I concur
Whats the advantage of Hammer rounds ?
- Thread starter Kelljp
- Start date
Help Support Long Range Hunting Forum
deaddownrange
Well-Known Member
I am a Hammer fan, and I agree with your statement, but we are talking about going with lighter bullets....
nealm66
Well-Known Member
It will be interesting to see what my neighbor thinks of the absolute when he starts killing coyotes with them . They have livestock and he just wants them dead. He has been shooting a little varmint bullet that he says is wicked and explodes inside but the range isn't great. He's doing his own load work and extremely busy guy so it might be a while before he's done.
shinbone
Well-Known Member
The rifle community is a tradition oriented group, and consequently slow to change. Part of this is because it is an old sport, and so attracts people who like the tradition, and, also, it is dominated by old guys who "have seen it all", and thus have closed their minds to change. Heck, there are legions of folks who say the 30-06 is still the best hunting cartridge, despite the many better cartridges in existence. (Not saying the 30-06 is a bad cartridge, just that there have been improvements in case, powder, and bullet design in the last 100 years, and the 30-06 is no longer the optimum design it once was.)
The traditional lead cup-and-core bullets were a game changer when they were introduced. They revolutionized ballistics, rifle design, and hunting methods. C-n-C bullets took over the shooting world, and rightly so. C-n-C bullets performed differently than the previous cast bullet designs, and thus needed to be loaded differently to realize their potential. It is obvious to us now, but only an ignorant person would load a C-n-C bullet like it was a cast bullet and expect C-n-C performance.
C-n-C bullets kill by gross tissue destruction. The terminal ballistics are defined by temporary and permanent wound channels caused by the rounded, domed, mushroomed front surface of the expanded lead core. Also, a C-n-C bullet will lose about 40% of its weight at impact, and that lost 40% contributes little-to-nothing in killing the animal. In other words, if you need a 100 gr bullet to kill the animal, you need to launch a 140 gr bullet, with the accompanying loss of muzzle velocity and increased recoil.
But, fortunately, humans are driven to innovate and technology never stops improving.
(here's where the tradition-bound hunting community does its face plant) Hammer Bullets, and similar monolithic designs, have a different structure and kill by a different mechanism compared to C-n-C bullets. These newer designs kill by hydrostatic shock. Upon impact, the bullet sheds its front petals, which go on to do their own damage, and the now-flat front of the bullet shank drives a hydrostatic shock wave through the tissue. (This in contrast to older monolithic designs which mimic C-n-C bullets by mushrooming). The hydrostatic shock wave is caused by the flat shape of the leading surface of the bullet combined with the speed of the bullet's impact. The shock wave disrupts/destroys tissue over a larger volume than the wound cavity of a C-n-C bullet, and thus kills the animal quicker, frequently nearly instantly. It is common to see entire organs turned to jelly by the shock wave relatively far away from the bullet's path. Additionally, the bullet shank almost always exits to reliably produce two holes for better blood loss. Since almost all the weight of the bullet contributes to killing, a lighter weight bullet will do the job, which also means you get more speed, and you reap the benefits of the "V^2" term in "E= ½MV^2". In other words, Hammer bullets is game-changing new technology, similar to when C-n-C bullets were introduced.
The result being, don't shoot a Hammer bullet like it is a C-n-C bullet. For Hammer bullets, choose a traditionally light-for-caliber bullet weight, and run it super fast. As seen from some of the data posted here and in other threads, a handloader can run Hammer bullets surprisingly fast. If you choose to run Hammer bullets, your gun will shoot like a laser and produce extremely quick kills.
In addition to excellent terminal performance, most users report that Hammer bullets are extremely easy to work up an accurate load.
One kill doesn't prove anything, but this is an example of typical Hammer bullet performance:
hammerbullets.boards.net
The traditional lead cup-and-core bullets were a game changer when they were introduced. They revolutionized ballistics, rifle design, and hunting methods. C-n-C bullets took over the shooting world, and rightly so. C-n-C bullets performed differently than the previous cast bullet designs, and thus needed to be loaded differently to realize their potential. It is obvious to us now, but only an ignorant person would load a C-n-C bullet like it was a cast bullet and expect C-n-C performance.
C-n-C bullets kill by gross tissue destruction. The terminal ballistics are defined by temporary and permanent wound channels caused by the rounded, domed, mushroomed front surface of the expanded lead core. Also, a C-n-C bullet will lose about 40% of its weight at impact, and that lost 40% contributes little-to-nothing in killing the animal. In other words, if you need a 100 gr bullet to kill the animal, you need to launch a 140 gr bullet, with the accompanying loss of muzzle velocity and increased recoil.
But, fortunately, humans are driven to innovate and technology never stops improving.
(here's where the tradition-bound hunting community does its face plant) Hammer Bullets, and similar monolithic designs, have a different structure and kill by a different mechanism compared to C-n-C bullets. These newer designs kill by hydrostatic shock. Upon impact, the bullet sheds its front petals, which go on to do their own damage, and the now-flat front of the bullet shank drives a hydrostatic shock wave through the tissue. (This in contrast to older monolithic designs which mimic C-n-C bullets by mushrooming). The hydrostatic shock wave is caused by the flat shape of the leading surface of the bullet combined with the speed of the bullet's impact. The shock wave disrupts/destroys tissue over a larger volume than the wound cavity of a C-n-C bullet, and thus kills the animal quicker, frequently nearly instantly. It is common to see entire organs turned to jelly by the shock wave relatively far away from the bullet's path. Additionally, the bullet shank almost always exits to reliably produce two holes for better blood loss. Since almost all the weight of the bullet contributes to killing, a lighter weight bullet will do the job, which also means you get more speed, and you reap the benefits of the "V^2" term in "E= ½MV^2". In other words, Hammer bullets is game-changing new technology, similar to when C-n-C bullets were introduced.
The result being, don't shoot a Hammer bullet like it is a C-n-C bullet. For Hammer bullets, choose a traditionally light-for-caliber bullet weight, and run it super fast. As seen from some of the data posted here and in other threads, a handloader can run Hammer bullets surprisingly fast. If you choose to run Hammer bullets, your gun will shoot like a laser and produce extremely quick kills.
In addition to excellent terminal performance, most users report that Hammer bullets are extremely easy to work up an accurate load.
One kill doesn't prove anything, but this is an example of typical Hammer bullet performance:
124gn Hammer Hunter on Antelope | Hammer Time
(Please let me know if I should be posting this in a different sub-forum) Just got back from an antelope hunt where I took my first animals with a Hammer bullet. Terminal performan
Last edited:
The question was:
"Does the increase in velocity make a bullet (hammer) more lethal?"
Answer:
"Yes it does because the amount of energy is determined by the velocity and bullet weight, but not equally. Velocity has a larger affect on energy than the bullet weight:"
Last edited:
killed a bull with a 300wsm and 166 hammer hunter this year. I ended up with a slightly compressed load of H4350 loaded at factory length (2.860?). right around 3050fps with a 22in barrel.
Follow the required twist rates from the website closely.
Follow the required twist rates from the website closely.
That's good to hear. I have a 7 Max gettin put together and hoping I can get 4350 to work in it with the heavier 150gn + bullets to work in it
deaddownrange
Well-Known Member
Thanx I'm still learning
We all are. Everyday man!
deaddownrange
Well-Known Member
Not to hijack a post but.... I've been shooting 123 and 124 Hammers in my 6.5cm, should I be shooting lighter bullets? I have been shooting 143ELDX for awhile now with great accuracy and awesome terminal performance, so I'm a little late to the Hammer party, when I find something that works I stick with it, but I like the Hammers and I have a bunch to load up, just havent shot any animals with them yet.
Same same. If it's not broken don't fix it.
Shoot the heaviest one you can stabilize within your twist rate. If your rifle likes it, and it meets your require min requirement for the type of hunting your doing, then not really any reason to change it. Being it's a hunting rifle, The range at which that min velocity of 1800 FPS for proper expansion comes into play will establish if that bullets going o work for your needs or not.
You can always run some numbers with the lighter bulleta and then compare the lighter faster ones against the heavier slower ones and see which comes out on top. It'll be somewhat hypothetical until you get out a confirm, but it'll give you an idea on whether it's worth it to test or not.
Last edited:
shinbone
Well-Known Member
JMHO: On anything less than elk, I bet you would get great terminal performance with the 97gr and 109gn AH, and the 99gr and 110gr HH bullets.
Last edited:
I want to correct my original Post about Hammers having "Excellent B.C.". I am not a LR hunter, as 375 or so really makes me pucker up...but they are "slick enough" to help me cut down a bit on the wind drift. I hate the Wind!! Arrgh!
I concur with everything stated about the hammers. I shoot them in 2 rifles. A 25-06 (92gr HH) and a 7mm RM (146gr HH). Took me 30 rounds to come up with a good load for my 25 and 20 rounds for the 7. Both have excellent velocity and are .3-.5 moa. I have not seen groupings bigger than that. I haven't shot anything with them yet, since I just developed the loads. But cant wait to try them out this fall.
