Barrier-blind ballistics

Last year, Black Hills released their Honey Badger line of ammunition with Lehigh Defense engineered bullets.  The initial launch featured the following three loads:

• .44mag 160gr @ 1800fps
• .45acp 135gr @ 1325fps
• 9mm 125gr subsonic @ 1050fps

Black Hills’ marketing director, Mike Wright, was kind enough to walk me through their new offerings for 2018.  The initial launch must have seen successful sales, because this year the the line will be expanding to the following loads:

• .44spl 125gr @ 1250fps
• 9mm 100gr @ 1300fps
• .45-70 325gr @ 1900 fps

Personally, I’d like to give the .44mag and .45-70 loads a try when I need to get some more “organic, artistically sourced wild pork” and see how they perform.

Another adherent to the Creed

On the rifle ammunition side of things, Black Hills is finally releasing some loads for the 6.5 Creedmoor.  Initial loads will be in in their “Gold” line.  Using Hornady’s ELD bullets, we have a 143gr ELD-X @ 2750 for hunting, and a 147gr ELD-Match @ 2700fps for competition shooting.  Also new for 2018 is the new 300winmag loaded with the 200gr ELD-X bullet @ 2800fps.

I do not have access to Black Hills’ price list, but rough MSRP for the Honey Badger line is averaging around $1.40/round, in 20 or 50 round boxes.  The new .300winmag should average around $2.43/round, and I’ve yet to see pricing for the 6.5 Creedmoor loads.  One can be sure of one thing:  Black Hills has a reputation for quality and consistency for a reason.  I’ve been using both their precision and cowboy loads for years.  I have personally found them to be very accurate and exhibit very consistent velocities.  I’ll be looking forward to trying out the new Honey Badger line in the future.

For more information, please visit Black Hills Ammunition