444 200gr shock hammer

S

Shoottothrill

Member
First week of deer season at home . I shot a nice doe to start the year off still have a buck tag to fill . My hunting partner shot a doe also with his 444 . I do all my reloading for me and my friends that don’t . I have the 200 gr shock hammers performing around 2700 to 2750 . There is more there but it’s not needed . I will post pictures of the damage . The damage is severe. The deer I shot was a double lung shot at 50-60y . Deer ran about 75y on a dead run . Complete pass through. When I opened her up both lungs and the liver were jelly not recognizable at all, heart was severely damaged. My hunting partner he shot his at 10 yards straight down below his tree stand that deer never moved after impact . The deer was hit center between the shoulders , the bullet came out the center of the chest between both legs . Exit hole was the size of a nerf football,a giant hole . looked like it was hit by a cannon . I’m hoping we can stretch the distance to 100-200 to see if the damage is less severe. If not I may have to back off the performance .
 

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@Shoottothrill

Congrats on the deer. I’m most interested in your broadside shot deer. Was the entry and exit straight broadside or was it a bit of a quartering shot?

Do you have pics of the exit hole on the inside of the hide?

Also do you have pics of the inside and outside (entry and exit) of the carcass?

Thanks
The one job wonder,
Kneedeep
 
Shoottothrill said:
First week of deer season at home . I shot a nice doe to start the year off still have a buck tag to fill . My hunting partner shot a doe also with his 444 . I do all my reloading for me and my friends that don’t . I have the 200 gr shock hammers performing around 2700 to 2750 . There is more there but it’s not needed . I will post pictures of the damage . The damage is severe. The deer I shot was a double lung shot at 50-60y . Deer ran about 75y on a dead run . Complete pass through. When I opened her up both lungs and the liver were jelly not recognizable at all, heart was severely damaged. My hunting partner he shot his at 10 yards straight down below his tree stand that deer never moved after impact . The deer was hit center between the shoulders , the bullet came out the center of the chest between both legs . Exit hole was the size of a nerf football,a giant hole . looked like it was hit by a cannon . I’m hoping we can stretch the distance to 100-200 to see if the damage is less severe. If not I may have to back off the performance .
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I've been waiting for this feedback since that bullet was introduced.

Pretty awesome! I love it, and .wouldn't change a thing
 
On the deer I took the entry hole hit about 3-4” behind the shoulder it came out about 5-6” behind the opposite shoulder. Fairly square . We’re hoping we can take two bucks 2nd season something with a little more mass To see how they perform . right now they are very destructive 50y or less . I’m thinking if I shoot one with high shoulder hit the opposite shoulder will just fly off . The speed at what they shoot at is very effective. They are very accurate.but may be too much for a white tail at 2750 fps . At 1” high at 100y it’s zero at 150y and -2.5 “ at 200 y . And still cooking along at 2000 fps . It could just be more of a learning curve as to where to place the shot in close .
 
I’m using Vith 120 . 52.5 gr. Heavy factory crimp on a Remington case . If you use a star case back powder off 1.4 gr for the same fps . Star case will over pressure at 52.5 gr . The first round I shot with the star case and 52.5 gr it was at 2985 fps . Primer was flattened so bad it shoved it over to one side . The round kicks like a super lite 20 ga round . A small kid or women could handle the performance of this round very easy . The tricky part is COL . My CVA scout rifle and the S hammer there is little free bore . You have crimp it just above PDR rings before it starts to tapper to the nose ,it’s a small area
 
Thanks for the response Shoottothrill,

I am most interested in the size and shape of the exit in hide. Also carcass but most specifically the hide.

Was the exit hole through the hide round or more odd shaped?

Did you see any petal patterns or petal holes near the exit wound?

Thanks again for the discussion
Kneedeep
 
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Nice write up on the animals. I too am trying to talk my Buddy into shooting that hammer in his 444. He has one of the stainless steel Marlins, from about 12 years ago.

And I must apologize if my comment to Mike above was out of place on your thread🤭

💥🚀🔨☠️

Joe
 
Shoottothrill said:
I’m using Vith 120 . 52.5 gr. Heavy factory crimp on a Remington case . If you use a star case back powder off 1.4 gr for the same fps . Star case will over pressure at 52.5 gr . The first round I shot with the star case and 52.5 gr it was at 2985 fps . Primer was flattened so bad it shoved it over to one side . The round kicks like a super lite 20 ga round . A small kid or women could handle the performance of this round very easy . The tricky part is COL . My CVA scout rifle and the S hammer there is little free bore . You have crimp it just above PDR rings before it starts to tapper to the nose ,it’s a small area
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I too have the CVA scout. But, my load development was different from yours. I’m using Starline cases, S&B LR primers, N120 and the 200SH.

Pressure ladder was
52.0 @ 2792
53.0 @ 2802
54.0 @ 2871 slightly flat primers
54.0 was very compressed even with a 12” drop tube and a vibrating tooth brush.

Accuracy was terrible. I tried several different seating depths, with 51-53 grain charges. I tried CCI primers, no change. I also tried fed 215 LRM primers. They produced slightly less velocity but the same 2” group.

Cases were trimmed to 2.163” which gets the case mouth in the top pdr band but not necessarily on the front of a ridge. This is short enough that the LFC was ineffective. I would need to grind it shorter so it would line up with the case mouth. Short on time, I used the seater die crimp. All the crimp settings were producing the same 2” group and some closer to 3” groups. I was mentally preparing myself to shoot a 2” group rifle. After venting to Joe16 for awhile ( he admittedly has big ears) I decided to try a very light, 1/8 turn with the seater die. It was like a light switch and started putting rounds well under an 1”. Talk about finicky.

My OAL ended up at 2.558” with 53.0gr @2800 and 1/8 turn seater crimp.

The one job wonder,
Kneedeep
 
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After reading your results the only thing different is our crimping method. I’m using a Lee factory crimping die . heavy cam over on the press . I’m satisfied with this grouping at 2750 fps . It shoots this size groups and better on my part . I was only looking for a solid 200 y gun , and that it is with not having to adjust point of aim from 0 to 200 yards . I’m very satisfied with the results . It just over kill 0-50 y .
 

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Shoottothrill said:
I will kill another deer or two for more results from the 200 gr SH in a couple of weeks from now . I will report back then .
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I really like this method of testing! For us Americans with limited tags, we pretty much have to pick our shots with certain loads. I killed a doe at close range this year. I’m gonna try to get another deer at long range to compare.
 
Fellas

I love the big bangers and I love bang flops and I came to hammers for the velocity and the quick kills that these bullets produce.

The shot down through the buck, well, it just sucked to be that buck. What you're describing and experiencing is what we term around here as Splat Factor!!

I shot a doe last year with my 45-90 with a lihgtened up 250sh at about 60 to 70 yds. There was a little aiming adjustment due to the fact that I knew if I hit her in the front shoulders that I would lose all of that meat and everything attached to it so the shot was just to slightly forward of Center Mass and she fell on the spot with not a loss of meat. I love these bullets😍😍😍

This place is awesome

💥🚀🔨☠️

Joe
 
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