Whitetail 'burger

[nohorse]

MLV, Rdnck, et. al.:

Would appreciate a recommendation for a bullet to use on hogs. I have a hunt planned in the near future and will use use my Shiloh Hartford with a 30" heavy barrel. Was planing on useing Walts' old NEI mold of the Ideal Creedmore Postell cast either at 20 or 30:1, on top of 70 gr Goex 2f. I figured the ogive on this Postell design would provide good shield penetration....open to suggestions....

Thanks!

[rdnck]

nohorse--The hunting load I use is almost exactly what you propose. Specifically, I use a Lyman Postell at 30-1 over 70 grains of Goex 2f. It will shoot all the way through any hog that walks from any angle. Your NEI Postell will do the same thing.

If you have a 457125 Govt bullet or one of the custom equivalents, it will work just as well. If it were me and I had both bullets, I would simply use the one that was the most accurate in my hunting rifle. Using either bullet, I have found that 30 or 40 to one gives good hunting performance. Shoot straight, rdnck

Chairman
Caddo Lake Chapter
FES

[MLV]

Kelly: Right. I'd already gotten a big hog with the .45 Colt lever gun. Hit him three times through the ribs at about 40 to 70 yards as he zig-zagged through the prickly pear. Everytime he turned broadside to me I hit him again. At about 70-75 yards he just fell over. The other guy managed to hit that armor plate in the deal where the bullet bounced off.

.44 Magnum: We were on an invited industry hunt and had to use what we were handed. The rifles were Uberti M1873s and 1866s, all in .45 Colt caliber and the ammo was also what they handed us. Your handload would work good in Ruger's but would be way too much for M1873s and 1866s.

[squire pickett]

Hi guys,

Some good advice here, wild hogs are one of my favorite game animals. I have been in on the killing of about a dozen, either as the shooter or backing up someone else, and I've gone to the lighter bullets because I want the round to stay in the animal instead of expending its energy on the ground behind it.

Rdnck is right about the penetration of the big .45 bullets. I finished one off as he was facing me. Shot just above his right eye and the bullet lodged under the skin at the rear of his left ham. A killing shot to be sure, but after a long chase after an animal that had already taken three .45 slugs that had gone through from side to side.

Nohorse, the next time you are in Jackson come by the office and I'll show you the mount of the hog I just described.

Kelley you are right about shot placement. If I cannot put the round in the heart or head then I pass and wait for another opportunity.

MLV I had something similar happen with the .45 Colt. After shooting my hog I swapped my .45/70 Marlin Guide gun with a guy who showed up with a new '73 in .45 Colt. He also dressed in period costume which I thought was kind of cool. A guide and I walked to the adjacent ridge to block and turn back any game that got past them. Couple shots later I had to finish off a hog comming our way with the .45 Colt. This devolved into me shooting the hog, trailing 40-60 yards and shooting again, placing the shots where the guide insisted. After about the third round of this I braced the rifle against a tree and shot the hog behind the ear as he was quartering away. Taught us all a lesson about fire power. The hogs we hunt are blooded Russians and they are born armored, armed and dangerous. A shot to the vitals will kill them but as long as they are breathing they will still fight. I have no interest in trailing wounded game as we middle aged guys have no business stumbling around on a Tennessee mountainside in a hurry. One fall and we could hurt ourselves worse than being chewed on by a wounded hog.

The head shot is also a family tradition. In the old days of open range stock laws the hogs would be gathered by dogs for slaughter in the fall. Once penned Great Uncle Ernest would fell them with a single shot behind the ear with and old cap 'n ball pistol his father used during the Battle of Vicksburg. The gun had disappeared by the time I was old enough to have an interest in such things but my mother says Uncle Ernest referred to it as an "old dragoon pistol". It was probably a '51 Navy but it never took more than one shot and family lore says Uncle Ernest couldn't shoot worth a darn.

Regards,
Squire

[MudChild]

These are feral hogs you guys are talking about, right? There's a few hundred or so here in Missouri and MDC WANTS them dead. Kill all you want most any way you want. Dad and I are planning to go after a few sometime soon, and I'd like to have my Shiloh before then. If I don't, though, I'll just take the A-Bolt 30-06.

I hope it isn't considered sacreligious on this site to say it, but there's just something downright sexy about the 30-06 round, isn't there?

[Timberlake]

Mud Child,

I have a place on the west end of Lake of the Ozarks. Seen a few hogs over there too. I'd really like to get with someone and do some of that type of hunting. e-mail me at flyshooter@mchsi.com.

TL

[MudChild]

Timberlake,

I tried to email you but it was rejected. We were planning to hunt around Cassville on Mark Twain. We would be more than happy to have you come along with us, especially if you brought your Shiloh along so we could drool over.

How many acres do you have up on Lake of the Ozarks? If you want to email me my address is dkjones21@olemac.net

[Kelley O.Roos]

Squirepicket,

Your story reminded me of what happen the one and only time I went pig hunting here in California. I went hunting up by King City and found a spot by a creek, so followed the creek up a ways and spotted 6 pigs, so did a sneek got to about 35yds of them. I wanted a sow for the meat and shoot the biggest one, well all of a sudden I heard his big crash and this boar came busting out of the brush about 35yds from me on my left, I never saw him when I saw the group which scattered at my shoot, I shot him and was lucky because the shot hit him in the spine stopping him 15yds from me. I walked over and put a bullet behind his ear, then went over to find the sow and she's gone. It turned out I'd hit her in both lungs and she walked about 50yds away and was still breathing when I found her, needless to say I shot her again to end it. I was shaking pretty good after that boar came out of the bushes. The hard part was cleaning and getting those two pigs out by myself. Here we can buy tags for five pigs a year.

I'm going pig hunting again in two weeks. Hopefully no surprises.

Kelley O.

[MudChild]

Here in Missouri, you only have to have a small game permit. MDC wants you to kill as many as you can. They (the pigs, not MDC ) spread disease, ruin native habitat, threaten hunters, hikers, etc., and run off with all of our young daughters. Well, ok, they don't really do that, but if you read the MDC web page on hogs the vehemence toward them is as if they did.

[Ken Hartlein]

I just shot some of the 330 grain HP and I got about the same group as MLV, just under 3" at 100 yards. I'd say that is still plenty good for hunting, but I didn't get an Elk shot so I can't say anything good or bad about the bullet. I do know that Trigger Dr. killed a huge Black bear with one of these bullets so that's good enough for me.

[nohorse]

Thanks for the invitation squire and I'll take ya up on it! Good to see ya posting a few notes here and there again. I'd also like to show ya the Kelly soule I recently purchased and compare a few notes, of course that means the Shiloh has to come with it!......

[Ken Hartlein]

Rdnck and MLV, both of you have talked about the 457193 420 grain lyman bullet. The catalog I'm looking in list that bullet at 405 grains in the lyman mold. Did you have custom molds made to make the bullet 420 grain or has lyman changed the mold?? Thanks.

[rdnck]

Ken--My Lyman 457193 was purchased new in 1984. The bullets fall from it at 420 grains cast 30-1. I don't know what the current molds throw, as this is the only one I have ever owned or used. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Ken Hartlein]

I think I'll send Lyman an email and ask them. Thanks Rdnck.

[Ray Newman]

The Lyman on-line catalogue states that the 457193 will drop a 405 grain w/ the Lyman #2 alloy. Any alloy different from a #2 will drop a lighter or heavier bullet esp. an alloy that has more lead content as Rdnck's 30:1.