Sako Super Hammerheads 150 grain 308

[Deuce]

I have had some bad experiences with Barnes TTSX. I can not speak to how the 308 would perform with them as I could never get them to consistently fire in my rifle. I even returned 168 grains to Barnes and they replaced them with 150 grain and still had issues. Headstamps were not Barnes, but GL. I ultimately switched last minute to Hornady ELD-X before my hunt.

All other brands worked flawlessly out of the rifle and I later read of others having the same issue. I found out that there were many bad batch of primers, but have been kind of put off on Barnes. Nothing worse than pulling the trigger and wondering if it will go off. It was worse than having a wet muzzle loader and had about a 50 misfire rate.

I recently got a good deal on a bunch of 150 Grain Sako Super Hammerheads and wondered if anyone has used them on Safari for plains game and if so what was their thoughts on the ammo?

 

[mark-hunter]

I used this in 30-06 for two seasons on roe deer. (bucks and does)
Roe deer is small deer species, 60 pounds, thin skinned.

My reasoning was: with 150 grain I will stretch trajectory, get to 900 mtr/sec (cca 2952 fps), this velocity will reliably open the bullet, and bonding will keep it together. And it will be good for boar as well.
Wrong.

If roe deer was hit in soft part (no bones) the bullet acted as FMJ, pass through, and roe buck basically did not show reaction on being hit, or they would ran away, then I needed to track
If being hit in bone, the effect was drastic. with extremely large exit wounds (meat destruction)

After two years, of this effects I went back to nosler ballistic tip for roe deer.

Conclusion, not for light game.
In Africa, I did not try, animals there are toguher, and bigger. It might work, or maybe not?
In any case I am not uising Sako SHH.
Not for me.

 

[ofbiro]

I used this in 30-06 for two seasons on roe deer. (bucks and does)
Roe deer is small deer species, 60 pounds, thin skinned.

My reasoning was: with 150 grain I will stretch trajectory, get to 900 mtr/sec (cca 2952 fps), this velocity will reliably open the bullet, and bonding will keep it together. And it will be good for boar as well.
Wrong.

If roe deer was hit in soft part (no bones) the bullet acted as FMJ, pass through, and roe buck basically did not show reaction on being hit, or they would ran away, then I needed to track
If being hit in bone, the effect was drastic. with extremely large exit wounds (meat destruction)

After two years, of this effects I went back to nosler ballistic tip for roe deer.

Conclusion, not for light game.
In Africa, I did not try, animals there are toguher, and bigger. It might work, or maybe not?
In any case I am not uising Sako SHH.
Not for me.

Mark Hunter, although your comments about Barnes effect on roe seem theoretically sound, I cannot agree with you in concluding "not for light game".
Your critic seem to be found and you are not the first to do it, but my experience is different.
Up to now, I shot with Barnes 39 roes and chamois (slighty heavier, where I hunt) and all of them, except one chamois (found dead 80-100 m away) collapsed on the spot or few steps away.
I am using a 7 mm Rem. Mag. with Barnes bullets TSX, TTSX, LRX weighing 140 or 145 grs. While the LRX 145 were bought for plains game in Namibia, I used the rest of them here. I didn't switch from TSX to TTSX and viceversa for choice but compelled by availability.
The typical wound I found consisted of entry hole just behind the shoulder, slightly damaging the spinal cord inner side but without touching the heart. The exit hole was simmetrical to the entry. No ribs neither shoulder blade were damaged.
I confess you that I don't know the reason for the almost immediate death.
It seems that someone, either you and me or the ignorant animals do not know some details of terminal ballistics.

 

[mark-hunter]

Mark Hunter, although your comments about Barnes effect on roe seem theoretically sound, I cannot agree with you in concluding "not for light game".

@ofbiro,

My comments refer to last question posted by OP.
Question is about 150 grain sako super hammerhead. (not about TSX, TTSX or similar)

I recently got a good deal on a bunch of 150 Grain Sako Super Hammerheads and wondered if anyone has used them on Safari for plains game and if so what was their thoughts on the ammo?

It is light bonded bullet, .30.
Factory catalogue states this bullet is for roe deer and boar. On roe deer, it is less then perfect.
I forgot to say, this bullet was also extremely accurate in my Sako rifle. But I went back to nosler ballistic tip for light eureopean game for the reasons described.

that being said, my African bullet is norma swift a frame, in 375 HH

 

[Tgood1]

I used a camp 30-06 with the sako super hammerhead my first trip to SA, the bullets worked fine on zebra, kudu, wildebeest on down to springbuck etc.

 

[R eight]

I use the 150 super hammer heads in my 308 Finlight and my son uses them in a Tikka T3. He has shot scores of deer (red, whitetail and fallow) and quite a few thar, chamois, pigs , goats and dingoes with them. I’ve shot a handful of deer (red, whitetail samba), chamois and pigs with them too. We both reckon they perform similar to Nosler partitions on game. They shoot well in both of our rifles. Around 3 shots in inch at 100 yards.

I’m also using the 180 SHH in my 30/06 as I can’t get any federal premium with the partitions . I can’t pick in different in the performance of either.

 

[Deuce]

Thanks for everyone’s response.

Yes my question was more about Sako Super Hammerheads than Barnes ammo. Just had a bad experience with Barnes not firing. I have used them in my 300 Win Mag without issue and took 4 animals last year and a black bear, but still did not see the same knockdown power I have see with other ammo I have used.

I have a 308 that my daughter used to take a zebra during that trip and having her shoot and not knowing if it would go off, allowed me to look for flinching while she shot, but is not something you want in ammo when hunting and the need for it to always perform.

I got a great deal on 10 boxes of super hammerheads and planned on using them for whitetail here in Michigan, but also wondered how they would work for her in South Africa if we return in 2024.

 

[Hunt anything]

I used 150 grain hammerheads on roan and gemsbok with no trouble at all. The roan ran a short distance and the gemsbok was dead in his tracks. Both are very tough animals. I even bought a few boxes for my daughters .308, works great on whitetail as well.

 

[Deuce]

I used 150 grain hammerheads on roan and gemsbok with no trouble at all. The roan ran a short distance and the gemsbok was dead in his tracks. Both are very tough animals. I even bought a few boxes for my daughters .308, works great on whitetail as well.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Deuce]

I used 150 grain hammerheads on roan and gemsbok with no trouble at all. The roan ran a short distance and the gemsbok was dead in his tracks. Both are very tough animals. I even bought a few boxes for my daughters .308, works great on whitetail as well.

How was the performance on whitetail? For the price I got them that was my original plan, but after reading more on I started wondering about 1 bullet for both state side and Africa. I did buy some 180’s as well, but wondered if they would be too heavy for the 308.

Some forums stated they they were slower than others factory 308 round, but there is not a lot of info on them other than Sako and I am sure they are bias.

 

[Hunt anything]

How was the performance on whitetail? For the price I got them that was my original plan, but after reading more on I started wondering about 1 bullet for both state side and Africa. I did buy some 180’s as well, but wondered if they would be too heavy for the 308.

Some forums stated they they were slower than others factory 308 round, but there is not a lot of info on them other than Sako and I am sure they are bias.

The 150’s work just fine on whitetail and also got some 180’s and plan on my daughter doing some hog hunting with them but haven’t had time yet, also waiting for it to cool off some.

 

[JohnCZ]

Just my take, I was recently hunting western Queensland, Australia & shot a small boar, maybe 35kg, quartering away at approximately 120m with Tikka Forest 30-06 150gr Super Hammerhead ammo (same bullet). Rear leg removed, full length body traversed and a dramatic exit through the left eye literally destroying the skull. The bullet works on light game and I would be happy to use 30-06 variant on anything from 25kg to 200kg. As a bonus it is accurate in my Blaser R8, Ulrich R93 & Mauser M12.
I would like to see a 165gr version of this bullet for 30-06Spr.
Cheers
John

 

[Newby]

Haven't put a 150 SHH into game yet, but from my Sako 90 Peak 308, groups to date are between .5" and .7" for three. ES is low but I don't recall details. I'll be buying more, and with this level of accuracy, I don't have any enthusiasm for reloading for this rifle. Pretty sure that I could wring out another 70 to 100fps using 2000MR, but I don't see the point - factory ammo this good is just so easy.