Least fussy mono-metal bullet?

[SamuelBerryhill308]

I'm gonna hold you to this as I am bout to bomb the Hammer site with my order!

Sounds good man you won't regret it

 

[jessej]

I blistered on one with the 124HH out of the Rum so I'm happy

Did you think you were gonna tell us this and not have to share more details ?!

 

[Totoro]

Wow, great exchange fellas.

Let me narrow it down a bit.

For those that are shooting the Bulldozers 2, what is making them more "fussy?" Are you still using a 0.025 jump?

For now, I am intrigued with both the 122 Cayuga and 125 BD2.

Thanks again!

 

[Zen Archery]

I posted this 2 weeks ago.
Untuned Hammer Loads.
Manual charges.
SAAMI cases.
All under 1MOA
Loading Made Simple | .308 Win. 174gr. Hammer Hunter Bullet

 

[ButterBean]

Did you think you were gonna tell us this and not have to share more details ?!

Official Hammer bullets Terminal Performance (picture heavy)

What’s left of heart/lungs of an Upstate NY whitetail buck w/123 Absolute Hammer from 20” barreled 6.5 PRC at 60 yards. MV 3110 FPS, so impact velocity wasn’t a whole lot less. DRT, with hide on exit side showing 3 distinct holes.

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[ButterBean]

Did you think you were gonna tell us this and not have to share more details ?!

Official Hammer bullets Terminal Performance (picture heavy)

What’s left of heart/lungs of an Upstate NY whitetail buck w/123 Absolute Hammer from 20” barreled 6.5 PRC at 60 yards. MV 3110 FPS, so impact velocity wasn’t a whole lot less. DRT, with hide on exit side showing 3 distinct holes.

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[Hard rock]

I have had very good luck with the accuracy of the 127 LRX in my 6.5 PRC. My load is Hornady Cases, CCI BR2s, 60 thou off, 60.9gr IMR8133 from a 26in 1:8 Proof. With a faster powder like H1000 or RL26 I can likely get another 100fps or so. I have a lot of 8133 and wanted to experiment. One nice thing about the Barnes is it works fine with nominal barrel twists. This load is making 3100fps and shot 1/2 MOA at 100, 200 and 300 yards. I didn't have a chance to try it farther yet. The only draw back on the Barnes mono copper bullets that I can see is they need about 2000fps to get good mushrooming and they incur more wind deflection. The 2000fps limit provides a hard limit on range given your rifles muzzle velocity. Maybe for some folks this isn't an issue as they intend to limit themselves anyway.

I'm runing the 123 gr absolutes Hammers at 3450 fps same barrel as yours going too push for 3500 with N560 min impact recommended 1800 also have a load for the 124 Hammer next will be the 109 absolute the 121 gr works well too they have so many choices and aren't fussy on load development I shoot the 131 gr Hammer in my 1-7.5 twist Bartlien

 

[ButterBean]

I'm runing the 123 gr absolutes Hammers at 3450 fps same barrel as yours going too push for 3500 with N560 min impact recommended 1800 also have a load for the 124 Hammer next will be the 109 absolute the 121 gr works well too they have so many choices and aren't fussy on load development I shoot the 131 gr Hammer in my 1-7.5 twist Bartlien

ShoNuff

 

[Northkill]

Wow, great exchange fellas.
Let me narrow it down a bit.
For those that are shooting the Bulldozers 2, what is making them more "fussy?" Are you still using a 0.025 jump?
For now, I am intrigued with both the 122 Cayuga and 125 BD2.
Thanks again!

If you can get the Badlands to shoot to your expectations in your rifle, I think you'd be happy with them. As to what makes them fussy, I think its the design characteristics in achieving the higher BC, but I do not feel like an authority on that. My friend, Blaine Painter, at Unknown Munitions is an accomplished shooter and reloader and has been both puzzled and frustrated trying to get them to behave in various weights and calibers. The jump to the lands is just a starting recommendation. The best accuracy in my 7mm was a 0.035 off, as I recall. They don't do sample packs, so you will likely need to get 100 ct to get started. I have tried them first in a series of rifles with Bartlein, Proof, and Christensen barrels, but so far have ended up with either Hammers or Bergers in all but one, and that's the 7 Allen Mag doing 0.64 MOA. The others were all worse and not acceptable. My powder choices might limit me some as I stick with the most temp stable powders as much as possible. The 7 Allen was the only exception with RL-33 since it only gets shot over colder months while hunting.

Have not had a chance to work with the Cayuga's yet, but from what I'm hearing, they are easier to tune. The Hammers are super easy, that I can say from experience. In fact, in my Rem 223, it was the only bullet that would shoot super tight in that picky triangle barrel... And you can get small sample packs to try.

How far do you shoot? There's a point where the higher BC at lower velocity do not overcome a faster flying lower BC bullet.

Be great to hear what you decide and how it works out for you. I'm hoping to have an on-game performance report for the 7mm 150 BD-2 at hyper velocity by next week.

 

[Pdvdh]

For those that are shooting the Bulldozers 2, what is making them more "fussy?" Are you still using a 0.025 jump?

Thanks again!

I tend to prefer more jump than less, with the Badlands Precision bullets. Similar to Barnes longstanding recommendation with their copper bullets, I'd suggest trying the BD bullets in the ~0.050" jump range.

 

[Pdvdh]

As to what makes them fussy, I think its the design characteristics in achieving the higher BC, but I do not feel like an authority on that.

I share that suspicion... but could never prove it to myself or others, with my level of experiences. Can only state that the Gen I (original) BDs did seem to shoot better for me.
I wonder if softer copper would help allow the bullets to shoot well with less effort, by lowering engraving pressure. But simply hypothesizing on this possibility.

 

[Northkill]

I share that suspicion... but could never prove it to myself or others, with my level of experiences. Can only state that the Gen I (original) BDs did seem to shoot better for me.
I wonder if softer copper would help allow the bullets to shoot well with less effort, by lowering engraving pressure. But simply hypothesizing on this possibility.

Yep. We'll see if their new "better" copper improves things at all; but like you, I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the bullet design in chasing BC's. What I wish someone could do is play with different rifling profiles and see if monos like something a little different. So many variables to chase...

 

[vancewalker007]

I'm runing the 123 gr absolutes Hammers at 3450 fps same barrel as yours going too push for 3500 with N560 min impact recommended 1800 also have a load for the 124 Hammer next will be the 109 absolute the 121 gr works well too they have so many choices and aren't fussy on load development I shoot the 131 gr Hammer in my 1-7.5 twist Bartlien

I'm sure I could get more velocity with a different powder, 8133 is slow. But I have a lot of 8133 and didn't want to dip into my H1000 and 7977 for this bullet. I'm sure RL26 would give me another 100fps. Its just a load I developed but I am not using it for anything.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Which of these loads will go faster out of a .300 WSM?

(1) Cayuga 178 with 60 RL-17, 215M, .010" off the lands, Win brass

or

(2) Absolute Hammer 178 with 60 RL-17, 215M, .010" off the lands, Win brass

With the same powder charge the Absolute Hammer will be quite a bit slower. It will take more powder or faster powder to reach the same pressure because the engraving pressure is very low on the Absolute Hammer. With equal pressure I would guess the Absolute Hammer will yield higher vel. There is gives and takes to achieve the very low engraving pressure. Higher vel but the bc is not as good. @FEENIX I know you are a long range guy so in the 30 cal I don't think the Absolute is your pill. Under 400y it will be tough to beat. After that the higher bc bullets will start to take over.