Congratulations on your deer! Thanks for sharing.

I just tested some of the Sierra 135 grain bullets I received from Wilson a couple days ago and all I can say is WOW!!! When I want to really blow something up these will be my new go to bullet of choice. The beauty of them is they are accurate and shoot to pretty much the same POI as the 150 grain hot cores so if something comes along you might want to eat you just switch mags from the 135 to the 150 and go for it...although for full disclosure I haven't killed anything yet with the 135s but based on the stuff I have shot (and literally blown to pieces) I think they would waste a lot of meat.

Congratulations on your first deer! I took my 11.3" out and got a doe with the 125 Gr. TNT as well. 20 yard shot, doe slightly quartering away. Took out the heart and broke clean through the humerus behind it. She ran about 10 yards before piling up. Excellent performance for such a short rifle. And much handier in the small blind I was in. It's not going to replace my 18" for most things but in certain situations I'm definitely grabbing the 11.3" Ham'r.

Oryx bull taken on the 8000 acre Bar JP Ranch southwest of Uvalde. 80yd shot on the shoulder with the Lehigh CC, he ran 75yds. The lungs looked like they had been through a blender!!!

Nice!!! Was that with the 95 or 110 grain LeHigh?

110gr

Blackhawk Armory has the Lancer 30 round smoke color 300 Blackout mags for $14.33 each. Make a great stocking stuffer for a Ham'r enthusiast!

I chrono'd my ham'r loads today.
24.5 grn of aa1680 in an un-fire formed LC 223 case
11.3" barrel using 125grn FMJ bullets.
carbine gas system
with suppressor and adjustable gas block.

8 shot average of 2100fps. honestly, I was hoping for more.

I know I am giving up velocity for barrel length, and I could up the powder charge some, but I cannot help wonder if a faster powder would do better in this short barrel. I came across a a couple posts from Bill on page 9 "Basically a 100fps gain out of a 8". However this is with 300 HAM'R ammo loaded with CFEBLK when we can only get to 48k PSI before we run out of powder space, I'll bet loads with H110 or SBR SOCOM would run faster out of the short barrels??? H110 will run the pistol gas 8"-11.3" guns but we just don't load any commercial ammo with it since it won't function our 16" -18" guns with mid-gas. So far the Shooters World SBR SOCOM powder is the fastest powder we're tested that will run all the guns like CFEBLK and A1680 does.

H110/Win296/Vit110/A11FS burn rate powders won't function the action on our mid/intermediate gas length guns and are only suitable for the pistol gas barrels. "

I can't speak to using the faster powders but I don't think it's necessary. You're about 2.0 grains short of a full load. It's no surprise you're not seeing the velocity you're hoping for. Before you go experimenting with a powder that is not optimal for the bullet weight you're wanting to run, try to get up to max charge.

Bill,

Any idea what the minimum legitimate expansion velocity is on the 135 Sierra HP?

Thanks,

Bryan

You might want to scout around the Sierra website. I don't think they list a minimum expansion velocity but when the bullet first came out they shot gelatin blocks at 50 and 100 yards with a muzzle velocity just under 2100fps. Based on the results I think you'd be OK with a pistol length barrel if you kept your shots inside of 100yds.

I would expect it to be very low since at 2400fps MV this bullet virtually blows up in water even when shot from 200yds

I just ordered 100 rounds to try out. Bill you made me paranoid about running anything but Nickel with the 8-inch suppressed. I guess the moral is to always clear the chamber after heating the gun up.

I'm not sure I could stand running your setup unsuppressed. With the can on my 16in barrel is on the threshold for needing ear protection. Even using an H3 buffer I'm still so overgassed that the top 3 rounds in the mag get dirty so it's my policy to empty the chamber and clean it after every time it's shot. Not a full clean but a brush and a patch. Never had one stick using brass cases after I've shot and forgot to clear but I seldom shoot more than 5 or 10 rounds at a time. I'm kinda partial to brass cases because I reload and with nickel cases if you're not careful they can bugger up your sizing die.

I'm not sure I could stand running your setup unsuppressed. With the can on my 16in barrel is on the threshold for needing ear protection. Even using an H3 buffer I'm still so overgassed that the top 3 rounds in the mag get dirty so it's my policy to empty the chamber and clean it after every time it's shot. Not a full clean but a brush and a patch. Never had one stick using brass cases after I've shot and forgot to clear but I seldom shoot more than 5 or 10 rounds at a time. I'm kinda partial to brass cases because I reload and with nickel cases if you're not careful they can bugger up your sizing die.[/quote]

What kind of can are you running? With my WC Quell Ti my guns are about like shooting a .22mag from the same barrel length.

I have my guns tuned specifically for suppressed use (intermediate gas and small ports) so they are not at all overgassed. They still dirty up the top few rounds pretty quickly the same as my 5.56 does.

I've only had extraction issues with brass cases after I shot 10 or more fast shots and left the round in the chamber for several days. I've never had a extraction issue under any circumstances using nickel cases though.

What kind of can are you running? With my WC Quell Ti my guns are about like shooting a .22mag from the same barrel length.

I have my guns tuned specifically for suppressed use (intermediate gas and small ports) so they are not at all overgassed. They still dirty up the top few rounds pretty quickly the same as my 5.56 does.

I've only had extraction issues with brass cases after I shot 10 or more fast shots and left the round in the chamber for several days. I've never had a extraction issue under any circumstances using nickel cases though.[/quote]

I'm running a Thunder Beast Ultra 7 Gen1 .30 caliber which I swap between my 5.56 and the Ham'r. It's pretty loud on either one but a lot quieter on the Ham'r. All the Ham'r stuff (barrel, gas tube, port, and handgrip) was purchased from the Wilson Combat website and put together by a professional gunsmith. All the ammo I've shot is factory loads and I'm curious to see if the Ham'r becomes less "dirty" when shooting reloads because I noticed my 5.56 was less noisy and cleaner when
shooting fire formed reloads. I rarely leave a round in the chamber because I don't like leaving the gun cocked for long periods of time so I normally clear the weapon and release the hammer before I put it up. Normally when I shoot either of the AR platforms I use an earplug in my right ear just to be on the safe side. I'm hoping Santa will bring me a set of those Otto NoizeBarrier plugs for Xmas.

I run the Rugged Micro 30 in the K configuration which isn't great on db reduction but sure is handy for close quarters. I never shoot without hearing protection, even when suppressed, since I already have hearing damage from my previous career and have tinnitus. I figure in the slim chance I would ever shoot my gun in the house, the K-config suppressor would be better than nothing. I have second Micro 30 I can swap between my 6.5 Creedmor and 308 that I leave in the full config. I have a Saker762 when I want really quiet and don't mind the extra weight on the end of the gun. Also have a Barrett 338 Can coming which has been in NFA jail for almost a year now.

.[/quote]
I run the Rugged Micro 30 in the K configuration which isn't great on db reduction but sure is handy for close quarters. I never shoot without hearing protection, even when suppressed, since I already have hearing damage from my previous career and have tinnitus. I figure in the slim chance I would ever shoot my gun in the house, the K-config suppressor would be better than nothing. I have second Micro 30 I can swap between my 6.5 Creedmor and 308 that I leave in the full config. I have a Saker762 when I want really quiet and don't mind the extra weight on the end of the gun. Also have a Barrett 338 Can coming which has been in NFA jail for almost a year now.
[/quote]

Yeah my pistol suppressor is still in jail too so I load my home defense pistol with subsonic, my rational being it's not as loud as supersonic. I suspect they will both dish out instant permanent hearing loss when shot indoors. I've always been impressed with Thunder Beast suppressors and if I didn't have to wait a year or more I'd probably go with their 9 inch Gen2 Ultra.

I hate to say this, but my deer season is over. Unfortunately, my property is one county too far West and that throws me into the mountain region which has the shortest season the the State.
But I did get a chance to nail two small 8 pointers. (We also have the smallest deer in the State.)

The first one was taken with the Wilson/Ruger 300 HAM'R loaded with a 130 HC. This has to be the handiest little bolt action around! The shot was at about 60-70 yards and it dropped after running 10 yards. (Then it slid down the hill right to my ATV. You know I planned it that way. )
The second deer was a twin to the first. This time I used a 300 HAM'R Wilson AR with the same 130 HC load. LOOONG SHOT, about 15 yards and it just dropped!
But now that my season is over it is time to play with my reloading. The Speer 130HC did what it was suppose to do and I am getting decent accuracy, but I wonder if I can do better. I think it is time for me to give the Lehigh Bullets some range time. After all, I only have 11 months until deer season!

Congrats on the deer, but from a professional photographer one would expect a better photo......just sayin

Congrats on the deer! But I gotta ask all you Ham'r reloaders (and maybe some factory ammo users too) do the small fast moving hollow point type bullets waste a lot of meat? I remember my nephew shooting a deer with a 110 grain hollow point out of a 300 win mag...he shot it a couple times and about the only thing salvageable was the backstrap and I remember my dad shooting an elk with a 7mm mag and it was so bloodshot we threw away almost the whole front quarters.

I've only shot deer with the following bullets and the 150gr SST did the least meat damage with the 130gr HHC second

95gr CC
110gr CC
125gr PH
130gr HHC
135gr FTX
150gr SST

[/quote]

I've only shot deer with the following bullets and the 150gr SST did the least meat damage with the 130gr HHC second

95gr CC
110gr CC
125gr PH
130gr HHC
135gr FTX
150gr SST[/quote]

I've always been partial to heavy slow moving bullets when hunting for meat. I used to use a 30-30 with 170 grain rounds and it didn't waste a lot of meat. Shame there's not a bullet like that for the Ham'r...although I'm kinda liking the hot core 150. The SST caught my eye until I saw how much they cost...I can do a full reload (powder, primer, and bullet) of pretty much anything else for less than the price of one of those SSTs and don't even get me started on the price of those CC bullets which must be made of gold rather than copper.

The question was posed as to what the minimum expansion velocity is on the 135 Sierra HP. I just got off the phone with a Sierra tech and was told that it was one of the few bullets they didn't have that data for but based on their initial testing he was pretty confident it would be in the 1700-1800fps range because it had a very thin jacket and was designed for more in the 300 Blackout velocity range rather than some of the thicker skinned ones that were designed more for magnum velocities. The only way to tell for sure is just shoot some and see what happens but I think you'll find it will perform for what you have in mind.

HAM'R Heads, these were posted @ 4:30am.. for some reason they're still there.
https://americanreloading.com/en/30-caliber-308/2021-308-130gr-jsp-500ct.html
Use code "cyber" for 25% off. $224.98 for most likely 1,530 130gr Soft points..
I've got too much stuff to move across the country here at the end of month otherwise I would've swooped them. When comparing pictures to the Speer 130gr HC, the profile seems a bit different. But @ 14.9¢ ea. I'm sure they'll work just fine