I could be wrong but I'm betting that if Ed had started at lower charge weights the Hammer would have shown lower vel than the conventional bullet for the same charge. Indicating lower pressure. There comes a point in the work up that the lower engraving pressure bullet will cross the path of the higher engraving pressure bullet for vel, not pressure. The higher engraving pressure bullet will reach it's max load at lower vel than the lower engraving pressure bullet does at the same vel.
Let's take an example of the 140g Absolute Hammer. The Absolutes have extremely low engraving pressure which will exaggerate the results. Here is our first workup with the 140g Absolute Hammer in my 280ai 22" Proof 1-8" twist. Seated at 3.442" coal with Fed 215m primer and Peterson brass. We started at 56g H100v. That is the max listed load on Hodgdon data for a 140g Nosler BT. Hodgdon data shows an expected vel of 3068 fps for this max load and a pressure of 60,700 psi. Our vel at 56g H100v was 2820 fps. In the world that I come from that is indicating very low pressure. In fact it indicates lower pressure than their listed start load of 52.6g at a vel of 2883 fps. That's just crazy and not possible for same weight bullets, unless I have the spare money to spend on an actual pressure test barrel. Knowing that vel is just one of the signs of pressure, we decided to jump 3g of powder for the next shot. This put us at a vel of 3154 fps. According to some we were at the danger point at this time. Knowing that vel is one indicator of pressure, not the only indicator, we continued to ladder up in 1g increments. This rifle was built on a Win model 70 action. At the time of development the bolt had not had the firing pin hole bushed, so it had a problem with cratering primers due to the large hole. It has since been fixed. We took this load up to 3427 fps in nice predictable 45 fps gains per grain of powder. At that point we stopped due to the cratering of the primer being too much. We would have loaded there if the bolt had been bushed but backed off a grain to make it comfortable. The Peterson brass would take this load multiple times without loosening the primer pocket and no high pressure indicators on the brass.
Because of the very low engraving pressure on the Absolutes (not the other Hammers) we have used the method of looking at data for similar weight bullets, look for a powder that is low in load density, and start with the max listed load. This will most often yeild a vel that is several hundred fps slower than would be expected. Why? Because the engraving pressure is very low. Now the trick is to see if you can get to pressure before you run out of case space. If you can't get to pressure before running out of case space then you have to look at this collected data to determine where to start with a faster powder. The same way you develop a load for a wildcat cartridge that has no data. You start with something that is a known value and work from there to find the potential. For some people the idea of working with a wildcat cartridge is terrifying. For those people it is best to stick with factory cartridges and never step out of the norm. For some people it simply is not possible to create something new that works beyond the accepted levels of normal, so when someone does, they cry foul. Look at
@Fiftydriver, and
@elkaholic, along with many others that have pushed the line of normal with new cartridges. They get called all kinds of names and told by the chattering class that they are somehow lying about their results. I have gotten the same treatment since the day we started. I would post load development results and inevitably be told that I just got lucky. That there is no way that a load can be done in that few of shots. I accepted this, thinking maybe I did just get lucky. Our bullets were as new to us as anyone else. Then came a day I got told that I was just lucky again. At that point I had to answer that I guess I am just lucky all the time. We get told that our copper bullet cannot be any different than any other copper bullet. Afterall copper is copper, regardless of the alloy. There is no way that Hammer Bullets can have different terminal performance characteristics than other copper bullets. This always coming from the same chattering class of people. The best part of the chattering class of "You can't do that" people have almost always never even tried.
Sometimes I find the chattering class amusing and sometimes tiring. In the end I need to be thankful for them. They do a better job of helping us get the word out about what we are doing than we could do on our own. They get proven wrong time after time which is way better than any promotional material I can come up with.
Happy New Year all! Let's keep pushing the envelope!