being false or overly exaggerated address it/them directly in THAT thread. But it might help if you had your own first hand experience and clear proof to support it. Obviously do it respectfully.

Seriously now, if you have never used them on game then how would itb be possible to convey any first hand experience/knowledge as you have none?

I can not see what productive contributions are being made by those. Rather its a periphrastic way to vent frustration at some unnamed member's opinions made in some other threads or maybe its all those who have overwhelmingly positive experiences??

I sincerly don't know but its derailed this thread whatever the reason. Maybe that was the gioal?

Its an internet discussion forum there is always going to be unsupported claim , parroting etc. There would have to be very strict heavy moderation to change that. I have been on a few forums like this but they were private invitation only. Joy to be on but a ton if extra work to maintain.

Hey Tim, it was nice hearing about your success with the 155HH in 7MM RM, because Steve has my rifle and is doing a load development with the 155HH as we speak!

What velocity did you end up with??

 

[Elkeater]

I've shot 4 animals in the last two weeks in Texas with .300 win mag running 199 hammer hunters at 3128fps. First up was a Aoudad. 225 yards, bullet went in and came out shedding its petals in the animal. Both shoulders broken. One shot bang flop. Second was a Javalina. 200 yards. Low behind shoulder in and out through the rib cage. One shot .30 cal hole in 3" hole out. Bang flop. Third was a red sheep ewe. 75 yards. Bullet went in just in front of the right hind quarter and exited just in front of the left front shoulder. Massive internal damage. Sheep went 10-15' before piling up. Fourth was a Oryx. 150yards. Bullet went through both shoulders. Lungs completely destroyed. Flipped over and died.

So basically I got a decent sample from the last two weeks. I have also had good luck shooting steel out to 700 yards as well.

 

[Stgraves260]

Hammer Bullets are praised on this particular forum. Very seldom being mentioned in other forums.

It seems as if they get suggested by people who have never used them.

How many people hear have physically used hammer bullets to take multiple animals? I don't want to hear about your one animal. I want multiple animal experiences and pictures will be better. My GF took this doe with my 260 Rem 140 Grain Berger VLDs at 62 yards. I hear all the time how Berger bullets don't expand at close range. So I guess they are right. No expansion here. They just exploded. LoL. I never used Hammer bullets. But I do have friends that did use them. LoL!! They all shoot Berger's now.

 

[muleystalker]

Some on this thread are alluding to people pushing the bullets and others being supporters but ask yourself How many negative experiences with using the Hammer bullets on game has anyone seen posted on this forum or others? I don't recall seeing any. And usually if there is a bad experience with a bullet failing on game,even if its only one experience it will usually be posted and posted in on many web sites. I have not taken game with the hammers but have been there when game was taken with them. I did just work up a load with the 177gr 7mm hammer in my 28 Nosler since I live in Ca. and they have decided to ban lead for hunting. It was very easy and they shoot great. I have taken the out to 1300 yards and the shoot great. On that note I am also working up some loads with the 80gr Badlands Bulldozers for a 6x204 that are shooting phenomenal and am going to start load workup on my 6 SST with the 100gr Badlands Bulldozers with have a G1 BC of .575 which is the highest BC for any 6mm mono by a quite a bit. The Badlands are some very nice bullets, a younger company than Hammer I believe but very good people and very helpful on the phone.
In the end I think the reason Hammer bullets get brought up a lot is because they work well and Steve the owner is very helpful and transparent when talking on the phone with him. I have personally talked to him about 5 times before I decided to try his bullets and when I say talked on the phone with him I mean like 20-30 min each time and he wasn't afraid to answer my questions even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

 

[19 Badger]

I have not taken any game yet with Hammers. I have only been using them for the last few months. I can say they are the easiest bullet that I have ever used to develop a load for(2 different guns). They have been the most accurate bullet out to 800 yards that I have used. They were spot on when I asked about a powder preference and starting load and approximate velocity.

 

[GLTaylor]

To all that are arguing: Rather than gripe and demean folks, get some, try them, and make up your own mind.
As always, the proof is in the pudding and YOUR results are the only one that really matters.
Let's move on......