Hammer failures

[Rich Coyle]

Hammer bullets have been out a few years now. I think I started with them in their first year and have not experienced a problem.
But I am curious. Has anyone who actually used Hammer bullets had a failure. By failure I mean a witnessed good hit and lost animal, or a witnessed good hit that required another hit because the first bullet "penciled" through or exploded on the surface and then recovered the animal to verify these results.

 

[The Oregonian]

In before a bullet is blamed when the issue was actually shot placement or asking the bullet to do something it isn't designed to do.

 

[codyadams]

This will either be interesting or boring.

I haven't seen any bad reviews on terminal performance, which is flat suprising for any bullet, let alone a mono. Let's see if there are any legitimate claims!!

 

[wapitiaddict]

Hammer bullets have been out a few years now. I think I started with them in their first year and have not experienced a problem.
But I am curious. Has anyone who actually used Hammer bullets had a failure. By failure I mean a witnessed good hit and lost animal, or a witnessed good hit that required another hit because the first bullet "penciled" through or exploded on the surface and then recovered the animal to verify these results.

IMO if you've been using them for awhile now and haven't had a problem, I would say you are not going to get much better information than your first hand experience. But maybe you've just been using them on targets and not animals...

 

[HARPERC]

I'd rephrase the question a bit differently, bullet failure meaning a bullet not performing as advertised within the parameters of the manufacturer.

No I haven't seen a failure. One claim that I can best verify is easy to find a load for.

 

[BEEMAN]

If others have had the same results I've had; this will be a short thread.

 

[ButterBean]

If others have had the same results I've had; this will be a short thread.

Very short Indeed, I've done my homework on the Hammers and as far as I can tell you from I have never heard not one negative report on a Hammer of any sort, I've said it before , The Hammers are a total game changer

 

[lhedrick1]

We had one odd experience this year that we can't quite figure out. Dad fired 2 shots at his buck appx. 400 yards slight quartering to and maybe a slight quartering wind, 10 - 20mph. He was fairly confident the first shot was a miss as he slipped off the rock and the buck just stood there. But the 2nd shot was the text book hunch up, jump and take off running. He either dropped or bedded down. We kick the buck up there about 2 hours later and he may have had a little gimp but otherwise he's doing the muley trot pretty gracefully and clearly isn't hurt too bad. Maybe 1/4 cup of blood present where he was bedded and very few tiny drops where he ran. He bedded down again within probably 300 yards and Dad was able to finish it.

Now......before I explain what appeared to happen on the inside....its fair to mention that Hammers are very very destructive and leave very large exit wounds. I think that's a statement anyone who's used them would agree with?

The initial hit entered the front of his chest in the brisket area just below where the neck meets the body. It then exited on the offside upper back behind the shoulder and below the backstraps.

Where these deer were, it was all that 4' tall scrub brush so we suspect a branch may have been clipped on the way to the animal. But how in the hell could this animal bed down for 2 hours and get up and run like no big deal with a quarter sized hole in his chest and a golf ball sized hole in his back? And manage to not bleed out?

I do not claim this to be bullet failure. That bullet did all the damage it could with poor shot placement. But still can't understand how that buck got up and ran like he did. And how the bullet got from point A to point B bulldozing its way through and never hitting vitals. Just a freak situation I guess.

146 gr Hammer Hunter out of a .280 AI.

 

[lhedrick1]

And this was the exit wound on the follow up shot behind the shoulder.

 

[ButterBean]

@lhedrick1, they are tough

 

[lhedrick1]

 

[Horse]

@lhedrick1, they are tough

I saw that video last week. I was thinking the same thing! Amazing!!

 

[shinbone]

I've got a failure to report:

My .30 cal 124gn Hammer Hunter bullets won't make coffee in the morning.

 

[shinbone]

Ihedrick1 - without entry/exit holes of the initial shot to see, hard to know what happened with your Dad's deer, but it sounds like it was a high shot that didn't hit any internal organs.