New Weatherby Load

[jhjimbo]

Weatherby now loads the 'Hammer' bullet in the .300WbyMag.

[DakotaMan]

That is a good bullet for sure. My friend shoots in extra long range competitions around the country and has used the Hammer all the time in his 300 Norma Magnum until the Hornady 250g A-Tip came out. That is a real good one too. Both of these bullets are made for extreme precision. Because of the cost, the only reason I'd use one of these bullets myself would be for very long range target shooting.

There are plenty of less expensive but great bullets for highly reliable hunting use out to 1,000 yards. However, if I had to pay $10,000+ for my shooting platform and also need to spend $1,500 on plane tickets, $500 on hotel, $300 on car rental and almost $5 per round in a single contest, paying $.50 a round more is not a show stopper.

[Ernie]

Plan to use the 166 grain Hammer Hunter with my 300 SAUM center-grip XP-100 build: Elk XP!

[fitch270]

Anyone who can afford to shoot these loads ain’t complaining about the price of gas, lol!

$9 a pop.

🤑

[jhjimbo]

$9 I would guess are for the large calibers - safari grade. Regular .300WbyMag probably list in the $65 a box range. I have bought some for $40 a box which is equivalent or lower to other premium brands.

[jhjimbo]

Fitch, the new 'Hammer' bullet line is almost hand made/turned. Competitors and Hunters alike can not say enough about their product line.
Here is the Weatherby Ammo list with list prices.
https://weatherby.com/ammunition/cartridges/

[fitch270]

$9 I would guess are for the large calibers - safari grade. Regular .300WbyMag probably list in the $65 a box range. I have bought some for $40 a box which is equivalent or lower to other premium brands.

Look at the photo I posted, it’s from Weatherby’s website and shows the price of $179.00 when you choose the 170gr Hammers in 300 Weatherby.

I’m aware of the bullets. Intriguing but not necessary for the type of hunting I do.

[jhjimbo]

Long range competitors and hunters , 500yds +, speak highly of the hammers so must be paying the price.

[Ernie]

Roll your own and the cost isn't so prohibitive, especially when hunting. Their hunting bullets are more designed out to mid-range distances. They work better with more speed.

[FirstBubba]

fitch270 is right, Joe Schmoe with a home mortgage, a car payment, three kids and an hourly 9 to 5 that sits down before each payday to work up a budget with the wife and scrimps and saves every year for a deer lease or a hunting trip, clothing for kids and wife, fuel and home maintenance; probably won't look twice at $180/box ammo, regardless of how good the bullets are.
.....not that they may not be worth it, they're just not realistic.

[fitch270]

Roll your own and the cost isn't so prohibitive, especially when hunting. Their hunting bullets are more designed out to mid-range distances. They work better with more speed.

I first heard about these when I started handloading just before components started getting scarce. At the time I wasn’t seeing much in the way of load data so I didn’t give them much consideration. Figured it would be better to start out with well known info from both safety and cost considerations (ie load development). I’ve kept them in the back of my mind though in case NY ends up going lead free. The price isn’t far out of line with other premium mono bullets, which kinda makes the factory offerings a head scratcher price wise. I haven’t yet read about a monolithic bullet that didn’t like speed 😎.

[jhjimbo]

Why do some Hammer bullets have 3 or 4 groves on the side and others have twice as many?

[Ernie]

Bullets have different design purposes.

[WA Mtnhunter]

Why do some Hammer bullets have 3 or 4 groves on the side and others have twice as many?

Various Barnes bullets have different number and spacing of grooves. I imagine the Hammer and other coppers do for the same reasons: pressure relief, BC, bore riding considerations, accuracy, etc. I can’t see any improvement in terminal performance over Barnes TTSX and LRX of similar weights. I haven’t used the TSX on game enough to quantify, but they shot great in my .30-06. I can’t speak to the Federal and Winchester flavors of copper bullets.

[DakotaMan]

Why do some Hammer bullets have 3 or 4 groves on the side and others have twice as many?

Barnes discovered shortly after they began making monolithic bullets that copper fouling can kill accuracy. Copper fouling builds up way faster in monolithic bullets than it does in jacketed lead bullets. Barnes proved early in the game that engraved rings around the outside of the bullet significantly reduce copper fouling. Since that time, monolithic bullet makers have been following that strategy.

GS Customs Bullets take their bullet design a big step further. They reduce the bullet's overall diameter to the groove diameter of the bore and raise several copper rings down the length of the bullet to make contact with the rifling. That bullet succeeds in producing minimal copper fouling while enabling significantly higher velocities at the same time, due to reduced bore friction. My testing of their 291g .375 bullet in my .375 H&H allowed over 200 fps higher velocity and phenomenal long range accuracy.

My buddy and I just inspected his 375 CheyTac extra long range rifle's bore yesterday after over 300 rounds of Hammers and Hornady A-Tips. The first half of the bore contained several thousandths of an inch of ceramic-like baked carbon covered by several thousandths of an inch of copper. The copper was thick and solid on both the riffling and in the grooves. It took three passes of SemiChrome paste to remove all this and get down to solid steel bore.

All of this severe copper fouling is why Barnes originally developed their CR-10 copper solvent. Now there are many brands of copper solvent but if you shoot these big monolithic bullets, be sure to clean copper after every use to maintain accuracy.