Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hammer bullet experience

Maybe try a speed faster powder than what you're currently using with em Flintlocke, like a 4064 or similar.

Yeah, funny you should mention that...it is plan C...match proven IMR 4895 powder charges and match primers and tweaked brass. This is do-able, I'm just overlooking some little thing.

With the low friction Absolute Hammer you generally need faster powder to get enough in the case to reach target velocities. Example would be Varget or similar in a round that typically uses 4350 burn rate powders.

Interesting concept. Reportedly the most impressive enhancement is in ‘06 and smaller cases. Not that the bigger ones aren’t enhanced, that’s what the Hammer people are saying.

DF

I know 4064 and 150's have always been a traditional old load that worked great. I'd definitely give it a shot to see what it does.


DF, interesting stuff with em. Still learning a bit about them myself.

It’s a learning process for sure.

Old dogs learning new tricks?

Go figure.

DF

For sure. But I am trying to figure out who you are calling old

Ha!

Me for one.

Now, if the shoe fits….

DF

Duly noted!

I've read a fair amount that the petals are designed and do come off and do extra damage. And lots like that because they think the animal dies or falls faster. And don't care about other meat damage.

We still like the barnes. Petals only come off if they hit resistance basically. IE if they are in the way of penetration. Animals still die about the same to us if we shoot em with barnes, bergers etc...

I didn't read the whole thread so note the extra damage inflicted. Some desire it. And it makes the mono a bit closer to the old bullets if thats your desires.

We have yet to see anything get away from a TTSX or a. TSX for that matter. I suspect the same for the hammer bullets.

Am thinking hard on giving em a whirl in the 223. Not that it isnt' fine as is but its so quiet the deer often walk off and wobble around until they fall. Be cool to see if results are faster with a hammer in the same setting.

Last thing we care about is lead free. The simple matter is that over many years and seeing thousands of deer shot, cup and core simply fail more often than mono. Mono kill just fine. More reliable. and are not the $$$ you print. If shooting 20 or less of them a year breaks your bank you have other problems IMHO. I know I loaded 100 rounds of 257 wtby for a friend going on 6 seasons ago. He had appx 20 left. He finally needed to find that box of 100 this past fall as he was down to 4 rounds in his pack.

I'm not anti lead. Or anti jacketed. I've just seen a lot of issues with them that make me shake my head. You simply just had no clue what they were going to do each time you pulled the trigger.

Now if I had to practice all year with mono. Or shoot matches... that would bring up the $$$ issue.

That said we shot CNC turned bullets 22 at a time on weekends for a while in matches. Not cheap at all. But they won the matches for us so it was an option you weighed.

I've used Hammer bullets for hunting almost exclusively for the past 5 years. Between my wife and boys we have killed over a dozen elk, three moose, over a dozen deer, several hogs, 2 Axis bucks, several coyotes, an audad, gemsbok, warthog and blackbuck with them. I'm beyond pleased with them. Load development has been really easy, they are always available, and they perform as well as any bullet I've ever used in the past. I've used the Hammer Hunter, the Sledge Hammer and the shock hammer. Haven't shot anything with the absolute hammer yet. You can call Steve at Hammer if you have questions and he'll pick up the phone and guide you to load data and has recommendations for different calibers and bullet weights.

+1 on Steve. Great customer service and as a bonus, they seem to always have bullets in stock, ready to ship.

Not cheap, IMO, worth the premium.

Hunt with them, practice with cheap, blem bullets.

DF

DO NOT RECOMMEND.

Pros: High B.C., they can be handloaded to shoot very accurately.

Cons: Piss-poor performance on game. Terrible customer service and poor quality control of the metallurgy.
I shot two black bears with 180gr .308 bullet out of a 300 win mag at around 3100 fps. The bullets literally fragmented into tiny shards that looked like miniature gold nuggets on the first bear. Only a few tiny fragments ever penetrated the vitals. I had to shoot the first bear 3 times at 208 yards, all three shots were within 12" of each other all behind the shoulder in the lung area- yet I found frangments in the neck and along the top of the back etc. I HAVE PHOTOS to prove this if anyone wants me to send them. The second bear (Alberta, Canada) came out 30 seconds later on the same hillside and was a huge 500 pounder, B&C bear. I immediately shot him also behind the shoulder and he immediately cartwheeled over and appeared to fall behind a berm in the grasses. NEVER FOUND HIM. My shooting at camp, offhand leaning on a tree at 100 yards were under 1". But accuracy doesn't matter when the bullets are crap.

I immediately contacted Steve (one of the owners) at Hammer Bullets. He told me that he would send me a box of replacement bullets and that he may have had, ' a bad batch of bar stock' and that he would test the lot out and get back to me. He never got back to me and never sent me any replacement bullets. Sucks.

Thanks for sharing. I believe that's the first negative Hammer report I've read.

DF

I've read this quite a bit. "and they perform as well as any bullet I ever used". If thats so, how did you come into using them in the frst place?

This just doesn't work. You shoot 1" groups off hand leaning against a tree but sounds like 12" group min shooting at the bear? Sounds like gut shot to me. As for the bullet's breaking up, after reading the rest I doubt that! If ya posted photo's after this I'm not sure I'd believe them either. BTW, I'm a cup and core user, never used a monolithic!

Canadian- when was this? I’ve found a few threads online about “bad bar stock” in earlier versions. Haven’t seen anything recently.

I shoot the 88 HHs in 6-06 and 6 creed but haven’t hit flesh yet.

I don't care what you believe. I speak the absolute truth. To be clear, the rifle's zero was reconfirmed in camp and under realistic hunting conditions and it still maintained a 1" group at 100 yards of which I have a field photo of the paper plate I shot.

Yeah, you try shooting a black bear three times in a row while he's twisting around on a hillside at an average range of 208 yards in front of you and keep it at a 12" group; I'd say I executed my shots admirably to quickly put that bear down despite faulty bullet performance. Do you think that the bear actually just stood there and didn't move at the first shot? Laughable. I don't want this to get into a pissing contest with someone I don't know. Nor will I accept you accusing me of something that isn't true. I will no longer respond to you. Thank you.

Steve, are you reading this? Now's your chance to speak up. I texted you the photos of the bear, the bullet fragments and spoke with you then never heard back from you.

This was in the spring of 2022, just last year.

You are welcome. Just the facts and my experience.