6.5shaggy
Well-Known Member
My son and I made a late afternoon stroll to see if we could catch a buck running does or at least pop a swine mooching off my wheat. No deer but there was a lonely adolescent boar out rooting around. With the rangefinder and his custom 257 WBY 7.5 twist we made a short walk to gain a little elevation to be able to shoot over some grass between us and the hog. We went prone with good line of sight and the Leica quickly said 349 yards. 0.6 MIL dialed for a 121 Hammer hunter at 3400, I called a right hold for the wind and shouldn't have. A perfect Hammertrail followed the 121 to an impact a bit high on the neck between the shoulder and ear of the 150-170 lb Boar, passed thru and kicked up dirt on the back side. Dropped him, but he staggered back to his feet and stumbled into the earlier mentioned grass. I heard him crash and assumed he was DRT. Well we made it closer and found him just in time to see him wobbling into a creek bottom some 300 yards away. We looked for a few minutes but its hard to track in such a high traffic area and didn't see any blood so we headed back to the truck.
Now maybe the Hammer failed to open fully with no bone impact in the fatty part of the neck. Maybe a Berger would have had massive wounding and killed him. Hard to know anything other than the bullet didn't go where it should have. Which brings me to the next chapter…..
About 20 minutes later we see a boar of equal size, closer. He sees us and calls no joy, he's heading straight away and no sign of stopping. I said 'Let him have it". The 'Oklahoma Head Shot' was the only option but he dropped, squealed, and flopped. It was over in less than 5 seconds. We then walked out the 220 yards to give inspection. I didn't bother opening him up for wound cavity but the 121 entered just below and right of tail head and I don't know where it stopped but it got far enough there was blood coming from his nose and mouth. Probably 18-24 plus inches of hip, guts, liver etc. and obvious instantly DEAD.
There is a lot of discussion and some out right arguing on here about Hammer bullets vs the world. I have just started using them and am impressed thus far for what I use them for. I still use Berger in most my other rifles for their given applications, but for anything under 600 yards with my calibers the Hammer looks to be a very viable option. Shot placement is still key, but this story I thought might give some insight on what Hammers are capable of. It was just coincidence it happened 20 minutes apart.
Now maybe the Hammer failed to open fully with no bone impact in the fatty part of the neck. Maybe a Berger would have had massive wounding and killed him. Hard to know anything other than the bullet didn't go where it should have. Which brings me to the next chapter…..
About 20 minutes later we see a boar of equal size, closer. He sees us and calls no joy, he's heading straight away and no sign of stopping. I said 'Let him have it". The 'Oklahoma Head Shot' was the only option but he dropped, squealed, and flopped. It was over in less than 5 seconds. We then walked out the 220 yards to give inspection. I didn't bother opening him up for wound cavity but the 121 entered just below and right of tail head and I don't know where it stopped but it got far enough there was blood coming from his nose and mouth. Probably 18-24 plus inches of hip, guts, liver etc. and obvious instantly DEAD.
There is a lot of discussion and some out right arguing on here about Hammer bullets vs the world. I have just started using them and am impressed thus far for what I use them for. I still use Berger in most my other rifles for their given applications, but for anything under 600 yards with my calibers the Hammer looks to be a very viable option. Shot placement is still key, but this story I thought might give some insight on what Hammers are capable of. It was just coincidence it happened 20 minutes apart.
