I'm considering using some Hawk bullets in 30 and 416 calibers. Have any of you guys used them & if so, what did you think of their accuracy and performance? Thanks.

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Andy Cooper

ACRecurve, I have used Hawk bullets in 458, .510 & .585 caliber. I got tremendous pressure spikes while using them in my 460 wby. and 500 A2 while using them with Reloader powders. The Hawk bullets have a soft jacket and they seal the bore and propellant gases can't escape past the bullet during firing. This elevates chamber pressures. I still use Hawk Bullets in my 577 Tyrannosaur but I only use them with very low pressure loads with a single base powder, such as H4831. I get fairly good accuracy with them in my t.rex. but accuracy was a bit below average in the other two rifles.

Ditto what Mitch said,
Erratic velocity with RL-15. Sometimes as much as 100fps.
Good things: available in many weights and jacket thicknesses, excellent customer service.
Bad things: Aren't soldered to jacket. Only thing I can think of. Some have used them and love them, some do not. Around 50/50. I have the 600grain in 0.035 and 0.065" jacket thickness for my .500 and 175gr 0.035" for my wife's 7x57. Mr. Atkinson had a bad experience with these on an antelope so I am rethinking using them for game, maybe goto Swifts.
My 0.02 cents.

I used one in a 470 on elk and it both penetrated about 3' and blew things apart. WOW! Even a 7mm STW doesn't do half the damge the Hawk 500 grain .035 did.

I wouldn't shoot anything nasty with them....

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

A friend who is a guide in Alaska turned me on to these. He loves them in a 416 Rem for big bears. I'm loading some 300gr in a 416 Taylor to try on whitetails. So far accuracy isn't bad. In the Taylor I'm using 3031.