WOW, that's a lot. In my nearly five decades of reloading, I have never loaded that many, regardless of the bullet. I load enough, maybe 20, for my intended purpose (hunting for that season) once I am satisfied with the load.
Hammer Hunters?
- Thread starter mightyman
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That's amazing the critters (fox, yotes, coons, possums, rats, bears) didn't get to those deer through the winter to the point you get a good view of the shot placement on each. Even in a busy place like the GW Nat. forest during deer season a gut pile wouldn't last the night from all the scavengers back when I used to stomp around the VA woods. Lucky to find them intact after a whole winter.
Just my experience: I've been loading Hammers in 11 different rifles from 220 Swift to 300 Wby and have killed dozens and dozens and dozens of deer and hogs (more than I could possibly count) with them over the last 7-8 years and have only had 2 deer not drop where they stood and they were both shot behind the shoulder (instead of square in the shoulder) and both went less than 25 yards and both with a good blood trail! Certainly Not denying your results but it's just hard for me to imagine an animal hit properly going very far and no blood trail with any Hammer Bullet! I've been reloading over 50 years and Hammers are by far the best I've ever used! My hunters that have began using them(and there are many) have said the same thing!
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I killed a bull in 2021 with 143 HH in a 280AI that I had to rake diagonally as he was walking away. 32" of penetration, not a drop of blood, but he didn't make it 80 yds and piled up. I doubt anything expanding, even Acubonds, would have done as well from that angle. I would have never taken the shot with anything like an EXD-x.
I killed a whitetail buck this year with the 143 HH. Normally I would have used ABLRs or ELDxs, but I wanted to see what the HHs would do. High shoulder broadside double lung at 180 yds with MASSIVE blood trail, but ran nearly 150 yds. Easy tracking though. The bullet hit a rib on the entrance which contributed to the relatively large exit wound. I think this was anomaly, I was fully expecting no traceable blood.
My daughter primarily hunts with a 6.5 Grendel using 123 ELD-M (only thing we could find at the time). The last 4 whitetail she shot were all high lung broadside. 2 dropped in their tracks, 2 ran less than 50 yds. Only one had an exit wound but no trackable blood on any of them.
She shot a Gemsbuck in Africa last summer with a 270 at 200 yds using Federal fusion 150 bonded soft points. Absolutely destroyed the shoulder, but only a few small fragments made it into the lungs. We had to back out and shoot it again the next day. Almost no blood, we tracked the drag marks from it's broken leg. She also shot a Kudu with the same gun at 400 yds in the low shoulder that passed through and gave a good blood trail.
My opinion based on what I've experienced, what matters most is what you hit internally with bullet and bone fragments. There's not any one bullet type that's going to perform "perfectly" in all situations.
I personally prefer mono-metals in big game like elk due to the superior penetration, knowing that blood trails are probably not going to happen. I practice making the best 1st shot I can on the shoulder or raking through the vitals, then following it up with whatever else I can hit until it's down. I'd rather lose a little more meat than the entire animal. This was reinforced for me in Africa last year. I was using a 30-06 with 150g Vipers, (almost identical to the Hammers). I killed a Zebra, Blesbok, ostrich, and Springbok with it. All bled very little, except the Springbuck, but none of them needed to be tracked. The springbok had a big hole that bled because they are small and I shot it at 40 yds.
I prefer controlled expansion bullets for whitetail sized game. I also shot an Impala in Africa at 300 with the 270 mentioned above. Broadside on the shoulder, dropped in its tracks.
My $.02.
Just read this forum and in the last week there have been many reports about these pills. Even the guys that promoted them say they have problems. I'll trust them. I saw a video of the owner and I will not use or support them anymore. The op in post #21 has made his decision while the rest will continue to plead the case that they are great. Keep watching
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I think your statement needs more clarification.
Just because you saw a video of the owner, you're not using these bullets anymore?
Carey Farmer
Well-Known Member
My kids shot 3 deer this year with .284 154 gr hammer bullets. Range 300 - 400 yards, muzzle velocity 3300 fps. Two animals, shot a few inches forward of the crease, didn't take a step.
The third animal, shot a few minutes before dark, right in the crease, ran into heavy brush. Good spray of blood right where the deer was standing when shot, but then the blood trail was just a drop every few yards, for about 40 yards. Took about 20 minutes to track that first 40 yards in the dark. At that point my daughter found a big chunk of lung hanging on a briar branch, followed by a heavy blood trail for the next 20 yards. Exit wound was about 1.5 inch diameter.
Almost seemed like that piece of lung had plugged up the exit wound.
Didn't seem like the bullet was at fault though. Everything inside the chest cavity was torn up pretty well. I've had other premium bullets, including Partitions and Accubonds, also fail to result in heavy blood trails despite a good double-lung shot, right in the crease, with bullet exit. I never really understood why sometimes I got good blood trails and sometimes I didn't. Now I just shoot a little further forward and usually get DRT.
The third animal, shot a few minutes before dark, right in the crease, ran into heavy brush. Good spray of blood right where the deer was standing when shot, but then the blood trail was just a drop every few yards, for about 40 yards. Took about 20 minutes to track that first 40 yards in the dark. At that point my daughter found a big chunk of lung hanging on a briar branch, followed by a heavy blood trail for the next 20 yards. Exit wound was about 1.5 inch diameter.
Almost seemed like that piece of lung had plugged up the exit wound.
Didn't seem like the bullet was at fault though. Everything inside the chest cavity was torn up pretty well. I've had other premium bullets, including Partitions and Accubonds, also fail to result in heavy blood trails despite a good double-lung shot, right in the crease, with bullet exit. I never really understood why sometimes I got good blood trails and sometimes I didn't. Now I just shoot a little further forward and usually get DRT.
Was he that ugly? Lol kidding
Correct. I'm not going to trash this thread
The Op has made his decision
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In my 7RSAUM (8-1/2" twist, 22" barrel) using Hammer Hunter .284 143gn in new ADG Brass and 66.0 gn H4831SC running 3179 FPS at 530 FT elevation and 45 deg F, my brother and I killed two Oregon Bulls and I killed one Northern Missouri Doe. I ordered the bullets in September 2024 so recent manufacture. Neither Bull (75 yds and 135 yds) took more than two steps after heart-lung hits. The Doe was taken at 130 yds with an intentional high shoulder crease shot and she dropped in her tracks with not even a twitch. The velocity at 150 yds is right at 2850 FPS.
This is incorrect. As far as I know there has been no problems with the hammer hunter which is different than the tipped hammer hunter. The tipped version has had some problems.
The OP is using HH not the HHT bullets.
Agreed!
adam32+P
Well-Known Member
No, the HH have also had issues reported but they have always gotten disregarded and chalked up to the wrong twist, wrong altitude, wrong velocity, wrong shot placement, wrong planet alignment, wrong bullet for the month, etc etc etc
