Okay, May I change the subject just a little bit? Can anyone give me recoil amounts with the 300 Ham'r? I have plenty of the 130 HC loaded up but if there is a load that will take deer just as well, I would appreciate that information. I have the 300 Ham'r with the 18" barrel. BTW I am asking about the recoil because of health problem, in my case for the time being, the less the better as long as it is sufficient to take deer. Thanks Daniel

Yes....it's physics....the Copper Creek 110 grain controlled Chaos will have less recoil than a 130 grain bullet. Now the question is will you be able to tell? I don't know I shoot the 130 HC and they aren't bad at all. I also have an 11" barrel setup and shoot suppressed 100% of the time so I'm also running an adjustable gas block...tuning your gas block properly can have a big impact on recoil. I was shocked how much more felt recoil I had in my setup when I took off the suppressor and shot it.

Good luck and I hope you get to feeling better.

I second what Judd said.. it’s been my experience in other calibers going down in bullet weight typically reduces recoil. Doing that, adj gas block and suppressor should tame it it to near nothing.

Agree completely with Judd and Rooster, reducing the bullet weight will soften the recoil. Either the Speer 110gr HOT-COR or the 110gr Lehigh Controlled Chaos will do fine on deer. I have both here at the ranch if you want to try some. Suppressors do the most to reduce recoil, but you aint gonna get one before deer season.........

I am new to this forum and have just signed up because of the HAMR interest. I already have a 5.56 and a 6.5G.
But I always wanted a little bit more power or bigger wound at the target and I think I found what I am looking for. I am getting a new barrel soon.

So my questions are about the twist rate in 16" barrel:

• What is the difference in accuracy between 1/13 and 1/15 twist rate?
• I know the faster the twist the more stable a longer bullet is. But do we have numbers for these accuracy?
• And how is the 1/13 doing with the "lighter" bullets, such 125, 130 and 135? are we losing a lot?

Thank you

The 1-15 will shoot all bullet weights well, but the longer 150gr bullets "could" become unstable in temps below 0, especially in a 14.7" barrel. Basically if your going to use the weapon in sub 0 weather with 150gr go with the 1-13, otherwise the 1-15 is the best all around choice. We expected the 1-13 barrels to shoot 150gr better than the 1-15, but so far this hasn't proved to be true. During our initial testing we found twist rates from 1-11.5 to 1-15 all shot acceptable, but the 1-15 consistently shot the best. Right now due to the high demand we're not even running 1-13 barrels.

Thank you Mr Wilson for your fast reply here!
Fair enough then, I only wanted to understand the major difference. I have ordered an 18" barrel Tac Hunter instead. If I like it, then I may add a 16" for all arrounder.
Awesome people here by the way...

Welcome to the forum and unlike most of the other gun related forums I have found this forum to be Ahole free, well except for DJ -:) and is the only forum I'm active on. Yes, good people here!!!

Thank you Mr Wilson.

This thread became like a bible for the HAMR...never bored, as much as I read it. especially the videos posted by DJ. Amazing shots!! and shooter

Some more questions about the 110 and 150 gr:
Did anyone test it those out to 400 yards for velocity and energy? anyone care to share these numbers? I wish we have a long range around here, but the most we have is 200 yards.
Some of these bullets (Barnes TSX in 110 gr and Hornady SST in 150 gr) that does seems to have a longer bullet than the other ones offered...and because I keep having this in my mind that a longer bullet need a faster barrel to be stabilized, so wondering how these are doing in your barrels.
Anyone tested these 2 bullets in a 1:15 twist for accuracy as well?

Thanks again

You can get a pretty good idea on 400yd performance by running the #s on the Hornady ballistic calculator.

We load both the 110gr TSX and the 150gr SST as commercial loads and both shoot fine in a 1-15 twist. I kill more hogs with the 150gr SST than any other bullet.

MODS!!! surely that has to break a rule somewhere. i see i'm going to have to break out my photoshop tools again.

i must admit, most threads i'm in derail quickly. you definitely added a measure of stability here.

pic for attention


oh wait, that's your pig. trying again...

Go DJ Go

Wish I had a picture of it, but I have a story to tell. I took one of my buddies to the range the other day to get his AR sighted in. He is typically a long range (and I mean LONG range 1200 yards+) precision shooter. While letting his AR cool off I pulled out the 300 HAMR and we both shot 10 rounds each out of a 30 round magazine at the same target at 100 yards. We were shooting the 135g HAMR bonded load. After 20 rounds were fired we had a hole in the paper exactly 1" above the bullseye that measured right at 1". To have two different shooters fire the same gun, hit the same point of impact, and hold that to 1" with so many rounds is impressive! Thanks Mr. Wilson for the excellent cartridge and ammo! We will see what it does on Virginia whitetail this year.

Great story. Probably the best example of what sets this cartridge apart from it’s competition.

DJ...you inspired me. First video editiing job and while I thought about putting some heavy metal to pig hitting the dirt...I like the squeal, thwack of a bullet and all that goes with it.

Can we call my second pigs move the Hamr-sault?

That is really great endorsement to the HAMR quality coming out of WC shop!! and of course you guys seem to be a good shot too.

@judd, I like when more people start shooting these videos. It gives us (the non lucky ones) a time to watch and enjoy the scotch on our hands for now at least.

I ordered a 18" TAC hunter barrel. Once I have all the parts, I will be trying it and post back.

What scope you guys suggest for the HAMR for day vision? I have a "cheap" one for now "Leapers UTG BugBuster 3-9x32 Riflescope" and it is fine, but I would like to upgrade...a lot of options and some are way more expensive than I thought. my budget will be limited to ~300/400$ max.

Another question; what ammo you suggest for these 3 type of animals? for the ones who tried them:
1 - Deer and Coyotes
2 - Hogs
3 - Larger animal (like ELK)

For daytime shooting the little BugBuster works just fine and it is a real performer at its price point. Get your rifle put together and work with the Bug for a while and then start looking around for better glass. Since the HAM'R isn't really a "long range" hunting rifle, the need for a more expensive optic will be determined by what you're willing to pay for clearer, sharper views through the scope. As far as the animals and ammo, I've collected deer, coyotes and hogs with the 130 grain HotCor's, all within 100 yards, one shot kills. I've never hunted elk with it, but Bill Wilson has successfully hunted some big animals both here in the US and in Africa, and I believe he used the 150 grain bullet for them. Go back through this thread and find his report on his African safari.

Personally I’m using a leupold vx-3 3.5-10x40 I bought on sale for $400. (Higher quality optic for the mid price range). Haven’t bought one in several years but have had alot of success with the Tasco World class scopes for a good sub $200 scope.

I know after following the Hamr the last couple years that the 150gr sst has taken deer, hogs and elk. Bill used the 150 gr bonded bullet on African game. From some of what I’ve seen on here just about any round you use on coyote just devastates them but the 125gr tnt and anything lighter weight than that would work fine. Alot of guys seem to like the 130 gr hotcore round and inside 100 yds it’s lethal on everything. Bill repeats a list of his favorite rounds consistently on here. I know it’d take forever but it’d pay to go back and read through this thread.

As to scopes, I have to admit I have a scope fetish and I'm always searching for a quality scope in the "affordable" price range. Burris and Leupold both had this market with their Fullfield II and VX-2 scopes and then they disc them!!! Burris went to China and Leupold replaced the VX-2 with the el cheapo VX-Freedom series. If you can find either of these you can't go wrong. As to current production in the $300.-$400. price range Sportoptics.com has the EXCELLENT Meopta 3-9x40 MeoPro in stock for $379.99, this is the same scope that was also sold as a Zeiss Conquest a few years ago.

For deer, yotes and hogs any of these will work great, just pick the one your bbl likes the best: 130gr HAM'R HOT-COR, 135gr Hornady FTX, 135gr HAM'R BONDED

For Elk or anything over 400# I use either the 150gr Hornady SST (300 Savage variant #30303), 150gr HAM'R BONDED or the 150gr Speer Gold Dot (Blackout version)

Over the past couple of months I've killed a lot of hogs with the 160gr Hornady FTX at a 2200fps MV and the terminal performance is VERY impressive, but it's hard to get good accuracy with this bullet in either a 1-13 or 1-15 twist bbl.. I've got a 1-11 twist upper coming in a few days to try.

Thank you everyone on the suggestions. I may try what I have first. I brought the UTG for the grendel build (hunting purpose), but I may use the HAMR exclusively for that and I ditch the grendel then I can reuse the scope.

Mr Wilson,
I see you had a lot of success in Africa (big game) in the 150 gr around 200 yards. How was the penetration and expansion at those ranges? anything unsual?

And, about the 150 SST, you always put the (300 savage variant at 0.370 BC). Did you try the SST at 0.415? since the BS is very close the 150 speer Boat Tail at 0.417 BC. Shouldn't have the same accuracy too?
The same question about the 150 Speer Gold (not the black variant). Does it get bad accuracy due to the high BC?

Thank you in advance

Most of my shots in Africa were 75-125yds and I had full penetration on a Kudu bull with the 150gr SST and also on a broadside shot on a Zebra with the Speer 150gr Gold Dot.

The reason for the Savage variant of the 150SST is due to the velocity range this bullet is designed to reliably expand at. If you ck the Hornady manual it has the velocity ranges all of their bullets are designed to reliably expand at. The standard 150SST needs more velocity than the HAM'R can generate for reliable expansion and I don't think you would get reliable expansion much past 100yds.

Below is just a thought I had recently while watching yet another bullets test video where they were testing non-lead bullets.

While at the moment we are still allowed to use lead bullets and there are many to choose from, I wonder if there are other non-lead options for 300hamr besides Barnes TSX 110gr?

Is TSX 110gr usable on all types of game?
If not maybe we heavier copper bullets are possible and Barnes, Maker Bullets and Lehigh Defense can be "hinted" to take a look at the subject?

It would be really nice to get 125gr or even 135gr brass/copper bullet suitable for 300hamr

As I'm sure you know solid copper bullets are always a lot longer than the same weight lead core bullets, thus they take up more powder space. The HAM'R simply doesn't have the available powder space for any solid copper bullet heavier than 110gr using any suitable powder that I'm aware of. To my knowledge the only two suitable solid copper bullets are the Barnes TSX and the Lehigh CC. The only way I can see a heavier bullet would be a steel or tungsten core in the base so the length of the bullet wouldn't be increased.

Every time I read this thread, I find learn something new.

Thank you Bill for your quick answers. I wish there is a dedicated thread for HAMR reloading. I searched on Hornday site and all online to find these bullets the lowest velocity they expand and couldn't find any.

Do you have any info on the this? (lowest fps for the following bullets)?
- 150 Gold Dot
- 150 Speer BTSP
- 150 Hamr Bonded
- 150 SST
or any other bullets you offer. It would be nice to know these data too.

Thank you