175gr MKs vs. Wild Pigs

[McTank]

I also use 30 cal 175 gr SMK's @2650 fps from a 308 on feral pigs and on those pigs it produces instant incapacitation and or death. The only thing I do differently than what you described is to shoot them in the head. If your eating these pigs you might want to try it, no damage to those shoulders and ribs. Your rifle looks like a custom job and from the distances at which you harvested those pigs you probably could have pulled off a head shot. I don't know who I'm quoting here, but I've been a firm believer that "Shot placement makes up a lot for bullet performance". Another issue with executing a "deer style" behind the shoulders shot on pigs is that you're likely to only hit liver and intestines. Sure, he's going to die, but he may run off and might not bleed as much as you'd like him to. Pigs aren't laid out quite like deer, their liver, stomach and intestines intrude into what you would think is space occupied by heart and lungs. also their neck makes a funny curve that makes neck shots tricky. Check out the website at texasboars.com . It's obvious you're a successful hunter so my apologies if I'm out of place.

Happy hunting

McTank

[Hondo64d]

Originally Posted by McTank

It's obvious you're a successful hunter so my apologies if I'm out of place.

Happy hunting

McTank

Not out of place at all. I like hearing other people's experiences. That's what this place is all about.

Head shots would have been easy enough, but I wanted to see how the MKs perform with more conventional placement. I have also noticed that the vitals are farther forward on pigs. That seems to be a large part of what makes them so tough. A pig of a given weight sures seems to stop bullets more effectively than any deer of the same weight ...

John

[McTank]

They are definitely thicker and they do tend to develop that thick "carapace" on their back. This doesn't make them bulletproof, but it may cause certain frangible bullets to prematurely expand and dump their energy too far from the desired location. Another thing that makes them seem harder to kill, in my opinion, is that they don't understand they've been shot and are about to die (no animal does). All they know is that something just hurt him in the spot he was standing, so he's going to run as fast as he can in the opposite direction he believes the threat came from. He'll continue to run until his brain can no longer tell his muscles to work. Even if his heart is destroyed and no longer capable of pumping blood to his brain, he should have about 8-10 seconds (maybe more) worth of oxygen left in the vessels in his brain. That's about enough oxygen to keep him running for 30 yards at least! And since his heart is not capable of pumping blood to his brain it's probably not going to pump it out of any wound (gravity gets a say so, so some does come out). That may partially explain the lack of a good blood trail. The small exit hole contributes to the lack of blood as well. It doesn't necessarily mean that the bullet didn't expand or create a sufficient wound channel. It could mean that the bullet had already transfered enough of its energy to the surrounding pig resulting in decreased velocity to the point that the wound channel was getting narrower, and merely ran out of pig. We've all seen the gelatin block wound channels, starts narrow, then creates a big cavity, and ends looking similar to the entrance channel. I've run on long enough. None of this really matters if you put the bullet (any bullet) in the right place.

McTank

[spitstickler]

Nice work, sir!