175gr MKs vs. Wild Pigs

[Hondo64d]

Shot these with my .308 this weekend with 175gr MKs loaded to about 2670fps. Black one was taken at about 80 yards. Shot was just behind right shoulder. Exit was small, about the size of a quarter. Found first blood drops about 80 yards from where I shot him, and blood trailed him about 40 yards more to where he lay.

Shot the red one at about 100 yards, low through right shoulder. No exit. He made it about 40 - 50 yards. No blood trail.

Don't know what they weighed, but you might get an idea of the size by comparing to my rifle.

The MKs work, but not nearly as convincingly as the Berger VLDs have for me...

John

 

[Stormrider]

I've shot a couple of pigs that weren't as big as yours with Nosler 168 CC match out of my 308's and they punched right through and killed one on the spot at 45y and the other ran 20y leaving a massive blood trail. He was 330y away. It was great fun.

 

[trebark]

Hondo:
Those are some ugly pigs. Couldn't you get some lip-stick on 'em for the pics?

You did well to put them both down in one shot. I shot one at 40 yards with a 240g JHP out of my .44mag. Learned the hard way that when blood trailing a pig with a partner, one person look at the blood on the ground and the other keep their eyes out front looking for the pig. That pig got up and was determined to get a piece of me. Another frantically placed 240JHP and he was done.

 

[Limbic]

Nice swine. Good size. I've seen em shot in the shoulder with 3006 and 7mm and still trot off. Bonded bullets none the less. A big pig is a tough tough animal. Pound for pound I'd say one of the toughest. I'd guess a griz would be tougher but I've never even laid eyes on one

 

[purpledragon]

If you are going to shoot big hogs with your .308 load you some 180gr Nosler E-Tips,you'll see a big difference I guarantee. You will have plenty of blood trail to follow but probably not very far.

 

[specweldtom]

I've confirmed killing 4 pigs with the 168 Smkhp in .308's. They all ran. None left blood trails. Buzzards found 3 of them, the ranch owner found 1, and 2 more that I know I hit, I never found, also no blood trail. I have seen the 168 mkhp crush whitetail deer, and I expected it would do the same to hogs. The shots ranged from 120 yds to 400+ yds. most were running shots. Used a FAL, and an M1A. It took 3 hunts, and 19 rounds total to hit the 2 escapees and kill the 4 confirmed. It gets busy. I hunt from box stands, and the FAL bounced hot hulls all over the inside of the stand. It's gone. The old match gun tossed them out the window.

Using the 168's, experience tells me that I won't drop hogs in place unless I neck or head shoot them, and I won't have a blood trail with a chest shot.

I think an Accubond or Ballistic tip would be a better choice, but I don't match shoot any more, and had some 168 mk's left over.

Good hunting, Tom

 

[SYee]

Nice pics.

SY

 

[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]

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!

 

[fmboss429]

Thanks for the great info... helps me out.

 

[Boss Hoss]

Have killed too many of the Bastids to count from 223 fmj 55gr (factory PMC used to shoot in the Stoner) to 250 SMK's out of the 338 Lapua.

ALWAYS shoot behind the shoulder and about 5 to 8 inches up from the belly starts. No armor and you will get both lungs-----NEVER had one run more than a 100 yards before falling over and blowing blood out of his nose like you were at the car wash with the wand.

 

[ROBSTER]

Great pic`s thanks for sharing your experiances.
robster