Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Has anyone used Hawk Bullets?

Coming off the back of "Plains gsme calibre" thread, and bullet weights available in 9.3mm (.366) calibre. I previously believed that 230gn projectiles where as light as you could go.
I have since discovered that Hawk make a 200gn projectile in 9.3mm diameter. Whilst this may be a bit light for the larger game, I'm more interested in whether anyone has actually used these bullets (any weight/diameter) for hunting, and if so, how did they perform?

Hawk bullets

Aussie,

First, I'll say up front that I've never used Hawk bullets. Just wanted to point out that there's a good chance the 200gr bullet is made for the 9.3x72R et al, which is a fairly low velocity cartridge. If it's constructed for use in the 2000fps and under range, it may be too fragile for the more high pressure/velocity rounds like the 9.3x62,64,74R,etc.

Jeff

I used Hawk bullets in my .450/.400 on cape buffalo in Tanzania with very good results. The bullets mushroomed classically, and the penetration was excellent. I used them when I couldn't get Woodleighs, and will continue to use them in that cartridge. they come in different jacket thicknesses to boot. They are highly recomended as a conventional bullet.

That is an interesting thread. My experience with them has been much better.

I won't use them again..I shot about 40 head of plainsgame with them in the 338 and 300 H&H. Some deer with the 175 gr. 7x57 all with the thicker jackets. I got bullet seperation in most every case and those that held together I could pluck the lead out with my finger..They need to be bonded IMO...they are nothing more than a cup and core bullet with a cup full of BS tossed in free....

The do, however, work well enough at very mild velocity, so I would not hesitate to use them in the 1700 to 2100 FPS mode. I liked them in my 45-70 and 45-90, but there are better bullets even in thd punkin rollers IMO...

I think I'll stick with the Woodleighs. They're available here, seem to earn high praise from most people who've used them, and are competitively priced too.

You will NEVER go wrong with a Woodleigh..I have never had a Woodleigh fail and I have used many of them on some big animals, I have seen them mash up pretty bad on a elephant, Buffalo, Hippo and Eland spine, but the held together and killed.. Any bullet will get ugly on spine hits as a general rule. Even a premium or super premium bullet can fail on rare ocassions, usually from a crack in the jacket, a bubble, or such things that get past inspection..It just happens I am told by the manufacturers, and I believe that. but it better not happen more than a couple of times with me or I will quite using them.

Me and some good friends use Hawk bullets to hunt in France or in Europe: 458 bullets FP in 400 and 350grs for our 45-70 or 450marlin, 286 and 320grs 9,3x62/74R on wild boars, stags and roes, and even mooses, i also use them in 270 and 358 with good success. Even if they are not the most accurate they are good for our job. As Akjeff said the 200 is not for the 9,3x62 or 74 which were designed around 286 cup and core bullets. The lighter we use in these calibers are 235grs Norma Oryx or Vulkan and 250grs like Barnes, Noslers, Swift or RWS. Woodleigh seem tougher but Hawk have also good results even in Africa. And contrary to Mr Atkinson we never had jacket separation or failure even on big boars shoulders,most of the bullets were never recovered... these are not african games but some can also be hard to kill.
www.hawkbullets.com

Firstly,

Jeff, I believe you may be right regarding the 200gn projectiles being for a lower pressure cartridge.

Having done a quick search anyway, it seems that there isn't a ready supplier of Hawk bullets in Australia, not at the moment anyway.

The Woodleighs are made here, and my shop has a very good range and availability of them, so I might as well use them.

Comforting that they get a good review from a lot of people in the field (thanks Ray) on at least two continents. They are quite highly regarded over here too.

Just out of curiousity, what price does a pack of 286gn 9.3mm (or any other diameter/weight) Woodleighs command over there in the US, Africa or Europe?

Marseille,
As I said in my last paragraph they worked at low velocity and all your use seems to have been with mild velocity...Try pushing them at 2600 FPs and up..I have some pictures of those failures but they were in the 338 win. and my 7x57 at much higher velocity than you have apparantly delt with..

Simple fact is the Hawk is a cup and core bullet, and relies on expansion with a thick soft jacket and pure lead core. I don't know why in todays techknowledgy they do not bond that core and produce a more reliable bullet..I have been explained why they don't do this by Hawk, but it didn't make a lot of since to me. They seem to be going backwards..

Nice talking to you and getting another opinnion.

US price from MidwayUSA:

Woodleigh Bullets 9.3mm (.366 Diameter) 286 grain Round Nose Soft Point Box of 50 - US$53.99

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=543302

I really like Woodleigh bullets!

Cheers!
-Bob F.

When the chips are down I would not use any other than Woodleigh. These are recovered 470 500gn Woodleigh soft and solid.

I've not used them for hunting because back in the '90s I did penetration/performance tests on them at 25 yds in wet paper- 36" with a cast iron plate taking up the rear-a tough test to be sure, out of a 340 Wby loaded down to what I thought 100-150 yd velocity would be. For comparison, I used the Nos Part's, the then Barnes X bullet, Swift A-frames, and, for kicks, 250-gr Barnes bronze solids. All except the latter were 225-gr as I recall without looking in my records.

The Hawks showed a poor last place with mostly complete separations in the medium making about 12" with the old "X" going about 21", the others all in between except the solid which toured on and through the cast iron

Not a lot of testing to be sure but from that I thought they'd be OK in standard cartridges in the medium to heavier weights for deer sized game. I was looking for "elk bullets" at the time.

My gunsmith and good friend took a few animals this past summer with his Mannlicher 9x56 carbine with 250 grain Hawk bullets.

The Nyala was taken with three shots (first one back too far, second one a miss running at about 100 yds., the third a running shot at 20 Yds. after we flushed him out of hiding in thick brush) from the Mannlicher 9x56 carbine 250 Grain Hawk Bullets. The final running shot broke both shoulders high and the bullet exited.





The Mountain Reedbuck was close enough for the Mannlicher at about 80 yards and went down dead with one shot. This was not on his list but when they saw it his PH went nuts and said he absolutely must shoot this record book animal. They normally consider a 6" to be a good trophy and as you can see this one will go 8" or better on both sides. Couple days later we were looking through an SCI book and we think this might go top 10 or 15 in the SCI Record book. Neat trophy that might get a full body mount.

Perhaps they work Ok at slow velocity such as the 9x56, as depicted in a earlier post, or even in the old Win. calibers.

I have recovered a number of failures from using them in the .338 with 250 gr. bullet and 7x57 with 160 and 175 gr. bullets all with the thickest jackets they offered..I have photographs of these failures, a few worked fine but about 90% or more had core seperation, and some turned to mush. They came completely apart on spine hits.

I have one recovered 175 gr. thick jacketed 7x57 that hit a fork horn buck at 50 yards in the neck as he faced me, hit just under his jaw and it came apart with a flattened jacket and the lead seperated, apparently on contact, and I actually recovered the bullet half way through the neck. I have that bullet photographed. I had to shoot him in the keyster as he took off..I won't use Hawks again.

I got home from Africa after my first use of them and did some penetration test. I wish I had done that first..I called Hawk and suggested a need to bond the cores and that it would have be a better hunting bullet, but they were totally non-receptive to that suggestion..They seemed to think cup and core was the answer to all prayers as long as the metal and lead was soft. ??? nice therory but it just ain't so.