Hammer Bullets Design Question

[JD338]

Seems to be a rising interest in Hammer Bullets. They are offered in many calibers and weights.
Seems that they are extremely accurate, effective on game and available.
As I navigate through the offerings, the only pictures of recovered bullets show the shank, and the petals are gone.
Is this how the bullet is designed to perform? The Barnes x bullets show the petals intact. The E Tips that I've recovered also have the petals intact as well.
What are you Hammer guys seeing?

JD338

 

[nhenry]

Hammers are designed to shed their petals, sending them in different directions (which causes damage) while the square nosed shank drives through, causing displacement and more damage. That's at high velocities, though. At lower velocities, they act like any other mono. They're good down to pretty low velos because of their design.

It's a way different way to think when all you see is Barnes' perfect mushrooms, but they're dependable

It's got some solid theory behind it and they test every single bullet they release thoroughly to make sure they have a good product.

 

[Guy Miner]

I've got a couple of boxes of 248 grain Hammer bullets for my 375 H&H.

Looking forward to testing 'em.

Guy

 

[JD338]

I've got a couple of boxes of 248 grain Hammer bullets for my 375 H&H.

Looking forward to testing 'em.

Guy

Guy
I'm looking forward to hearing about your results

JD338

 

[AFG270]

I have not recovered any Hammers from game, so I shot one into water jugs with my 22.250. The shank was in the 5th jug and it mushroomed. The 1st and 2nd jugs were completely destroyed and some petals were in the 3rd jug.

 

[hunter24605]

There’s a YouTube video of Ron Spomer interviewing Steve from Hammer. It’s pretty long, but dives deep into the bullet’s design. Sold me on them. He said in their testing the petals break away and track along with the shank. Sometimes even exiting close to the shanks exit.

 

[ShadeTree]

I've been on their site different times in the last year surfing around looking at different bullets. They interest me, problem is I don't really need them as of yet so I haven't bought any. Heck they're even making a light for caliber 157 grain 348 bullet that ought to be both tough and a screamer at that weight. Any way you look at it they're another option that appears to work, and that's a good thing! I wish them success.

 

[RL338]

As I navigate through the offerings, the only pictures of recovered bullets show the shank, and the petals are gone.
Is this how the bullet is designed to perform?

I think they are on to what Berger’s bullets do , upon entering dump a ton of energy without spraying lead all over.

 

[noslerpartition]

Actually the idea is not that new.

We have that design in Europe for 20 years now.

And I use a similar design for more than ten years and didn't look back.
Lead free and results more like lead.

Distance might be a bit limited depending on nose design, but for me they are great.
I found one that is even cheaper than most lead bullets!

 

[gbflyer]

I have found the shock hammer line to be accurate and easy to load in .338 and .308 cal. I also have a box in 6mm 70gr for my 6x45 which I have not tried yet. Even throughout the big component shortage they got all of my orders out in less than a week, typically the next day. Someone must be making bullets around the clock. They catch some flack on a few forums for overstating their ballistic coefficient numbers. I don’t go long on game so that’s of no concern to me. I have exchanged emails with Steve, very approachable and responsive.

 

[Thebear_78]

Of the 4 animals I have harvested with the 124gr 6.5 hammer hunter the terminal performance was outstanding. 2 caribou and 2 whaitetails.

One whitetail doe was a straight on shot at base of the neck/brisket, at 120 yards, dropped at the shot. Lungs were scrambled

Another was a whitetail buck classic broadside shot, traveled about 30-40 yards after the shot. Lungs scrambled, good blood trail.

A small caribou bull at 90 yards, classic broadside shot. Lungs completely destroyed, could see clouds of steam coming out of the exit. Dropped at the shot.

Another caribou, 280 yards high shoulder/spine shot. Dropped at the shot, lungs completely destroyed.

All exited and had very little meat damage. I’d say the design works very well, at least on broadside shots. I haven’t tried at at angles yet.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I've used them in 270 Win, 7mm Wby and 300 Wby, and loaded them in 30-06 for a friend's elk hunt.
When they shoot well in a rifle, they generally shoot extremely well. I have had a few rifles (300WSM, 6mm Rem) that didn't seem to like them.

I have used them on deer, antelope and now elk.
I have pictures of their internal performance on a recent cow elk hunt, but those photos are on my Dad's camera, and he's out of town for a few weeks. These show the entrance wound and the path of at least 2 of the 3 petals that broke off. Each did damage to the lungs on the way through.
Generally, they are one-shot kills, especially on deer and atnelope. On 5 elk this month I can't say that they worked any better or worse than the Barnes TTSX as both worked very well. In my experience, copper bullets are "the" bullet type for elk.

 

[FOTIS]

Yes the petals are meant to detach and do further damage. The shank is meant to be totally flat meplat..... like a cast bullet...... which we all know works very well for hunting it displaces a lot of tissue

 

[Joec7651]

I would love to give them a try and see how they shoot. I just haven’t been able to justify the purchase, and load development. I have a lot of E-Tips and Partitions I would need to burn through first, and I don’t usually shoot them at the range. I love the design of Hammers.

 

[SJB358]

I haven’t taken any game with them yet but man are they easy to make accurate.

Seems like some excellent results from them across the board and i applaud them for filling a niche where others couldn’t here in the states.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I would love to give them a try and see how they shoot. I just haven’t been able to justify the purchase, and load development. I have a lot of E-Tips and Partitions I would need to burn through first, and I don’t usually shoot them at the range. I love the design of Hammers.

I have a lot of Partitions, E-Tips and Accubonds as well.
However, I'm gradually working my rifles over to copper bullets and will probably sell the others. Between the excellent copper bullet performance plus lead-in-meat issues, there isn't much reason not to do it. One tank of gas in the truck costs more than load development.

 

[FOTIS]

Personally I love the accuracy they produce and availability!