Can you drill limestone without a rotary hammer drill?

I finally got my hands on some limestone! It's very rare around these parts, so I've never actually drilled it. Since it's sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate, I thought I'd try to see what can actually get through it. Like do you need proper SDS rotary hammer, or can a normal hammer drill get through? or even an impact driver!
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[@josephmerz2666]

I tried using the impact for drilling inspired by your recent video . i was inspired . i used cement block ,i found it could but not for very many holes .

[@flowsephe]

Super helpful, bolting some limestone sport routes in Ontario Canada when the weather gets nice. Wasn't sure if i needed to pick up an SDS for this but from this video ill be fine with my basic hammer drill and some masonry bits. Thank You Mountain! Cheers. That milwaukee went through like butter

[@MountainMullet]

No worries! However you should definitely test your setup before getting on the wall. From my experience drilling Ontario limestone it's pretty soft and should be ok without an SDS, but you might hit hard silicate or fossils that need hammering to get through. Also if you're installing glue in rings and need to recess the eye, that'll be hard without an SDS

[@flowsephe]

@@MountainMullet I’ll be using Hilti’s 3/8 expansion bolts for this project. They’re 3” long. My concern is with the rock being so soft and possibility of pulling out the bolt under a major load on the anchor, thank you for the tips definitely good to know more. Totally forgot about all the fossils in the rock there and will definitely have issues with that

[@texasrockshillcountry6574]

Could that have worked from above during the nutty putty tragedy - with a bigger drill of course? Seems like if they came from above they could have pulled him out.

[@MountainMullet]

Given enough time yes, you could drill right through with hammer drills, but you'd use bigger ones than this. But it would still take days and days, and you'd need to get the tools into the cave, get long drill bits in to reach where he was stuck, avoid drilling into the casualty, somehow get the rubble out, not suffocate him with dust... There are all sorts of issues to resolve. I think using pulleys like they did was the right call, it just would've taken too long to excavate

[@JohnDrinkwater]

Nice video! You absolutely can... ish. I’m cursed living in the Cotswolds in England, with old houses built from the stuff, also done my fair share building the local regional style of drystone walls with it.. it does look like you’ve got quite a soft variant there, with some fissures not helping your test! Not very geological, but I can order hardness of quarry output by sight from colour, sandy orange, muted yellow, yellowish grey and then bluish grey. Those last two are going to be a chore for your impact driver. Core drill bits seem to work best, as walls are skimmed with an even softer lime plaster which causes drill bits to drift until they can bite.

[@MountainMullet]

We have very little limestone here, and yes it seems quite soft. I'm kinda jealous you get to live in stone houses up there! Sounds very cosy