New to Hammers

P

Poor_choices

New member
Hello everyone!

The quick version here is that I've been reloading for about 25 years now and have done a ton of experimenting with a pretty good variety of bullets, cartridges, and platforms. I worked with a close friend for a few years during some pretty extensive bullet testing he did, which included a pile of different Hammer bullets. I think he posted a lot of that information around the web under the screen name Yorketransport on most sites, but I could never keep up with what he was doing! LOL

He was always pushing Hammers, I just never got around to trying them. I ended up with almost all of his firearms and reloading gear when he passed about a year ago and I'm finally getting time to go through it and see what's there. He had boxes of Hammers ranging from 6mm up through .458, and loaded ammo in 14 different chamberings! It'll take me a while to figure out what he was up to, but he left a pretty detailed load book and a lot of notes. I may swing by here to fact check some of his info every once in a while.

I don't hunt much anymore just because I don't have time, but I may dig out one of his weird guns for a bear hunt just for fun one of these seasons. I know he was trying to get a bear with one of his 338 pistols and a Hammer bullet for years!

Todd
 
Welcome Poor_choices

You have inherited one heck of a collection! I didn’t know Yorke but read a lot of his posts on the old forum. He definitely had a desire to collect, load and test many different cartridges and pills. I’m guessing you will be overwhelmed trying to get through all of his information. I know he was doing a lot of gel tests. I’d love to hear if he had any notes about translating gel performance to animal performance.

Sorry for your loss
Kneedeep
 
kneedeep said:
Welcome Poor_choices

You have inherited one heck of a collection! I didn’t know Yorke but read a lot of his posts on the old forum. He definitely had a desire to collect, load and test many different cartridges and pills. I’m guessing you will be overwhelmed trying to get through all of his information. I know he was doing a lot of gel tests. I’d love to hear if he had any notes about translating gel performance to animal performance.

Sorry for your loss
Kneedeep
Click to expand...
I knew Yorke for close to 25 years and was usually the one who pushed him to try the next dumb idea. That's why he said I was getting stuck with all of it when he died. The last big project before his health started falling off was a 270 wildcat. That project just kept going off the rails more and more every time he picked it up. He got so frustrated with that project I started telling him that's what caused him to have that last heart attack back in 2022. When he had the stroke about a year ago he said dying was the only way he could think of for that project to finally come to an end. LOL

I worked with him on a lot of his bullet testing, including the gel tests. We tried a bunch of different targets for bullet testing over the last 20+ years, and the gel was just the easiest thing for other people to understand and relate to. It always came back to the ability to replicate the tests. Gel stays relatively consistent from test to test which made it easier to do a re-shoot if necessary. I remember wasting the better part of an afternoon with Yorke playing around with one bullet that kept giving an unexpected result. He was sure there was an error somewhere in his process, but we got the same results 7 times. We went through probably 20 gel blocks before he accepted what was going on! LOL I remember him telling me how worked up folks would get about different tests he'd done and how it was all meaningless data anyway. Using the gel meant that they could just replicate the test on their own and prove him wrong any time they wanted to.
 
Love the stories, hate that he’s gone.

Gel is extremely consistent for sure but it doesn’t always look like the same wound channel in an animal. Because of this, gel gets a bad rap. I believe there is some insight to be taken from the gel tests.

Kneedeep
 
Poor_choices said:
Hello everyone!

The quick version here is that I've been reloading for about 25 years now and have done a ton of experimenting with a pretty good variety of bullets, cartridges, and platforms. I worked with a close friend for a few years during some pretty extensive bullet testing he did, which included a pile of different Hammer bullets. I think he posted a lot of that information around the web under the screen name Yorketransport on most sites, but I could never keep up with what he was doing! LOL

He was always pushing Hammers, I just never got around to trying them. I ended up with almost all of his firearms and reloading gear when he passed about a year ago and I'm finally getting time to go through it and see what's there. He had boxes of Hammers ranging from 6mm up through .458, and loaded ammo in 14 different chamberings! It'll take me a while to figure out what he was up to, but he left a pretty detailed load book and a lot of notes. I may swing by here to fact check some of his info every once in a while.

I don't hunt much anymore just because I don't have time, but I may dig out one of his weird guns for a bear hunt just for fun one of these seasons. I know he was trying to get a bear with one of his 338 pistols and a Hammer bullet for years!

Todd
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly the 338 pistol was a Lapua improved. If you dig it out, run the new 245gr Hammer HHT and kill that bear for him!
 
Steve Davis said:
If I remember correctly the 338 pistol was a Lapua improved. If you dig it out, run the new 245gr Hammer HHT and kill that bear for him!
Click to expand...
He had two different 338 pistols. There was 338/375 Ruger and a 338 SnipeTac. The notes I have show the "little" 338/375 Ruger was loaded with a 260 Hammer Hunter loaded to 2730 fps from an 18" barrel. He got a deer with that one about 3 years ago. The 338 SnipeTac is a beast! LOL The notes I have on that one show the 303gr Hammer Hunter going 2820 fps from the 20" barrel, burning 148gr of H50 BMG powder. I'm not sure how fast that 245 HHT would be going, but I bet it would be over 3000 fps. Finding the right powder for a bullet that weight in a case that size would be tough, but probably worth trying at some point.
Rosebud said:
And post pictures of the bear. Hate to see another Boomer pass away. I fear for this generation. And welcome from Alabama.
Click to expand...
The Boomer comment made me laugh, he was 41 years old. He was an honorary Boomer by the time he was in his 20's though! LOL

I appreciate the welcome everyone. It's time to dig out some of the reloading gear and get back into I guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top