Hammer bullets?

[mtmuley]

Stay tuned. They are doing some cool stuff as we speak. mtmuley

 

[brownbear932008]

I've been hiding off on looking at hammers for my 30-06 wanting to word up some loads for it. I just checked them think I'm gonna order some. I love his method of the honor rule on the military discount!

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Using em in a .257 Wby and .300 Rum. Tempted to switch dials on another couple of rigs for them. They run fast, accurate, and have, IMO, the best hands on support in the industry.

I've talked to them a couple times about custom loads and they were very helpful, definitely a for customer service.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I’ll throw this out there. At first, the cheapskate side of me couldn’t figure out why I should spend 15 bucks more per box on these than Barnes. I called Steve and we talked for about an hour. I was impressed with his knowledge and candor. I figured I would rather support a small Montana business so I bought a box. Loved how easy they were to load, and they worked great on the animals we shot with them. New load development is a breeze. Now, I don’t even balk at the price. I just order them and shoot them.

 

[PsRpOiGrRiAtM]

I’ll throw this out there. At first, the cheapskate side of me couldn’t figure out why I should spend 15 bucks more per box on these than Barnes. I called Steve and we talked for about an hour. I was impressed with his knowledge and candor. I figured I would rather support a small Montana business so I bought a box. Loved how easy they were to load, and they worked great on the animals we shot with them. New load development is a breeze. Now, I don’t even balk at the price. I just order them and shoot them.

I feel like I'm just about to follow in your footsteps. I've always liked Barnes for monos, but the way people extol the performance of Hammers, and the very visible effort that Steve puts into making a quality product and being available for questions/input has got me close to pulling the trigger on making the switch over to them. I'm really watching the tests of their new designs with a keen eye.

 

[MThuntr]

I feel like I'm just about to follow in your footsteps. I've always liked Barnes for monos, but the way people extol the performance of Hammers, and the very visible effort that Steve puts into making a quality product and being available for questions/input has got me close to pulling the trigger on making the switch over to them. I'm really watching the tests of their new designs with a keen eye.

Yeah I'm excited to see these 7mm 151s he's been messing with but of course I have probably 75 143HH to burn up first and that'll take years and even then I probably won't change it.

 

[midwesthunter]

They are worth checking out, so are the tipped bulldozers

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

The idea is to shed the 4 petals creating 5 moving pieces to damage the tissue. The petals move away from the base which continues on causing it's own damage on the way through the animal.

The last deer I shot, the bullet entered in behind the shoulder. 1 petal when up into the spine and another went into the heart. I have no idea where the other 2 went and the base exited creating a nice exit hole.

Here is a quote from Steve about how his bullets work

Thanks, that was very helpful. I understand the concept now. Figures I've got a ton of Barnes loaded up already. Time to find some target rich environments, I guess.

 

[noharleyyet]

Nothing wrong with Barnes, I've sent plenty of em successfully...it's just that Hammers scratch the OCD itch, to me anyway, better. Good marketing, good word of mouth from contemporaries, owner presence...matters.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Nothing wrong with Barnes, I've sent plenty of em successfully...it's just that Hammers scratch the OCD itch, to me anyway, better. Good marketing, good word of mouth from contemporaries, owner presence...matters.

One difference is price....
Barnes TTSX 180gr .308 cal $30 per 50,
Hammer Hunter 181 gr .308 cal $60 per 50

 

[noharleyyet]

One difference is price....
Barnes TTSX 180gr .308 cal $30 per 50,
Hammer Hunter 181 gr .308 cal $60 per 50

The price difference/rationale is mentioned upstream and, IMO, they're worth the difference....but yea, I get that part of the equation. I simply want to know I've assembled the best components for the job.....60 cents per launch isn't stopping me.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I understand...everything I've heard about Hammer bullets is excellent, but I've not heard anything bad about TTSX or Hornady GMX either.

Is this the most expensive mononith on the market?
Wonder why the are so expensive...twice the price of TTSX...economy of scale?

How could someone test their performance?
Shoot at a stack of 20 water filled milk jugs at 300 yards and see
which bullet penetrates thru the most milk jugs and retains the most weight?
Alternate milk jugs with 3 inches of plywood to simulate bone penetration?

Hammer bullets also are supposed to have minimum copper fouling...I'd like to see that tested.

I'd like to see comparison test results of Hammer, Barnes TTSX, Nozler E-tip, Hornady GMX...
is there a substantial difference in terms of terminal performance when compared under identical conditions?

 

[Deleted member 20812]

How could someone test their performance?

I'm not trying to speak for the owners of Hammer, just as someone who has used them. Comparing Hammers to the other monos is a little bit of apples and oranges. They aren't intended to work in the same way. Barnes, Nosler, and to my knowledge Hornaday monos are intended to mushroom and retain a very high percentage of weights. Hammers are intended to work like a Nosler Partition.

Steve has done some extensive field testing of the Hammers in South Africa and has plenty of write ups on his forum. To be fair, I've shot a pile of animals with Barnes TSX bullets over the years, and they work very well also.

Are Hammers better? I guess that depends on how you quantify better. Like NHY, the price doesn't stop me, the accuracy is exceptional, the fouling is very minimal, and the performance I've had thus far has been more than satisfactory. Plus, I get the personal satisfaction of supporting a small Montana based business. That has intrinsic worth to me as well.

 

[mtmuley]

I understand...everything I've heard about Hammer bullets is excellent, but I've not heard anything bad about TTSX or Hornady GMX either.

Is this the most expensive mononith on the market?
Wonder why the are so expensive...twice the price of TTSX...economy of scale?

How could someone test their performance?
Shoot at a stack of 20 water filled milk jugs at 300 yards and see
which bullet penetrates thru the most milk jugs and retains the most weight?
Alternate milk jugs with 3 inches of plywood to simulate bone penetration?

Hammer bullets also are supposed to have minimum copper fouling...I'd like to see that tested.

I'd like to see comparison test results of Hammer, Barnes TTSX, Nozler E-tip, Hornady GMX...
is there a substantial difference in terms of terminal performance when compared under identical conditions?

Don't buy or use them. Easy decision. mtmuley

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I'm not trying to speak for the owners of Hammer, just as someone who has used them. Comparing Hammers to the other monos is a little bit of apples and oranges. They aren't intended to work in the same way. Barnes, Nosler, and to my knowledge Hornaday monos are intended to mushroom and retain a very high percentage of weights. Hammers are intended to work like a Nosler Partition.

Steve has done some extensive field testing of the Hammers in South Africa and has plenty of write ups on his forum. To be fair, I've shot a pile of animals with Barnes TSX bullets over the years, and they work very well also.

Are Hammers better? I guess that depends on how you quantify better. Like NHY, the price doesn't stop me, the accuracy is exceptional, the fouling is very minimal, and the performance I've had thus far has been more than satisfactory. Plus, I get the personal satisfaction of supporting a small Montana based business. That has intrinsic worth to me as well.

Why not a side-by-side comparison at the range?
For example,

Would the TTSX have better penetration than hammers in this test?

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Why not a side-by-side comparison at the range?
For example,

Would the TTSX have better penetration than hammers in this test?

If someone wants to spend the time and money, they are free to. I'll gladly do it if the Hunt Talk commune wants to sponsor me and send me a box of each. Beyond that, I'm okay with what I'm using.

 

[noharleyyet]

406-261-0010

 

[noharleyyet]

If someone wants to spend the time and money, they are free to. I'll gladly do it if the Hunt Talk commune wants to sponsor me and send me a box of each. Beyond that, I'm okay with what I'm using.

...and the ball gel.

 

[mtmuley]

406-261-0010

Yep. Alaskahunter. You want side by side with TTSX and Hammers, I'll make it happen. Steve will first I bet. mtmuley

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Yep. Alaskahunter. You want side by side with TTSX and Hammers, I'll make it happen. Steve will first I bet. mtmuley

Yes!
Would this be a valid test using wet newspaper?

As a scientist, I realize their experiment design was flawed as they had a sample size of 1 for TTSX versus Accubond,
but if I did 10 TTSX versus 10 Hammers, with stacked wet newspaper would that be a good test of penetration difference?

Or would a stack of milk jugs filled with water behind 3 inches of wood be a more valid test?