Bullet type...

Hey tut,

This is one of the chores that I need to get after asap. When we started we only had the Hammer Hunter. I will soon get an explanation on the website.

The different bullet lines that we have currently are the Sledge Hammer, Hammer Hunter, Target Hammer, and the DeadBlow Hammer. We have a couple others that we are working on that will be coming in the future.

The Sledge Hammers are our line of bullets that we designed for normal range hunting, where bc is inconsequential. So for most cartridges 400y or less. The Sledge Hammer line is approximately an 80% weight retention bullet that has a larger hollow point for super quick opening on game with high retention for long straight penetration.

The Hammer Hunter line is our long range or high bc line of bullets. This was the original line of bullets. These bullets all have 1.5mm hollow point and are typically 60%-70% weight retention. There is no drop off in terminal performance from the Sledge Hammers. The only difference that we see on game is the Sledge Hammer will open up slightly quicker. We designed the Hammer Hunter with the 1.5mm hp as it was the smallest that we could get reliable expansion. We tried 1mm hp but it would not always do what we wanted on game. Failure is not an option. As far as we know there is no report of a failure of the Hammer Hunter to expand on game. There is always that chance and the larger hollow point on the Sledge Hammers reduces that risk.

I will be changing the name of the Heavy Hammers to Hammer Hunters. They are for all intents and purpose the same. They are bullets that we came up with for customers that had slow for caliber twist rifles. The goal here was to make as heavy a bullet as we could that still has the 1.5mm hollow point and still get as much bc as we could and maintain proper stability for good terminal performance. They typically have shortened boat tails and more baring surface to increase the weight to length ratio.

DeadBlow Hammers are Hammer Hunters that are designed to retain 40%-50% on impact. They simply have a very deep hollow point that causes them to shed much larger nose petals. We have a full line of these ready to go. I just have not had the time to get them up on the website. We hunted with these bullets last fall in MT and had very good results. I'll be honest, it is not exactly what we think a bullet should be, but we are looking to satisfy those who like a frangible bullet. Because they are pure copper they do not disintegrate like lead core bullets, so meat damage is still very light. The shed weight comes of in a few large pieces that do their own work. Think of 4 little 25g bullets along with the retained shank all penetrating deep in the animal. On game performance was actually very good. These bullets will be a bit more expensive due to the fact that is takes so long to drill the deep hole. If anyone is interested in DeadBlows shoot me a note. We can fill orders I just need to know what you are after.

Target Hammers are pretty self explanatory. Non expanding bullet designed for shooting targets not game.

Thanks for your patience, hope this helps.

Yes. The DeadBlow will wind up a grain or two lighter due to the deeper hollow point. Should be able to load them right on your Hammer Hunter load and see no difference. I wish we would have taken some of the DeadBlow Hammers to Africa. It was the only bullet that we did not have on the safari. We have always been high weight retention guys and then you hear all the stories of how tough the African animals are. We were just a bit unsure. Our confidence in all of our bullets is now very high. After seeing what we saw in Africa with all kinds of various calibers and weights and styles, along with varying impact vel from super high to neer 2000fps. It was all flawless. In fact we got the ringing endorsement of the professional hunters, that the "Hammers are the best bullet they have seen". They have a pretty short list of bullets that they like and a fairly long list of bullets that they do not like. To hear that from them was not expected at all. In fact at the beginning of the safari they were quite skeptical about our bullets and how we expected them to work. They were no different that hunters here. What we all think is normal with heavy for caliber and double caliber mushroom and so on.

We could not have been happier with bullet performance. As the designers and makers there is always that little thought of "I hope they work like we want them too". Especially when we were about to test them on the notorious African animals. The one thing that I don't think I have talked much about, that we have worked very hard on, is rapid expansion on impact. We have spent many hours of work on coming up with the right design and copper alloy that insures that our Hammer Bullets have rapid complete deformation on the impact. Often we would see roughly a caliber hole on the entrance in the hide, but going through the rib cage on the entrance would be a 3" hole. Often there would be lung chunks lodged between the rib cage and the hide on the entrance. The Sledge Hammers in particular showed this full expansion inside of 1". The large hollow point flat out hits hard.

Another thing that we saw on the video of Brian's management impala at 340y, was the pass through bullet impacting the dirt behind the animal, and then two smaller impacts in the dirt farther out on a bit of an angle. These were the shed petals that also passed through the animal. It was possible to see this due to the elevated shooting position and the open ground that the animals were on. This shot was with the 30cal 214g Hammer Hunter. This is a large long 30cal bullet that showed full expansion on a pretty small animal. The impala are a bit smaller than the typical full grown white tail. There were a few jackel taken with the Hammers and the bullets proved to be too tough on the hide as the exit hole was too large for good pelts. This is good data showing fully expanded bullet in a very narrow soft skinned animal. We will eventually be designing a non expanding bullet for the thin skinned animals that will have good terminal performance but not tear such big holes in the hide. Good for the small game like jackel and medium to small cats.

I would run the 117g Sledge Hammer. If you are not compressing with that load I would stay with that powder and start at 45g and work up. I would think you should see and extra 50 to 100fps over your current load. I would normally say you could start the 117g Sledge Hammer right on the current load with the Barnes since our bullets have quite a bit less pressure. 47g looks to be a pretty stout load, so always better to be cautious and safe.

Good to hear the petals carry through farther than I've been thinking. Thanks!