Okay, I'm back.
First day back from Texas.
We shot two hogs but saw many more. I shot one across a large "tank" and my partner shot one on a winter wheat field.
I'll paste a bit I posted at AccurateReloading.Com
I did a little unscientific terminal ballistics test while in Texas, I made three test shots with MatchKings on a hog at 40 yards. It was about a 160 pound hog and I fired Sierra MatchKings through the hind quarters and through the chest. The 175 grain MatchKing fired through the hind quarters was at an initial velocity of 2650+-, I shot through both major large bones and the pelvis. The bullet/fragments exited the off side. There was evidence of fragmenting (as expected) as a result of the large bones. The exit wound was still quite large and there were lead fragments and the actal base of the MatchKing (just the flat bottom most part of the boattail). On the chest shot, the wound was very devastating with an exit wound was about the size of a chicken egg (medium grade A version). There was no indication of fragmentation on this shot.
I also fired a Lapua 155 Scenar match bullet throught he front shoulders of the hog breaking both bones. The initial velocity was 2840 for this bullet. The exit wound was about the size of a dime, no indication of fragmentation.
Once the hide was removed to better examine the actual wound characteristics it was evident that the external exit wound as viewed on the skin/hide was much smaller than the internal wound.
I had not previously shot animals at close range with the MatchKing but this single experiment seems to indicate that they can penetrate heavy bones very well.
Two hogs were shot with the 338 RUM and the 300 MatchKing. Both of these hogs died in very short order. Both shots were in the 300 yards area, 294 and 310). The 294 yard shot was a front shoulder and spine shot as the hog was quartering away on the shot. The exit wound was the size of a U.S. Nickel. There were bone (spine) fragments in the shoulder/spine shot hog, no evidence of bullet fragmenting.
The Outfitter was also interested in the results of the "Target Bullet" test on the hog. He was present for the test shots and was very impressed with the wound characteristics of the bullets. He pronounced that he DID consider them a good hog bullet after the test but had doubts before the test shots.
None of the fired projectiles were recovered. All bullets passed through and the only evidence of framenting was on the heavy bone shot of the hind quarter side-to-side shot.
I found no reason to discontinue using MatchKings as a hunting bullet!
We took alone a younger fella (21 years old) on his first hog hunt. We told him about the hogs and that it can be dangerous at times. HE FORGOT some of the lesson and opted to follow a huge hog into the cedars. He said the reason he followed it was that he wasn't sure the 308 Win he was carrying would kill the hog???
To make a long story short, he said he was alone in the cedars with this huge hog for about 1 hour and 45 minutes playing hide-and-seek. When he called us on the radio we was ON TOP of a large metal shed and complaining that he had ruined one pair of BVD underware!
txhunter
We came across two coyotes while down there, if you want you can go look at them, they're still in the same place we last saw them.
First day back from Texas.
We shot two hogs but saw many more. I shot one across a large "tank" and my partner shot one on a winter wheat field.
I'll paste a bit I posted at AccurateReloading.Com
I did a little unscientific terminal ballistics test while in Texas, I made three test shots with MatchKings on a hog at 40 yards. It was about a 160 pound hog and I fired Sierra MatchKings through the hind quarters and through the chest. The 175 grain MatchKing fired through the hind quarters was at an initial velocity of 2650+-, I shot through both major large bones and the pelvis. The bullet/fragments exited the off side. There was evidence of fragmenting (as expected) as a result of the large bones. The exit wound was still quite large and there were lead fragments and the actal base of the MatchKing (just the flat bottom most part of the boattail). On the chest shot, the wound was very devastating with an exit wound was about the size of a chicken egg (medium grade A version). There was no indication of fragmentation on this shot.
I also fired a Lapua 155 Scenar match bullet throught he front shoulders of the hog breaking both bones. The initial velocity was 2840 for this bullet. The exit wound was about the size of a dime, no indication of fragmentation.
Once the hide was removed to better examine the actual wound characteristics it was evident that the external exit wound as viewed on the skin/hide was much smaller than the internal wound.
I had not previously shot animals at close range with the MatchKing but this single experiment seems to indicate that they can penetrate heavy bones very well.
Two hogs were shot with the 338 RUM and the 300 MatchKing. Both of these hogs died in very short order. Both shots were in the 300 yards area, 294 and 310). The 294 yard shot was a front shoulder and spine shot as the hog was quartering away on the shot. The exit wound was the size of a U.S. Nickel. There were bone (spine) fragments in the shoulder/spine shot hog, no evidence of bullet fragmenting.
The Outfitter was also interested in the results of the "Target Bullet" test on the hog. He was present for the test shots and was very impressed with the wound characteristics of the bullets. He pronounced that he DID consider them a good hog bullet after the test but had doubts before the test shots.
None of the fired projectiles were recovered. All bullets passed through and the only evidence of framenting was on the heavy bone shot of the hind quarter side-to-side shot.
I found no reason to discontinue using MatchKings as a hunting bullet!
We took alone a younger fella (21 years old) on his first hog hunt. We told him about the hogs and that it can be dangerous at times. HE FORGOT some of the lesson and opted to follow a huge hog into the cedars. He said the reason he followed it was that he wasn't sure the 308 Win he was carrying would kill the hog???
To make a long story short, he said he was alone in the cedars with this huge hog for about 1 hour and 45 minutes playing hide-and-seek. When he called us on the radio we was ON TOP of a large metal shed and complaining that he had ruined one pair of BVD underware!
txhunter
We came across two coyotes while down there, if you want you can go look at them, they're still in the same place we last saw them.