Hammer Bullet Customer

[RockyMtnMT]

I was at a school function a couple of weeks ago and met a gentleman that was very interested in shooting. He does most of his shooting at targets out to about 600y. I would not call him a bench rest guy but a guy that like precision. We talked about our Hammer Bullet company and he was very interested in coming and seeing how we make bullets. In our conversation I learned that he was shooting a .308 and wanted a target bullet that would run well in an 11" twist. We loosely made plans for him to come to the shop and see the operation. I contacted Brian that night and we went about designing a Target Hammer. The bullet design is pretty much identical to our Hammer Hunters, just without the hollow pt. We were aiming for a bullet in the 150g class. The bullet came in at 158g. I contacted Tom (the gentleman I met) and let him know that we had designed a bullet for his needs, and made a date to come out to the shop. He came out last Friday and I showed him around and how the bullets get made. He purchased a box of the 158g Target Hammers and got his free Hammer hat. I explained to him that he would be the first to shoot this particular bullet, so he was the guinea pig. I was sure they would be stellar as they are the same design as our hunting line of bullet minus the hollow pt. I told him to let me know if there was a problem and we would replace them. Also I wanted a report if they were good so we could move forward and get them on the web site for sale.

Yesterday I got a text from Tom with a pic of a target. Here is the text.

View attachment 62128

I can't get his text to attach so I'll quote him.

3 shots at 100yds. .057 center to center


He then says "and I was wearing my hat".

I asked him then how much load development. Here is his text back.

First 3 shots! .015 off the lands, had to single feed. 44.0 gr N140. Had ladder in 5 steps to 46.0 gr. Came home and seated to fit in magazine. Chronograph showed average velocity of 2663 at 15 ft ES, SD of 4.

He then says he will shoot the next set at .035" off the lands. I told him not to forget to wear his Hammer hat.

Had to post this up as it is pretty typical load development with the Hammer Bullets.

Steve

 

[MudRunner2005]

Steve, that's impressive. Are your new HT's a VLD design? Do you have any pictures of the bullets? Also, I wonder how well my 5R 11.25 would stabilize a HT 168 with a VLD design with a hybrid ogive (hint, hint...)...

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Steve, that's impressive. Are your new HT's a VLD design? Do you have any pictures of the bullets? Also, I wonder how well my 5R 11.25 would stabilize a HT 168 with a VLD design with a hybrid ogive (hint, hint...)...

Mud,

That would depend on a bunch of stuff. Elevation mostly. Not sure how long that 168g Hammer is. The 158g is 1.349" long and perfect for the 11" twist. You can still shoot very accurately with a marginally stable bullet and the target bullet only has to kill targets so I am not too worried about terminal performance. Doing a little calculating in my head and a 168 ish bullet would be pretty close to 1.5" long. I run those numbers in the twist calculator and you really need a 10" twist to run one in the 168g range.

Our ogive is tangent and shoots extremely well and at this point in time we do not intend to change it. Our bullets load develop in very few rounds and are seating depth insensitive. Maybe someday we will make some finicky bullets for you guys that like to shoot hundreds of rounds in order to get a load right. Actually that is a better business model isn't it? Harder to load develop translates into more bullets sold. Hmmm.

Steve

 

[MudRunner2005]

Mud,

That would depend on a bunch of stuff. Elevation mostly. Not sure how long that 168g Hammer is. The 158g is 1.349" long and perfect for the 11" twist. You can still shoot very accurately with a marginally stable bullet and the target bullet only has to kill targets so I am not too worried about terminal performance. Doing a little calculating in my head and a 168 ish bullet would be pretty close to 1.5" long. I run those numbers in the twist calculator and you really need a 10" twist to run one in the 168g range.

Our ogive is tangent and shoots extremely well and at this point in time we do not intend to change it. Our bullets load develop in very few rounds and are seating depth insensitive. Maybe someday we will make some finicky bullets for you guys that like to shoot hundreds of rounds in order to get a load right. Actually that is a better business model isn't it? Harder to load develop translates into more bullets sold. Hmmm.

Steve

That's what the numbers say about my 210 VLD loads, too...But it puts 5 inside the same ragged hole at 100.

The reason I was asking about the VLD-style was for the target bullets, to decrease drag and increase BC, just for your target bullet line. I just didn't know if y'all had messed with that at all. Once you figure out how to load the "finicky" bullets, you have have completely tuned-in loads tested down to the .1 grain, in 50 shots.

 

[HARPERC]

......Our bullets load develop in very few rounds and are seating depth insensitive. Maybe someday we will make some finicky bullets for you guys that like to shoot hundreds of rounds in order to get a load right. Actually that is a better business model isn't it? Harder to load develop translates into more bullets sold. Hmmm....................Steve

You bet now that barrels are cheap, and the good smith's have cleared their backlogs, we can go back shooting out barrels in load development.

I took 2 proven rifles on a road trip to Montana, and neither required any fiddling at all to shoot well.

We did have some operator error regarding scope adjustment, one shooter that couldn't acquire the correct target, and one trigger out of adjustment to the plus side of 10 lbs (no wonder the kids have been complaining)lightbulb.

The mail brought me today Hammer Hunters in .308, 166, and 181. Plan is to load for a Ruger #1, that I haven't shot much, but best I can say is adequate to date. So my goals are limited, but with luck I can get a shot or 2 downrange tomorrow.

Mud, If you have a shooter in .308, and are interested, PM me an address, and I'll send you a handful of the 166 HH, and see if they come together as quickly as they have for me.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Here is a pic of the 30158TH.

Shoots lights out.

 

[yorke-1]

Our ogive is tangent and shoots extremely well and at this point in time we do not intend to change it. Our bullets load develop in very few rounds and are seating depth insensitive. Maybe someday we will make some finicky bullets for you guys that like to shoot hundreds of rounds in order to get a load right. Actually that is a better business model isn't it? Harder to load develop translates into more bullets sold. Hmmm.

Steve

Now that's funny!

Do you expect to see a meaningful increase in BC by going to a closed nose instead of a hollow point?

 

[tbrice23]

Now that's funny!

Do you expect to see a meaningful increase in BC by going to a closed nose instead of a hollow point?

It's probably only a minimal increase in BC.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Now that's funny!

Do you expect to see a meaningful increase in BC by going to a closed nose instead of a hollow point?

1.5mm hole down to a point I am sure will make a fair difference.

Steve