Best Hammer for Elk

Nomosendero

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
Messages
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Location
Pocahontas, AR
Best for this situation I should say.
My Wife drew an Arkansas Elk tag. Her favorite rifle is a 6.5x55 in a Swedish Mauser and her other rifle is a Ruger 6.5 CM.
She prefers the Swede, She has harvested 2 Elk in the past, both with the 140 grain Nos. Part. which is very lethal.
She likes the low recoil and with the 6.5, I told her it is fine to 300 yds for Elk, that's as far as she wants to shoot anyway.
I have some 143 ELDX, 139 Scenar, 140 Gold Dot and 130 gr. Accubonds to load, so not hurting.
But the 140 Nos Part is nearly impossible to buy, the ones I saw were pricey, if I go pricey I may as well try Hammer bullets.

So, with the self imposed limit of 300 yds, most likely less than that, for those here who have actually used Hammers for Elk, which hammer would you use? I believe her Swede to have a 1-7.5 twist and the backup CM to be a 1-8.
My leanings right now is the 124 HH but what say you?
 
This is a buddy of mine's daughter with her bull from last year taken with a 6.5 CM. It is not the first one that has fallen with that rifle either.

1819ABEA-2AF0-44A0-B57E-77C5EC7D2B1A.jpeg
 
124 Hammer good all around.
300 yard distance you mentioned the 130 or 134 Shock Hammers would be great.
Personally I would go too the 123 gr absolute and squeeze another 150 fps out of it , that will really make the Swede shine ,. I would expect 3100 fps plus with the 123 absolute , you also might consider the 131 gr hammer if the Swede has a 1-7.5 twist , that bullet will out perform any 140 plus weight bullet in the 6.5 cal , 300 yds and in you have all you need and then some.
 
6.5 CM with 143 ELDX got the job done on a cow elk at 450 yards. Bullet was stuck in the far side hide. Dead is dead, it did the job, but I would not recommend it.

I would go the extra dollars for the confidence you would have in the Hammers. When adding up the extra money you spend on the adventure of a lifetime, don't forget the cost of another freezer!
 
When it comes to choosing which Hammer to run, the technical side is twist rate. As long as you have enough to meet the minimum required twist listed, or faster, then performance will be very good. After that it becomes a personal preference.

For the distance you are hunting to I would lean to higher velocity. I am personally loading my new 20" creedmoor with the 85g Hammer Hunter. Intent for this rifle is big game out to about 400y. This combo will run about 3500 fps with a full dose of Varget.

"2588.3"
https://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi#:~:text=2.3-,2588.3,-2.343

I ran some quick numbers at 3000' elev. Hopefully this link works. You can see that at 300y the impact velocity is 2650 fps! Dang near the muzzle velocity of the 140g ish bullets. I am assuming you have longer barrels in both rifles? I would expect you to see another 100-200 fps increase in velocity over the 3500 fps I used.

Looking forward to your wife's successful elk hunt!
 

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