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130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:44 pm
by blkhog
Went on a hunt last night with a couple of buddies. They had previously had trouble anchoring hogs over 150lb with130gr SOST bullets. I loaded a batch of Barnes 130gr TTSX to a listed 2300fps(approx). This was a published, max load. They were not chronographed.
Our results were spectacular. At ranges of 50 to 125 yds with night vision, 4 hogs were killed. Three were over 150, with one of these being a 260 lb boar. All shots were pass throughs except for the boar. He fell to a shot that penetrated the shield, both shoulders and thorax, then lodged in the shield on the far side. Nice even expansion, maybe a little less complete then a higher velocity round, with only the tip of one petal broken off in the shield next to the bullet.
One sow was also shot through both shoulders with no bullet recovery. The other was shot twice through the thorax, no recovery.
This was my first use of these bullets on game, and I am impressed. My buddies immediately asked for more. I haven't used the 110's and don't know how they work, but the 130's are a good choice on pigs! We hunted til 12:30 and cleaned hogs til 3:30

Edited;
In rechecking my data, I realize the 2300 fps velocity was from a 110gr load. Velocity for the 130gr bullets are in the mid 2100-2200fps range. My apology for the error. Performance was still great, though!

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:36 pm
by btb601
Let me know when it's ready. I'm freakin staving.

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:03 pm
by wildfowler
That's a great report. What is the part number of that bullet? I'm thinking of trying something a little heavier than the blacktip. I've now had three pigs that I have shot from a good rest, middle lung cavity area that got knocked over by the shot, only to get up and never be seen again.

These things have a tendency to not bleed a drop too.

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:13 am
by firedavis
I will be going out and doing some more blacktip barnes testing this weekend on hogs. I have shot a few with the blacktip and they have all died but havent really had to track much. In my personal expirence in shooting hogs no matter what caliber it is if your going to shoot them behind the shoulder do it right behind the elbow. Its low and in the vitals and they dont have to fill up with blood to leave a good blood trail. Shot one with 30-06 barnes but a little high in the vitals and never found a drop of blood just got lucky to find him. If I cant find anymore blacktips I will be giving these 130gr a try.

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:30 pm
by wildfowler
I'll admit that I have not been aiming low like you just described. The ones that I'm talking about that have gotten away were all shot in the same place and it's higher than what you're talking about, probably right in the armor plate which I really didn't think would matter on the smaller pigs? I don't think the ones that I've lost even weighed 100lbs. Probably 60-80 tops? They are obviously tougher than I think, even the small ones. I'd rather have a blood trail to at least give an effort to look for them. As it is now, if I don't find them within a few yards of hitting the woods, as thick as it is in my area, I'll never find them.


This is a good example of where I try to shoot them:
Image

I don't know if you can tell or not, but there's a red spot pretty much dead in the middle right behind the shoulder. Even this little bastard ran 25 yards.

I've still got about 150 black tips to shoot up, then 100 blue tips before I'm going to be ready to test anything heavier anyway.

Thanks for the tip.

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:08 pm
by firedavis
No problem. Here is an example of where I try and hit them, even just a little lower is best. Look at the fence post and to the left of him at the blood. Image
Here is a close up of it:
Image

Here is another one but was little forward but blood every where and didnt make it 30 yards:
Image

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:36 am
by blkhog
These were the blue tip 130 gr ttsx. Sorry i don't have the manufacturers code right now. I had hoped for a good trade off between weight and velocity and worried about expansion. I was well-pleased with these results. Our shooter was a friends son (18) who will be having cancer surgery this week and wanted to hog hunt as he won't be able to do much for a while. He seems like a competent shooter, but the rest of us did not have night vision to spot hits. The hits were pretty impressive sounding and I was able to call when he hit by ear pretty well. The one sow was shot on shots one and four since she was still thrashing, and both shots were detectable. A couple shots were taken as the rest of the pigs left after an initial shot but no audible hits were detected. That's a little iffy I know so a short range catch dog was turned out after each field and did not turn up any that ran after being shot. He did turn up a healthy boar that was too dumb to run very far!
This young man primarily deer hunts and placed his shots accordingly in the shoulder area. I agree that the shield on larger hogs thins behind the elbow, especially as you get lower in the thorax. There is also less subcutaneous fat there to seal a wound channel. And of course the heart is in the lower thorax also. With that said, I feel confident that these bullets allow some leeway in placement and will handle a shot that hits shield or bone.
Nice pics, firedavis. I'm hoping to get a few from our hunt emailed to me soon.
BTB601,
These pigs have been eating wheat for a couple months, first the heads as the wheat matured and now the secondary sprouted grain after harvest. The corn fields are taking some damage now too. They are fat and tasty. We haven't eaten it all yet, but we're working on it and have lots of help at supper (21 people Sat nite!). Better hurry over if you want some!

Re: 130gr TTSX on pigs

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 9:01 am
by Bkrawler
I need to move or introduce hogs to Virginia. This looks all to fun and delicious. I'm sure the farmers hate I but that looks like a hunters dream!

3 months to rifle season and counting