Hammer bullets

This deer got shot saturday morning. With a 155gr hammer hunter from a 284win LA at 2950fps. The shoulder or what was left of it had been removed for packing out. Lost 50% of the shoulder due to blood shot. Steep up hill shot at 425 yards. Bullet didn't hit any hard bone beside a couple ribs. Not sure what to think on these bullets. Deffineatly fragmented. The B.C. testing we did revealed .204 G7 for the 155s and .238 G7 for the 177s @ 240ft elevation 155s from a 1:8.5 and 177s from 1:8. B.C. much lower than advertised. Excessive damage to meat. Think I'll go back to Barnes unless I'm missing something.

Wow. That's blown up. Like to see what Steve says about this. So I'll tap in

Wow, that's some massive damage

Wow that's nuts. I've killed 2 elk with my 280AI and a 143 hammer hunter at 3120 fps and had zero meat damage. The calf elk was 70 yards and the bull 330. The calf was behind the shoulder, the bulk in the shoulder. Be interesting to know why you experienced so much damage.

I did a load workup for a 30-06 with the 166 gr. Hammer Hunters. Pretty easy to find a load. Total bullets shot in load workup... 17. Shot some nice groups at 100 and 517 yards. No experience on game yet. I doubt you'll find a more consistent bullet in terms of manufacturing specs and others say they do great on game.

That doesn't look like a broadside shot, where was the impact? Was this a hard quartering shot up hill?

Hammer bullets can't really fragment, but you will get 4 petals that break off. I've recovered bullets that I shot into a box of gravel with 2800+ fps impact velocities and they didn't fragment, they just get twisted into a jagged ball of copper.

308stillbrass said:

I did a load workup for a 30-06 with the 166 gr. Hammer Hunters. Pretty easy to find a load. Total bullets shot in load workup... 17. Shot some nice groups at 100 and 517 yards. No experience on game yet. I doubt you'll find a more consistent bullet in terms of manufacturing specs and others say they do great on game.

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I agree on the manufacturing stand point. They are very consistent. I have one more hunt in a couple weeks. I already have them dialed in. So they get one more chance. In my findings it's only a 500 or 600 yard bullet. The low B.C. makes them very squirrely in the wind. Like I said. One more hunt and no time to change. I love the way they shoot. They claimed alot of meat on this one.

yorke-1 said:

That doesn't look like a broadside shot, where was the impact? Was this a hard quartering shot up hill?

Hammer bullets can't really fragment, but you will get 4 petals that break off. I've recovered bullets that I shot into a box of gravel with 2800+ fps impact velocities and they didn't fragment, they just get twisted into a jagged ball of copper.

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That's what I got when I shot them into a K-rail at 500 yards. One still retaining 70% of the 177 grains. Yes it was a quartering shot up hill.I wouldn't call it hard quartering. Still the fact is I've made almost identical shots with barnes bullets with way less damage.

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JD284win said:

..,Still the fact is I've made almost identical shots with barnes bullets with way less damage..,,

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Which doesn't surprise me, I've found Barnes to be on the hard side.

Like the others though, surprised, different from my limited experience, and following to see where we go,

This story kinda reminds me when Nosler came out with Ballistic Tips back in the early 80s.. They stopped the game animal, but there were a lots of complaints of meat loss. Writers and hunters said the Ballistic Tip jackets were too thin and the lead core too soft... Nosler changed the bullet with a thicker jacket and a harder lead core.. Then those very SAME hunters/writers complained the NEW Ballistic Tips were zipping right thru deer and running off, causing them to lose the game... Just like a FMJ bullet or SOLID... Everyone was then clamoring to find the OLD Ballistic Tips

I think this has more to do with shot placement then anything along the lines of bullet problem. If I hit a shoulder I expect loss of meat, no matter the bullet/cartridge used. Looks like it did it's job to me.
Is that a bone fragments I'm seeing in the picture?

Bravo 4 said:

I think this has more to do with shot placement then anything along the lines of bullet problem. If I hit a shoulder I expect loss of meat, no matter the bullet/cartridge used. Looks like it did it's job to me.
Is that a bone fragments I'm seeing in the picture?

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This, if I don't loose meat when hitting the offside shoulder the bullet isn't doing its job. Which doesn't mean everything is hunky-dory if the bullet is fragmenting I don't care for that, but I can't see anything in the pic to really tell.