HHT Accuracy

littlebighorn

littlebighorn

Hammer Time Executive member
I was excited to try the tipped Hammers because I love the accuracy of the Hammer Hunters in all my rifles.
I shoot a very accurate load with 124g HH in my 6.5x284 so I loaded the same load with the 125g HHT.
I was shocked that my half MOA load blew up to a 2" group.
Any thoughts?
 
How far off the rifling are you with the HHT? I made the mistake of not checking my 270 WSM using 122gr HHT.....just crimped into the valley closest to the tip.....and got pressure immediately and crap group as I found I was jamming the bullet into the rifling. I was able to get 0.025" jump by seating/crimpling deeper and got 0.4" group 2% below powder charge where I got pressure signs.

Those 2 bullets you are loading likely have very different profiles and have very different amounts of resistance entering/travelling down the barrel. I would be surprised if they both behaved the same with the same load.

IMHO, you should use the Hornady load data published in their latest manual to choose an optimum powder using the same weight projectile as the HHT and then do a load ladder from scratch. Just my $0.02.....

.
 
choprzrul said:
How far off the rifling are you with the HHT? I made the mistake of not checking my 270 WSM using 122gr HHT.....just crimped into the valley closest to the tip.....and got pressure immediately and crap group as I found I was jamming the bullet into the rifling. I was able to get 0.025" jump by seating/crimpling deeper and got 0.4" group 2% below powder charge where I got pressure signs.

Those 2 bullets you are loading likely have very different profiles and have very different amounts of resistance entering/travelling down the barrel. I would be surprised if they both behaved the same with the same load.

IMHO, you should use the Hornady load data published in their latest manual to choose an optimum powder using the same weight projectile as the HHT and then do a load ladder from scratch. Just my $0.02.....

.
Click to expand...
The Hornady load manual states you should use this load data for their 120-123gr bullets also, so this should be very close for you 125gr HHT:

1705853737515.png
 
Several good thoughts above.

Maybe your rifle just doesn't like that bullet as well as the Hammer Hunters.

I had a similar experience with the 95g HHT's in my 9 twist 25.06. I have an excellent load with the 90g AH's, started from scratch with the HHT's and tried 2 different powders but couldn't get a consistent grouping as good as the AH's.

Also measure your twist if you haven't already, maybe it's marginal, for the 8 twist required bullet. Although the HH's required an 8 twist as well, but it still wouldn't hurt to measure it.
 
littlebighorn said:
I was excited to try the tipped Hammers because I love the accuracy of the Hammer Hunters in all my rifles.
I shoot a very accurate load with 124g HH in my 6.5x284 so I loaded the same load with the 125g HHT.
I was shocked that my half MOA load blew up to a 2" group.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
A wise man once said “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
That same wise man is still able to make a living selling bullets. Go figure.
 
Two different bullets. The HHT dimensions are quite different, HHT is 0.023 longer, the nose is different, there are less PDR bands so crimp location versus CBTO going to be different, etc. Measure the HHT jump and adjust to seat on appropriate band slope. Like recommended above, work up new load. This is standard safe reloading practices. Any change in any component requires load work up. A longer bullet will pressure up differently, I saw it with 160HHT in .270 Win versus the 156HH. I ran new ladder and it pressured up way earlier than the 156HH. I think most see same.
 
MeatBuck said:
A wise man once said “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
That same wise man is still able to make a living selling bullets. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Thanks all for the insight guys. The 124HH load is certainly not broke in that rifle. I was mostly just interested in the new version.
Given my previous experience, I frankly didn't think any Hammer could shoot that poorly, so this one blew me away.
When I get time I will try working up a new load, but for now I'll stick with the tried and true Hammer Hunters.
 
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