The .360 Buckhammer meets deer hunting requirements in straight-wall states and will soon be available with bullets weighing 160 to 220 grains. (Photo courtesy of Federal Premium)
October 25, 2024
By Drew Warden
The tall 8-point emerged from thick brush and walked slowly toward the field edge. I’d seen him cross a small gap in the dense cover minutes earlier, but he’d melted back into the thicket before I could get on him. Now, it seemed, I might get a shot. Some luck, given I was hunting the final day of Illinois’ second firearm deer season with less than 20 minutes of legal shooting light remaining. If I didn’t get a chance here, an unfilled tag was all I’d be bringing home.
I cocked the hammer of my rifle, a Henry Single Shot Steel. The deer must’ve heard me shift in my stand because he turned a bit, going from quartering away to broadside. Framed between two trees in the fading, golden light, he looked like he belonged in a painting on some hunting lodge’s wall. Sensing he was about to move again, I tucked the scope’s crosshair just behind his shoulders and gently pressed the trigger.
At the shot, the buck sprinted, circling and coming back toward my stand. I broke open the Henry and was about to load another round when I saw the buck stop 20 yards away. His back legs buckled, and he collapsed. I’d made a good shot, and the new 180-grain Federal Power-Shok .360 Buckhammer load had done its job.
The .360 Buckhammer is one of three straight-wall cartridges developed in the past five years (the .350 Legend and .400 Legend are the others). These introductions have been in response to growing interest in straight-walls, as several states have allowed them for deer hunting in recent years. Before, these relatively flat and densely populated states only permitted shotguns firing slugs, muzzleloaders and big-bore revolvers during gun deer seasons (statewide or in certain areas) due to concerns over stray bullets with high-pressure bottlenecked cartridges. But, straight-wall cartridges—those using cases with no shoulder—propel fat, short projectiles that lose velocity quickly and offer similarly reduced risk while providing better accuracy than slugs
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Introduced by Remington and Henry in 2023, the .360 Buckhammer is a rimmed straight-wall cartridge designed for use with lever-action or single-shot rifles. It’s engineered to comply with pertinent regulations in straight-wall states and to be a deadly cartridge on deer and other medium-size game within 200 yards, while offering minimal recoil comparable to the .30-30 Win. Remington reports the .360 Buckhammer offers more muzzle velocity, more energy at 200 yards and less drop at 200 yards than the .30-30 Win., .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster.
The cartridge has an overall length between 2.350 and 2.500 inches, a case length of 1.800 inches and a bullet diameter of .358 inch. These dimensions are important, as some states allowing straight-wall cartridges use case length and bullet diameter as legal parameters. On Indiana public lands and in southern Michigan, for example, case length must be more than 1.160 inches but not exceed 1.800 inches. Bullet diameter in many areas must be more than .350 or .357 inch, and often less than .500 inch. The .360 Buckhammer checks all these boxes.
The author used the .360 Buckhammer to take this whitetail last fall in Illinois. It was the first year the state allowed rifles for deer, albeit only single-shot models in certain cartridges (Photo courtesy of Justin Moore) The .360 Buckhammer uses the .30-30 Win. as a parent case and is similarly rimmed. Most of the body taper is removed, and the case is shortened to meet those aforementioned requirements and necked up to accommodate .358-inch bullets. The .360 Buckhammer’s bullet diameter is one common to several respected and proven cartridges, including the .35 Rem. and .35 Whelen, so there are already many great bullet options. Maximum pressure is 50,000 psi, a bit less than the .350 Legend but more than the .400 Legend and .450 Bushmaster, and the cartridge calls for at least 1:12-inch-twist rifling to stabilize projectiles.
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Four factory loads are currently available. Remington offers 180- and 200-grain loads in its Core-Lokt family, while Federal Premium has two loads in its Power-Shok line: the 180-grain option I used to tag my buck in Illinois and a 200-grain load. Both manufacturers also plan to introduce additional loads, with Remington adding 160- and 180-grain offerings to its Core-Lokt Copper and Core-Lokt Tipped families, respectively, and Federal adding a 220-grain option to its HammerDown line.
Federal’s 180-grain Power-Shok load offers 2,254 ft-lbs. of energy at the muzzle, 1,498 ft-lbs. at 100 yards and 947 ft-lbs. at 200 yards. With a 100-yard zero, bullet drop at 200 yards is 8.1 inches. Remington’s 180-grain Core-Lokt does a little better: 2,300 ft-lbs., 1,518 ft-lbs. and 970 ft-lbs. at the muzzle, 100 yards and 200 yards, respectively, and a drop of 7.9 inches at 200 yards. The 200-grain Federal Power-Shok and Remington Core-Lokt loads are virtually identical, each offering 2,149 ft-lbs., 1,406 ft-lbs. and 898 ft-lbs. of energy at the muzzle, 100 and 200 yards, respectively, and a bullet drop of 9.7 inches at 200 yards.
Remington’s 180-grain .360 Buckhammer load has more energy at 200 yards than the company’s Core-Lokt 260-grain .450 Bushmaster (948 ft-lbs.), 180-grain .350 Legend (924), 150-grain .30-30 Win. (860) and 150- and 200-grain .35 Rem. (755 and 838) loads. Bullet drop at 200 yards is also less than that of the .450 Bushmaster (12 inches), .350 Legend (9.4), 170-grain .30-30 Win. (8.4) and both .35 Rem. (8.6 and 10.7) loads. The Buckhammer load has a longer maximum point-blank range for deer-size game (209 yards) than any of these and offers more energy at 100 yards, too. The 215-grain Winchester Power-Point .400 Legend yields a bit more energy (1,674 ft-lbs. and 1,134 ft-lbs. at 100 and 200 yards, respectively) but produces more recoil (16.26 ft-lbs. vs. the .360 Buckhammer’s 14.1 ft-lbs). Bullet drop is also steeper at 8.54 inches with a similar 100-yard zero.
In my research, I found some exceptions to these conclusions with loads outside of the Core-Lokt line. Federal’s 160-grain Fusion .350 Legend load, with its bullet having a higher ballistic coefficient, retains more energy at 200 yards (1,041 ft-lbs.) yet still has less energy inside 150 yards. It also has a longer maximum point-blank range (215 yards) and slightly less bullet drop at 200 yards (7.3 inches). Some .450 Bushmaster loads offer more energy at 100 and 200 yards but yield more recoil (about 22 ft-lbs.).
Henry has three lever-action rifles and one single-shot rifle (which I used in Illinois) chambered for .360 Buckhammer. Traditions has an Outfitter G3 single-shot rifle in .360 Buckhammer, and Magnum Research offers a Biggest Finest Revolver (BFR) model in .360 Buckhammer.
The .360 Buckhammer is a solid choice for hunting in straight-wall states, especially in lever guns. It has a great balance of downrange energy, reasonably flat trajectory for a straight-wall and mild recoil. The cartridge performed well for me, and it’ll work for any whitetail at acceptable distances. It’s surely more versatile than a slug fired from a shotgun.
This article was featured in the October 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .