Hello all,
Looking to see who has used either or both of these bullets brands to take game and your impressions? Not the solids bit the fragmenting ones.
Thanks!
Hammers vs Raptors............
Yeah, but not really.......... I have tested nearly every Raptor ever made, and in the beginning many tweaks to blade thickness and what have you needed to be made to get them where they are today. I have not only tested, but have shot several 100 head of game with various calibers/cartridges, from impala to buffalo. In addition to what I have taken, I have seen several more 100 animals taken as well.
I have never used a Hammer in the field, but have tested them here. Hammers and CEB Maximus work in the same manner and same behavior in test work and in the field as well. Before there was Raptors, I worked with Lehigh, through JD Jones designing some of their copper HP bullets for my various .500 caliber rifles. The Lehigh Copper bullets behave the same as the Hammers and CEB Maximus as well. This type bullet is also extremely effective, and will out perform both in trauma inflicted, destruction of tissue, and in depth of penetration any conventional premium expanding bullet available.
I consider the Hammer, CEB Maximus, Lehigh and other similar Copper bullets in this league as Generation 1 CNC bullets. They all behave in the following manner....... At the beginning of terminal penetration in any aqueous material, test medium or animal tissue, the Blades/Petals start to break away from the center bullet, in most cases close to the same time. With these type Gen 1 bullets, the blades/petals DO NOT radiate from center wound channel, they travel along with the center bullet, which is now a full wadcutter type solid. These blades are doing tremendous damage slicing and dicing tissues closer to wound channel, and will travel 8-10 inches along with center bullet. Remaining center bullet is a full diameter solid now, and will continue to penetrate deep and straight, always deeper than any comparable conventional bullet.
Raptors are mostly brass, but CEB has been very successful with several different copper Raptors, by cutting slits the length of the blades, and the copper Raptors behave exactly like the Brass Raptors. In Terminal Performance, Once the Raptor has penetrated to 1.5-2 inches in any aqueous medium, test medium or animal tissue, the "Blades" shear all at the same time. This is an explosive type action (can be seen in videos of ballistic gel), once again for about 4-5 inches the Blades (they are blades, not petals, petals peel, blades slice and dice their way through penetration) travel close to the center bullet in a star type pattern around center, as tissue expands with the passing of the center bullet, tissue is sliced to pieces for up to 5+ inches of travel, at that point depending on the caliber and size of blades, they start to radiate AWAY from the center bullet, slicing and dicing their way through organs, vessels and other tissues as secondary projectiles. The larger the caliber, the further the blades can penetrate. The remaining center bullet continues to penetrate as it has become a broken bottle type full caliber solid. Again, penetration is extreme compared to any conventional expanding bullet, and trauma is absolutely extreme in comparison as well. One thing that is extreme with a Raptor is Blood loss, there is a tremendous amount of trauma, slicing and dicing of everything the blades come in contact with.
Which one is Better? Both are extreme to be honest, I have more experince with Raptors, so I would lean my preferences in that direction. However, the Hammers/CEB Maximus are also extreme bullets and I would not hesitate to take them to the field for any endeavor where I needed a serious Trauma inflicting bullet.
Yes I have hunted with and used successfully the best Conventional premiums available, Swift, Woodliegh, Barnes and more, and I have mined bullets out of animals for 30+ years, and tested everything there is to test for that period as well. While good, a Conventional Premium cannot compete with these Generation 1 and II CNC bullets, either in trauma or penetration.
They determined that Cutting Edge Bullets Raptor 825Gr monolithic brass expanding bullets were being a little difficult to regulate to the same point of impact as the Cutting Edge Bullets 900Gr monolithic brass Safari Solids.
@Hunter-Habib Probably something more related to just a double rifle being finicky than the weight factor. When the Raptors were designed, I told Dan I had a theory, that instead of trying to match the weights with solids, lets take the Solid, and put the hollow point in it, my thoughts was that being the same bullet, with the same bearing surface, that POI at 50 yards would be the same with the same load as the solid. Well, in every single caliber that has proven to now be fact, I have never seen a bolt gun, or single barrel of any kind not shoot the Raptor/Solid in the same hole at 50 yards with the same load. Raptors are lighter, so you can up the velocity some as weight equal pressure and normally this throws the Raptor slightly higher, but still center at 50 yards.
Doubles are finicky, but in the doubles we have tested here, from 470 NE, 500 NE and 577 NE, we have not seen one yet that the Raptor did not shoot with the Solids. ? I am not a doubel sort of fellow, but my close friend and test partner is a double fanatic and has 2 dozen of the things which we have shot here extensively. In addition the bands and bearing surface of the CEB Bullets were designed to give extremely low barrel strain, making them safe for all modern rifles...... I suppose that 600 just wanted to be picky.... not surprising, but an oddity and not the norm..........
The 825/900 Raptor/Solids were tested here in a 600 Over Kill, and I can tell you that 825 Raptor at 2200-2300 fps is a wicked thing.......... The solids are incredible.......... but that is about all I could handle, last day of test work I was able to fire 23 rounds on the bench and thankfully I ran out...... HEH.........