RockyMtnMT
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Here is the newest of our journey with the Claw Hammers. A bit of background on the Claw Hammer design. We first designed the Claw Hammer for the dangerous game hunters that traditionally want to run solids. They were designed at or near the traditional heavy for caliber weight that would be typical for the cartridge. In this scenario we aways found the Stone Hammers to out penetrate and have better terminal performance than the heavy Claw Hammer. The reason the Stone Hammers would out penetrate was because the long heavy Claw Hammer would tumble sooner inside the animal and inhibit the straight-line penetration. For this reason we have never really paid much attention to the solids. We just kept them around for those traditionalists that wanted to have solids. A year ago, or so, we had a customer request a Claw Hammer in 22 cal to use for hunting the tiny 10 with his 22 Hornet. We designed the little 35gr Claw Hammer for him and it worked very well. Then we got a request for a 16" twist 25 cal bullet. The result was a Claw Hammer. It was the only way we could get any weight in the 16" twist. Well, that thing works quit well. Then the guys that developed the 41 Great Lakes straight wall were using the 150gr Jack Hammer pistol bullet (same design) and just decking deer with it. I was still pretty skeptical but we then started looking at running this design in modest weights and high velocity. All I can say is this cupped nose Claw Hammer already in its terminal form hits like a train. The shorter, lighter for caliber Claw Hammers have excellent penetration because the terminal stability is high and they don't have the urge to tumble inside the animal. The cupped meplat allows the bullet to deform at high velocity impacts into a very flat nearly double caliber meplat that creates pressure inside the animal that is very impressive. We have tested the cupped meplat sxs with a flat meplat that does not deform. The wound channel is significantly larger from the cupped meplat at all velocities, all the way down to subsonic. At high velocity the flat meplat will out penetrate the cupped meplat by a few inches.
We have been running this in our 338wm at a bit over 3300 fps. I shot my red stag last month in Argentina with this setup at 180y. He was hard quartered away. I slipped the bullet in front of his right hind quarter and exited the center of his left front shoulder. He dropped to the shot and wiggled on the ground and died. I thought maybe I hit the spine. I did not. The caliber sized entrance hole had about 6" of intestines hanging out of it and the exit hole was about the size of a quarter. When the stag was skinned, the entire offside shoulder and rib cage had blood under the hide. This was not caused by any kind of fragments. This bullet does not shed any weight. This was caused by massive internal pressure. I was stunned at the trauma caused. Up until this point, I really expected less stunning results and longer runs than we are accustomed to with Hammer Bullets. Not anymore!
As the owner of Hammer Bullets, I have always refrained from posting terminal performance pics of animals. If anyone wants to see pics of the skinned red stag, send me a direct message and I will share them privately.
I decided to put this .338 Cal-180gr Claw Hammer up on the website after a customer contacted us looking for a bullet to use in his 7" barrel 338 ARC. I think this bullet is perfect for this application.
hammerbullets.com
We have been running this in our 338wm at a bit over 3300 fps. I shot my red stag last month in Argentina with this setup at 180y. He was hard quartered away. I slipped the bullet in front of his right hind quarter and exited the center of his left front shoulder. He dropped to the shot and wiggled on the ground and died. I thought maybe I hit the spine. I did not. The caliber sized entrance hole had about 6" of intestines hanging out of it and the exit hole was about the size of a quarter. When the stag was skinned, the entire offside shoulder and rib cage had blood under the hide. This was not caused by any kind of fragments. This bullet does not shed any weight. This was caused by massive internal pressure. I was stunned at the trauma caused. Up until this point, I really expected less stunning results and longer runs than we are accustomed to with Hammer Bullets. Not anymore!
As the owner of Hammer Bullets, I have always refrained from posting terminal performance pics of animals. If anyone wants to see pics of the skinned red stag, send me a direct message and I will share them privately.
I decided to put this .338 Cal-180gr Claw Hammer up on the website after a customer contacted us looking for a bullet to use in his 7" barrel 338 ARC. I think this bullet is perfect for this application.
.338 Cal-180gr Claw Hammer® - Hammer Bullets
This 180gr .338 Cal Claw Hammer® utilizes our dangerous game bullet design with the cupped meplat. This cupped meplat is proven to create a larger permanent wound channel than a flat nosed bullet at slow impact velocities under 1500 fps. At high velocity impacts, above 2600 fps, this design...
hammerbullets.com
