Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hawk bullets?

I was not on the board for the last few years as much as I was, or I have been lately. As I recall there was a diversity of opinions on Hawk bullets some years ago. Was this a Ford v Chevy thing? I would prefer to stay away from that. What has been your experiences with these? I'm mainly interested in 7mm and 308 caliber at non magnum speeds. Thanks, captdavid

I'm not a gun writer but I've tested them in a few calibers. 160 grain RN in 6.5x54, 190 grain FP in a couple 30-30's,300, 350 and 400 grain RN's in the 400 Whelen and 350 grain RN in a 10.75x57. The 190's shoot well in one rifle but not the other. All the others have been easy to find accurate loads for although my initial tests with the .411 350 grain were erratic for accuracy. Subsequent testing with a new batch has given good accuracy.

I've only taken one head of game with a Hawk. A cow moose with a 400 grain in the 400 Whelen at 75 yards. Performance was good. Penetration excellent. I did not recover the bullet as it exited. Meat damage was minimal as far as blood shot meat.

I've no worries about Hawk bullets. They're especially good about making and stocking odd diameter bullets for some of the lesser known rounds.

I've used them so far in the .351 Winchester, the 180gr round nose, with thin jacket. Took a cull buck with it as shown.



About a 60 yard shot; the buck ran about 40 yards and expired. Good damage and bullet pass through, despite a low starting velocity of ~1700 fps. The rifle has iron sights, and never was a super-accurate rig, but 2-3 inch groups at 50 yards are easy, so accuracy is adequate. If for some reason I decided to use this gun for self defense, this bullet would be a formidable defensive load.

Also using Hawks in the .38-55, a 255gr jacketed flat point .377 dia. Still developing loads, but accuracy seems okay. I too expect this bullet to be a good killer, even at moderate speeds.

I wouldn't buy a Hawk for a .300 RUM for 600 yards shots, but for obsolete calibers, or as you say, for moderate speeds, they should work fine. And they tell you the jacket thickness right on their site, so you can in some cases choose to go thinner or thicker on bullet dia.

I've never heard of Hawk bullets.

That's one I forgot. I have tried their 250 grain RN in a 401 Winchester self loader. They were very accurate.

Some shooters apparently assume Hawk bullets are bonded, and they're not. Instead they're a lot like the Barnes Originals, with copper jackets and soft lead cores. If shot at moderate velocities they work very well, just as the Barnes Originals did and do, but at higher velocities they can come apart.

My 350 RM did not like the 225 gr Hawk bullets, 5" to 7" groups at 100 yards. I have a full box for sale if someone would like to try them, ha ha

www.hawkbullets.com/ is their site.

NOTE they will make custom bullets, though there may be a minimum order, such as 4 to 6 boxes.

I am tempted to have them run some .25-20 bullets, or maybe even .300 Rook bullets

Hawk never answered my emails nor calls. Another company has them listed in their web catalog, but after I ordered - nothing! Been several years, but that just turned me off to them.

I killed a lot of game in the 80s with Barnes original soft points. I had 200 and 225 grain 30 caliber bullets penetrate over 40" of elk, twice. They always expanded nicely. Accuracy was mediocre so I limited them to hunting in timber where I knew shots were going to be 100 yards or closer. I killed a dozen coues whitetails with 60 grain softpoint Barnes originals too. I suspect the Hawk bullets would fill this niche nicely.

Have some for my '06 but haven't tried them yet.

I heard that they make a bullet for the 375 win. Id like to try them one day!

I have a friend that has an MGM 375 win Encore barrel and uses Hawk and Beartooth when loading. He really likes the Hawks.

I can add that, I emailed them asking if they had some 200 or 220 gr bullets in stock for the .38-55. They had none available for retail packaging, but they sent me some over-runs, about 40 in total, gratis. Nice gesture on their part.

Long before the .405 WCF resurgence, I used Hawk bullets and had great results. I don't think they have changed much since then. Soft copper and soft lead make huge mushrooms. And, you could specify the jacket thickness. I also used some in .458; same results. I wouldn't hesitate to try them again if/when I need to.

It's been some time ago but I have tried Hawk bullets in my 348 WCF, 35 Whelen, 9.3x57, 9.3x62mm and 405 WCF.
IIRC they shot OK and the few deer and pigs were brought to bag with no fuss.
I have moved on to other bullets, I still have a few partial/full boxes on the shelf.

StarchedCover

StarchedCover,

I'd be interested in some of those Haws if you want to get rid of any. Specifically the 348 and 9.3.

Mart

Used Hawk 250 round nose bullets in a 356 Win Big Bore Angle Eject. Shot a 400 lb. black bear in the heart lung area with 3 shots. Tracked the bear for at least a mile and found the unfortunate beast in a cedar swamp. Fired a dispatching shot to end the suffering and hit the cranium to no effect.
Fired another shot that ended the debacle. Upon dressing recovered numerous bullet fragments on the surface with three cores and fragmented jackets. The two head shot bullets were not recovered but the cranium was never penetrated but there was a faint crack. I called the Hawk bullet owner in NJ but he was totally uninterested.
In addition to the bullet performance while working up loads I dropped the loads with cooper alloy jacketed bullets a couple of grains and promptly broke the extractor. I ended up with a load that was 100 fps less with the pure copper jacket. I would assume this was due to the higher coefficient of friction of pure cooper.

Not a writer!
I ordered a couple boxes of 250gr bullets for my .375 BB model 94 for a cow elk hunt. Had to wait until they made a run. When they arrived they were 200gr bullets. I called the business and they could not have been nicer. They sent me the correct weight and told me to keep half the 200 great bullets they sent by mistake to compare to the 250's.
I put together a couple loads and they shot as well or better than any other bullets I have used in this gun. Unfortunately I never got a shot at an elk with them. I did shoot them into some wet phone books. They are not hard bullets, but at the velocity they were going from that .375 I think they would work fine.

They work just fine at sane velocities. Ask him...
400 grains .400 cal