Hammer bullet for short range bear hunting

Well, Len has done the right thing, like he usually does. Somif anyone is interested, I have now been to the range twice with Hammers in my 300 WSM. The first trip was a bit of a write off. I had troubles with ignition (bad primers), and real trouble with velocity consistency. While I am a very experienced reloader, I took the time to consult with Steve about some of the potential issues. With.new primers, increased neck tension, and the addition of a second powder to try, I headed back to the range. It was really cold out for TN. 25deg f. With wind. I also had a member reach out to me and offer to send me some other Hammers that he had in inventory, which I also tried. What a great group we have here.
So, with the price and avaiability of components, I am a bit stingy with my load testing. But....it worked. I produced multiple sub 1/2 moa groups with both bullets, both powders. I'm getting rock start velocity and excellent accuracy. As a reminder thos is in a factory Savage Inpulse straight pull rifle. I am super stoked for the hunt. Here are some of the results on paper, and a picture of the rig.
 

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Fair enough man. I can see how if it got stuck in your tract that could be bad. A 6mm shot like a big BB isn't quite the same thing as minuscule particles of lead. And I understand where you're coming from on inconsistency but also I can't fully agree but we each have our experience and certainly I won't deny yours. But a bullet deforming or losing weight isn't inconsistent in and of itself. If it can't be relied upon to open hard and sufficiently penetrate the same every time then that's inconsistent. And for me a lot of monos inspire less confidence regarding the "open up hard" part of that equation than lead cores do. Just me.
All I can tell you is that my experience with Barnes was at times good and others not so good. Since I could not get consistent results from either Barnes or lead core and a high BC in the same bullet, when I had the chance I decided to " roll my own". This led to a rather long period of trial and error period of research that not only vastly improved the BC issue but also the consistency issue. Gel testing monos and ours clearly revealed the answer to inconsistent behavior after impact. By marrying high BC to reliable bullet expansion we had a basic design that could be applied to any caliber bullet. The only compromise we had to deal with is the fact that copper is less dense than lead, a handicap that really only exists in the .224 caliber and smaller. Generalizing about copper monos to our bullets is inaccurate, as is the notion that heavy lead core bullets in a given caliber penetrate better than our lighter for caliber bullets. I have one report of a 5 ft penetration of our 275 gr 338 SBD2 bullet into a charging Grizzly Bear after being hit in the head with the bullet having gone through the skull at 35 yds or so, and several accounts of both complete longitudinal pass throughs in Moose and Elk. That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because our bullets will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible.
 
Another thumbs up for Hammers. Between my shooting buddy and myself we've used Berger, Hornady, North Fork, Barnes and Hammers for African plains game hunts and have seen the best results with the Hammers. Not saying the others were bad, but Hammers have performed the best. I have no relationship with the Hammer folks, just reporting my experience. On my last trip I used 166 grain Shock Hammers at ~3200 FPS in a .300 WSM. The eland in my avatar photo was taken with that load at ~100+ yards. He staggered about 20 yards before collapsing. The only animal on that trip that took two shots was a Gemsbok. All shots exited the animals except one on the Gemsbok. It was recovered just under the hide on the far side. All four petals had sheared off and the shank drove through the Gemsbok to the opposite side. I have a black bear hunt coming up in a couple weeks. I've loaded up 180 grain Hammer Hunters at about 3020 FPS. I can drive them faster, but I'm sort of babying this new barrel. And, I know I could use a much lighter, faster Hammer for black bear, but these bullets were in my bullet inventory. But, even better than the Hammer's performance is their availability - you can actually get the Hammer bullets when you need them. Each time I've gone to a new bullet it's because my previous favorite bullet was not available when I needed it. I got tired of working up a good load in my rifle, then the bullet being unavailable. (This was meant to be 2-3 sentence post - sorry for rambling. To much coffee with breakfast!) Good luck on your hunt!!
 
All I can tell you is that my experience with Barnes was at times good and others not so good. Since I could not get consistent results from either Barnes or lead core and a high BC in the same bullet, when I had the chance I decided to " roll my own". This led to a rather long period of trial and error period of research that not only vastly improved the BC issue but also the consistency issue. Gel testing monos and ours clearly revealed the answer to inconsistent behavior after impact. By marrying high BC to reliable bullet expansion we had a basic design that could be applied to any caliber bullet. The only compromise we had to deal with is the fact that copper is less dense than lead, a handicap that really only exists in the .224 caliber and smaller. Generalizing about copper monos to our bullets is inaccurate, as is the notion that heavy lead core bullets in a given caliber penetrate better than our lighter for caliber bullets. I have one report of a 5 ft penetration of our 275 gr 338 SBD2 bullet into a charging Grizzly Bear after being hit in the head with the bullet having gone through the skull at 35 yds or so, and several accounts of both complete longitudinal pass throughs in Moose and Elk. That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because our bullets will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible.

All I can tell you is that my experience with Barnes was at times good and others not so good. Since I could not get consistent results from either Barnes or lead core and a high BC in the same bullet, when I had the chance I decided to " roll my own". This led to a rather long period of trial and error period of research that not only vastly improved the BC issue but also the consistency issue. Gel testing monos and ours clearly revealed the answer to inconsistent behavior after impact. By marrying high BC to reliable bullet expansion we had a basic design that could be applied to any caliber bullet. The only compromise we had to deal with is the fact that copper is less dense than lead, a handicap that really only exists in the .224 caliber and smaller. Generalizing about copper monos to our bullets is inaccurate, as is the notion that heavy lead core bullets in a given caliber penetrate better than our lighter for caliber bullets. I have one report of a 5 ft penetration of our 275 gr 338 SBD2 bullet into a charging Grizzly Bear after being hit in the head with the bullet having gone through the skull at 35 yds or so, and several accounts of both complete longitudinal pass throughs in Moose and Elk. That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because our bullets will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible.
"That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because "our bullets" will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible."For me, one of those not too much in the know, whose bullets are you writing about in this sentence? I am trying to figure out who "our bullets" are. I have had great success and total performance with the Barnes bullets, in the larger calibers for black bear hunting. I recently purchased some Hammer bullets to try, however the opportunity has not presented itself to comment on them. I am still leery on their performance, maybe this coming season with provide some input. I've read where some have written where black bears are easy to kill. Not so much in my experience!! I've been hunting black bear over bait for a decade now. I have hunted in outfitter camps where there were 30 or more hunters in a week. I have seen the good, the bad and the uglier for shots made. Anyone who has done any amount of hunting knows there is no such thing as a sterile hunting environment where the perfect shot is always been available and made. What I have found is that it is one thing to kill a black bear, but... another to track and recover that black bear in thick dense cover. From my experience a heart shot where it looks like a hand grenade when off in that bear's heart, doesn't mean a "bang flop" experience and a 30-40 yard plus or more trek through hellish territory is not uncommon. Without a good blood trail, even with the use of a recovery dog, it can be difficult to recover that bear. My opinion on hunting black bear is that you want a "large" through-and-through shot that will leave a good blood trail to track. Without a large entry and exit hole the hair and the fat on a black bear will make a blood trail less likely to happen as the hair will act like a paint brush and trap the blood and the fat can fill the entry and exit holes in.
 
"That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because "our bullets" will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible."For me, one of those not too much in the know, whose bullets are you writing about in this sentence? I am trying to figure out who "our bullets" are. I have had great success and total performance with the Barnes bullets, in the larger calibers for black bear hunting. I recently purchased some Hammer bullets to try, however the opportunity has not presented itself to comment on them. I am still leery on their performance, maybe this coming season with provide some input. I've read where some have written where black bears are easy to kill. Not so much in my experience!! I've been hunting black bear over bait for a decade now. I have hunted in outfitter camps where there were 30 or more hunters in a week. I have seen the good, the bad and the uglier for shots made. Anyone who has done any amount of hunting knows there is no such thing as a sterile hunting environment where the perfect shot is always been available and made. What I have found is that it is one thing to kill a black bear, but... another to track and recover that black bear in thick dense cover. From my experience a heart shot where it looks like a hand grenade when off in that bear's heart, doesn't mean a "bang flop" experience and a 30-40 yard plus or more trek through hellish territory is not uncommon. Without a good blood trail, even with the use of a recovery dog, it can be difficult to recover that bear. My opinion on hunting black bear is that you want a "large" through-and-through shot that will leave a good blood trail to track. Without a large entry and exit hole the hair and the fat on a black bear will make a blood trail less likely to happen as the hair will act like a paint brush and trap the blood and the fat can fill the entry and exit holes in.
I'm referring to Badlands BD2 bullets. I have used the 150 gr 308 BD and BD2 (they differ in BC and expansion velocity) the most especially African Plains game with single shot kills with no tracking needed, and a 600 lb Black Bear. We have hunted Pronghorns with 80 gr and an experimental 70gr .243BD2 out to 400+ yds all one shot kills. Customers have killed with single shot kills Moose, Grizzly Bears and Elk again with single shots from 35 yds ( Gizzly) to 1225 yds (Elk using 195gr .308 BD2). The 205 gr .308 BD2 and the 275 gr .338 BD2 are even used in light gun ELR out to 2900 yds. The high BCs make this extended performance possible in hunting bullets. The 390gr .375BD2 bullet has hit targets as far out as 3 miles and killed Elk from 1100 to 1500 yds.
 
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