Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Hammer bullets

I'm having trouble believing the small pieces that break off and go their separate ways do that much damage. I don't doubt the bullet's lethality though as I've found other mono bullets with no petals from dead animals.

They definitely radiate outward and punch independent holes through lungs and occasionally exit. I've seen this happen many times. You can also choose a Hammer that sheds larger/heavier petals, if you prefer.

That's a Nosler product; they run with flat brims.

Google “Types of Hammer Bullets” for a description of their offerings and how various bullets differ by design regarding how much of the bullet frags and the percentage remaining in the core.

I have a question about the Absolute Hunter. As you may know, it’s designed so only the patented low friction bands engage with the bore, the ogive is not engraved by rifling. I’ve also read that they are not jump sensitive like some.

So, if the ogive isn’t engraved by the rifling, then is this or is this not sorta like the Wby freebore?

Roy, from what I understand, used freebore to lessen the pressure spike from the powders he had access to at the time. Hunter AH bullets need faster burning powders to get enough in the case to achieve their potential velocities.

Seems the AH design allows some freebore like effect which may help with the pressure spike of those faster powders.

The bullet moves forward until the driving band engages the rifling. That seem to facilitate some “free” movement before bore resistance is encountered. What do you guys think?

DF

Another Absolute Hunter observation. As the ogive doesn’t engage the rifling, figuring jump based on the ogive engaging rifling doesn’t work.

So I seat the AH to same depth of similar shaped bullets. For example, I loaded some AH’s today, used a TTSX loaded round to set the seating die.

Some like to crimp. If the bullet seats with adequate resistance, I don’t always crimp. If it goes in without much resistance, I using my LFC die.

DF

Steve told me the Absolute Hammers don't work any better in the big cases than the regular Hammer Hunter. He said things like the .30-06 and down seem to really like them.

I got the velocity but couldn't get the Absolute Hammers to shoot as well as the Hammer Hunters for some reason in 6mm. I still have a partial box of the 87gr AH to play around with.

Interesting.

I’m work on AH loads for several rounds. Was thinking about 109 and 123 AH’s in my 26 Nosler, but with that info, may limit my research to ‘06 and down.

I already have some great loads for that one. Don’t need the extra speed.

DF

I read a post by MD a while back that Barnes originally designed their bullets to shed their petals, but changed that design when people wanted bullets that retained weight.

162 Absolute Hammer in 30-06 3070 fps via varget.

And accurate from what I've read.

That's essentially 300 mag performance out of the old '06.

Not a bad option.

If it's as Steve Davis is reported to have said, that the most impressive performance regarding added velocity is in rounds, '06 and down, not so much with the bigger cases, then that's where I'm focusing my efforts.

Fotis, you're a Bee fan. What do you think of my idea that because the AH doesn't engage rifling until the driving bands hit the bore, how that's not sort of a freebore? I had read that Roy used freebore to mitigate the pressure spikes of the powders he had access to at the time. He didn't have some of the really slow burners available now. He had to use faster powders and freebore was his friend.

The AH's need faster powders to get enough in the case to achieve the faster velocities. Do you see some similarity or am I barking up the wrong tree?

DF

With the 222 grain Hammer Hunter I get about 50 FPS more velocity with Power Pro Varmint than is possible with CFE223. Power Pro Varmint is faster than CFE223

I haven't read through this whole thread yet so I may be asking what has already been answered. A friend at work started using hammer bullets with his 280AI. He seems to love them. When he first showed them to me it looked like a tweak on the barnes tsx bullets. I assumed they were basically the same thing but pushing the light for caliber weights. I have been a big fan of the tsx and lrx bullets. After reading some of this though it appears that they acted differently in that they are softer alloy and almost always shed their petals vs the more typical expansion one sees with the barnes variety.

Do they compared to the Lehigh controlled chaos bullets then? That is what it seems like to me but I haven't looked into either of them very much.

The 143 HH from my 28 Nosler didn't bounce off
All critters DRT

Great pictures DVD! Now that is cool!

congrats / nice pictures and those Hammer Hunters did put the hurt on those animals ! i have been finding Hammer bullets really shoot accurate out of these cartridges so far, 22 K-Hornet ,6BR , 257 Creedmoor, 257 Roberts ,257 Weatherbies . did the 26 Nosler shoot well for you with these Hammer Hunter bullets on paper ? Pete53

28 Nosler with 143HH shot extremely accurate on paper and on game

165 lb boar I watched for 13 minutes before deciding he needed his lights put out

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JHy3JNy3OKM[/video]

My first Hammer load this week in a 300 Win that shoots 165 BT’s. The BT load is 77.0 grains of RL-22. I made a wild guess and tried 75 grains with the 160 gr Hammer Hunter. Four shot group went 0.467”. This was with a rear rest that I was trying out and ended up trashing….couldn’t settle in consistently.

I’ll see how they do this fall.

the Hammer hunter 25 caliber 103 gr. bullet in my 257 Weatherby mag. using Reloader 25 at 3680 FPS has never shot this good with 1/2 -5/8 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yds. and that`s out of 3 different 257 Weatherby mag rifles 2 are Ruger #1`s with Brux barrels , 1 is a Weatherby mark 5 with a Brux barrel. i am jumping this bullet to the rifle grooves as Weatherby mag. specs say. also in my Remington 30 express chambered in 257 Roberts with a Brux barrel that also shots tiny little groups at 100 yards as does my Savage 110 257 Creedmoor with a Brux barrel does. i am very happy and surprised how accurate these Hammer bullets shoot such small groups and kill animals so well.