Hogs down with the 300BLK

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der Teufel
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Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by der Teufel »

I had hoped to post some video, but apparently the SD card came loose in my DVR. I thought the DVR gave an alert when it didn't have a card, but in this case the card was there, just not fully inserted and I didn't get any warning. So, no video. DANG!

I hunted a 'sort of' new spot over the recent weekend. It's 'sort of' new because I hunted the property next to it a few times in June & July. This field belongs to my wife's family and was planted in sorghum, which was harvested the weekend before this hunt. The guy who harvested it said there was considerable hog damage, and I figured there would be grain scattered around that might still attract hogs. I set up at sundown in hopes of seeing a few.

Here's the view of the field. The tree line on the left is on a line going SSW:

Image

The wind was forecast to be SSE, so I set up in the SE corner of the field. It gave me a pretty good view of the area. I thought the hogs would probably come in just slightly south of me, from the east through the tree line. There are some houses farther up to the left of the photo above (on the east side of the field), so I didn't want to set up in the SW corner because that might have me shooting in their direction.

I saw a lot of deer. There were deer in the field constantly from sundown until I finally saw hogs a little after 2AM Sunday morning. The hogs actually came in from the SW corner, which made me happy I hadn't set up there. I had noticed something at the far south end of the field around 1AM. There were some deer, but something else somewhat away from them that I couldn't identify. I figured I had nothing better to do than to go check it out, so I started walking. It took close to a half hour to get to the south end, and by then whatever I'd seen had disappeared. I stayed a little while in case it or something else interesting showed, but started my return journey a little after 1:30AM. A little after 2AM I was almost back to my truck when I stopped to take a look around. I saw some "new players" on the field which I recognized as hogs. It was a sounder consisting of two large sows and roughly a dozen piglets. They were across the field from me and a little out of my comfortable shooting range, so I started moving toward them. The moon was full, and behind me, so I was concerned that I'd be spotted if I got too close. I stopped twice to make sure they hadn't seen me, and eventually got to within what I estimated to be perhaps just over 100 yards. I would have liked to have gone closer but with the bright moon high overhead I figured I'd better shoot before they got wise.

I doubt that these hogs had ever been hunted before, or not much. The area is a combination of small farms and occasional residences, and I doubt that the hogs get much pressure. I guessed that once I started shooting they'd run back the way they came. Instead they ran forward and toward the middle of the field, which gave me the opportunity to keep shooting. My initial shot dropped one of the large sows.

Image

She weighed 190 Lbs and went down with one shot through the shoulders.

I recovered the bullet. It was a 110 grain Hornady SP which was lodged in the fat just under the skin on the far side. It penetrated both shoulders.

Image

Weight retention was just over 86 grains, or about 78%.

Once the first sow went down, I took aim at the second large hog. It turned out to be an even larger sow weighing about 220 Lbs (estimated). She actually made it across the fence onto the neighbor's property, but only barely. I wasn't inclined to crawl through the wet grass to go under the fence, so I just took a photo from where I stood. I've hunted this neighbor's land before, and he said it's all right to just leave dead hogs where they lay. I texted him after dawn alerting him that he might be seeing buzzard activity near his fence. He had no problems & was happy to have a few more hogs gone from the area.

Image

After taking the above photo I re-scanned the field and saw that the piglets hadn't completely left the area. They wandered around, and eventually came close enough for me to get a shot. They weren't as small as I had expected. I killed a 90 Lb male shoat with a shot through both shoulders to bring the nightly total to three hogs down. I failed to get a photo of the shoat, however. Y'all are just gonna have to take my word for it!
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dellet
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by dellet »

Always nice to see your exploits and write up of what the cartridge can do.
Sucks about the video tho.
300 Blackout, not just for sub-sonics.
BJK
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by BJK »

I almost wish we had hogs up here in Maine. Almost.
white cloud
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by white cloud »

Great work and thanks for posting. Can you tell me what variety of Hornady bullet you used?
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gds
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by gds »

That is awesome
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TRshootem
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by TRshootem »

Our dry ground and forests with fires all around had the ranges all closed...no shootin! This last week has cooled off and several episodes of rain allows us to now use a couple local ranges...and we can see the mountains and breathe fresh air! I would love to do some hog shootin one day.
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der Teufel
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by der Teufel »

white cloud wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:56 pm Great work and thanks for posting. Can you tell me what variety of Hornady bullet you used?
It's their standard (plain) cup and core bullet, Hornady 110 grain sp in 30 caliber. The Hornady number is 3010. It's listed as a varmint bullet, but I like it for the 300BLK because it expands satisfactorily while still holding together pretty well. I have also used their 110 grain VMAX bullet, which works equally well, but not necessarily better for shooting hogs in my experience. The VMAX is a little more expensive, although not by a lot.

Availability is often an issue with this bullet. In normal times it's a limited production item which Hornady only builds once a year. They do a large run all at once to meet the anticipated demand for the coming year. For that reason I usually buy several boxes at a time when I need them. These days I have a hard time finding them. Luckily I still have a small reserve which will carry me for a while.
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white cloud
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by white cloud »

Thanks very much for this info.

Do you think the Nosler 110 grain Varmageddon would perform as well? Have you shot any hogs with the 110 grain GMX? If so, how did they do? I want to use this for deer.

Thanks again for reading all these questions.
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der Teufel
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by der Teufel »

I don't have any personal experience with copper bullets, so I'm reluctant to comment. I picked the Hornady 110 Grain SP because I figured it would expand well enough. Given that it's really a varmint bullet made to be fired from a .308, it performs in a satisfactory manner (in my opinion) at 300BLK velocities.

I have also used the 130 grain Hornady SP, which also worked all right, but I settled on the 110 grain figuring that the slightly higher velocity would provide more energy given the mass v. velocity trade-off (energy increases as the square of velocity but is only directly proportional to mass).

The Hornady GMX is described as "Hard-hitting and deep-penetrating" so I would wonder about how well it might expand when used in a 300BLK, but I have no real knowledge about it.

While again I have no first-hand knowledge about the Nosler Varmageddon, it gets pretty favorable reviews regarding usage in a 300 Blackout. If I'm ever unable to find more Hornady 110 grain SP bullets and the Varmageddon is the only bullet available I'll use it in a heartbeat with good expectations. But for now I'm happy with the Hornady bullets.
"A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject." — John R. Lott
white cloud
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Re: Hogs down with the 300BLK

Post by white cloud »

Thanks for your kind reply.
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