Smaller blood trail with Hammer bullets?

[Chesapeake Elmer]

I've killed 3 deer with the 123 AH and 124 HH .264 cal hammers, two dropped at the shot and the third ran 50 yards. The one that ran left little blood in the beginning as it ran up hill but I found that was due to one of the petals severing the top of the heart.

No pump plus double lung height hole leads to all the blood pooling in the chest with very little blood exiting.

I have 3 people hunting with them this year so I should have more terminal performance data after our rifle season in a few weeks.

killed two whitetail bucks this weekend....both @ 200 yards. bullet placement 2" behind shoulder, slightly high(just above center). both bucks ran 60-70 yards with absolutely no blood trails. 257 wby ,92 gr hammers , 3700 fps.

 

[elkaholic]

I shot 3 animals this fall with 270 grain shock Hammers and didn't need any blood trail. Elk at 250, bear at 250, and deer at 100. All DRT.
It was a 375 Yukon though!

 

[Reemty J]

Elkaholic, one would surmise large calibers ( like the Yukon ) would arrive with more authority than a 6.5 and the shock wave would be considerable and impressive

 

[QuietTexan]

killed two whitetail bucks this weekend....both @ 200 yards. bullet placement 2" behind shoulder, slightly high(just above center). both bucks ran 60-70 yards with absolutely no blood trails. 257 wby ,92 gr hammers , 3700 fps.

That matches my experience. I shot a spike last year that might as have died of fright for the absolute lack of blood around the carcass. Literally none on the ground.

Mind you it was laying dead right where I shot it so tracking wasn't an issue, but I couldn't even find the out hole until it was hung and skinned. Haven't seen anything like it other than one time I shot a buck high through the brachial plexus with a 30-30.

 

[snox801]

Took my father in law out this weekend for deer. Shot a very nice sized deer. Lots and lots of blood. Other times nothing. But as someone who has taken an average of 12-15 a year with many different kinds of rounds. I can tell you it's more the animals than the bullets best best is hole in hole out after that not much you can expect a bullet to do.

Perfect example few years back I shot a doe with my .257 and 115 nosler first doe dropped zero blood second one same distance everything was the same except one bleed like nothing I've seen and the other didn't. Heck even had deer with 20gauge slugs not leak.
Very interesting how they each act different

 

[sambo3006]

I just shot a whitetail buck at about 60 yards with a 90 gr Absolute Hammer at 3800 fps from my .257 Weatherby mag. Quartering away shot. Shredded the lungs and destroyed the top of the heart. Exit was on the front of the opposite shoulder but did not hit the shoulder bone. The exit wound was small. There was another hole in the far side rib cage, most likely from a petal that did not exit the hide. 30 yard blood trail was not extreme but was easy to follow. A cup and core probably would not have held up at that velocity, and internal damage was substantially more than I've gotten with Barnes TTSX, Nosler E tip, and Hornady GMX bullets. I'm quite pleased with the performance.

 

[FrogFire7]

I was initially concerned about this, having switched to hammers this year but having used gmx the last few (with little/no blood from the gmx).

Two doe down so far this season. If anything, I'm a little surprised how much damage if had, and the blood trails have been fine (not that either doe went more than 40 yards or so, both were good broadside lung shots). So far so good!

Specs for inquiring minds: .284 hammer hunter 90 grain, muzzle velocity 3,300. Both shots around 100 yards.

 

[snox801]

Well just to add to my statement of it being more animal specific. My uncle shot a deer yesterday with his 500 sw and perfect double lungs perfect holes in both lungs two holes. We have snow and it ran about 50-60 yards zero blood in the snow. Not a spec. He slowed to a walk and tipped over. Insides were full of blood and it wasn't a hammer but bullet did what it was supposed to at 30 yards. But I was in disbelief it didn't leak. My uncle was sure he hit it but after about 30 yards he said maybe I didn't.

 

[CMP70306]

killed two whitetail bucks this weekend....both @ 200 yards. bullet placement 2" behind shoulder, slightly high(just above center). both bucks ran 60-70 yards with absolutely no blood trails. 257 wby ,92 gr hammers , 3700 fps.

Used Hammers last two years and while they killed everything we shot with them they didn't have the reactions at impact that my Dad and brother were used to when hitting deer with the Hornady SST. They wanted to go back to lead for this year so I loaded 178 ELD-X for my brother's 30-06 and my Dad shot factory 180 ELD-Ms for his 7 PRC.

I have the 125 HHT loaded in my 6.5 PRC but am sharing 30-06 ammo with my brother as my rifle got finished 3 days before the season so no chance to do load work ups on the 163gr HHT. I happened to be carrying that rifle when I took my buck and don't know if I'll kill another deer this year.

 

[Tiny Tim]

I've shot a dozen or so whitetails with the 80 gr HH. None bled much, although they were in the upper half of the chest cavity. One went about 50 yards. Rest were boom-flops.

It leaves a small caliber sized exit if you don't hit bone. All that said, I have zero reservations about their continued use.