223 hard on the pork! And more!

Originally Posted By: dwaFound the limits of the 223 last night. I shot a monster at about 225 yds. Felt good about the shot it must have not penetrated enough. He was big curly haired and caked with mud. We looked for 2 hours last night. Going to try again today but I got a feeling he made it out ok. Tons of scenarios play through my mind in times like this. Have I shot a hog that big with a 223? Yes. Have I shot a pig at that distance? Absolutely. But Never have the size and distance been so not in my favor. As a hunter I do try to recover everything I kill. And I feel bad when I don't. But I felt I made an ethical shot and hope to find him piled up under a cedar.

I know where you're comin' from dwa. Found myself in the same spot last week.

I shot a couple of hogs while coyote hunting w/55 gr. Sierra soft points. They were seconds that I picked up @ Sierra plant and assume they are the varmint bullets as they are flat base and their 55 gr. gamekings are boattail bullets.

Any rate, took both of those hogs with broadside head shots between the eye and ear and they were DRT, which instilled confidence in the load when carefully placed.

Since then, my partner and I have shot 35 hogs, at least half of which were shot with this same load. Had a couple get back up and run, but managed to drop them w/quick followup shots; only one small boar shot behind the shoulder and he dropped in his tracks, the rest were side profile head shots until last week.

Right about sunset, had 5 hogs trotting toward me at about 50 yds. which were about to enter my scent cone. No trick to keep crosshairs between the leader's eyes at that range so decided to take the shot with the expectation of dropping the (about 200#) boar in his tracks.

I saw the red splash of the bullet striking the pig between his eyes. To my surprise, he squealed, turned and ran back to the brushline from whence they came (about 100 yds).

We tracked him at least a half mile when we ran out of light. Continued search the following morning to no avail. There was a good blood trail to follow, making the tracking easy to the point where he entered an impenetrable thicket.

I'm convinced that the bullet exploded and the sharp angle of the pig's forehead deflected any remains making for a painful but non lethal wound?? Any rate, I'm through with that load on anything other than side profile head shots and am interested in finding a load for a heavier/harder bullet such as the tsx or NP.
The problem is that this particular rifle is really finicky on what load it will shoot.

Since it has a 1:7 twist, figured it would like heavier bullets, but so far have not found anything other than the 55 gr. Sierra SP's that will shoot 1.25" @ 100 yds. The heavier bullets seem to group three out of five shots in an inch or less but invariably will throw two fliers which open the group to 2" or more.

I've tried the tsx/s and ttsx in both .223 and 243 wssm and have had no luck yet in getting any accuracy from them in several different rifles. So far I've tried Varget & H450 in the 243 and H335 and Ball C in the .223.

Would appreciate any powders/loads you guys have found to be accurate in your rifles.

Regards,
hm



 
Just to add to the growing pile of evidence for the efficacy of the .223 on hogs...

I used 62gr. TSX loaded by black hills. The accuracy is ok, but never benched it. The important thing is it needs absolutely no scope adjustment when switching from my usual 55gr hornaday SP I use for coyote and jacks.

This one is about 150 lbs. Shot at about 150 yards. Bullet exited. It dropped squeeling for about 30 seconds. It got up and ran about 50 yards as its lungs filled with blood. Then it plopped over stone dead.

I plan to keep using the .223 until I win the lottery or shoot up all the ammo I have. Then I will get a .243, mostly for more range.



 
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Originally Posted By: YellowhammerWhat is going on in the background? Some photo shop?

I blocked out a very obvious landmark to protect my honey hole from the army of hog hunters lurking on the net. NEVER give the location of your hunting spot on the net!
 
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Originally Posted By: HOG RUSHSo, do the pig pipes work?

What are you using to draw them in?

Pig pipes work. I made 2 of them and have had one out for awhile now. I had to pour corn along the pipe to get them to start rolling it.

I initially brought them in with corn mixed with PigOut. I dug a hole with post hole diggers so they have to root down and work for it. A gallon lasts a long time and I have also read that Raspberry Kool Aid mixed with corn works well.

http://www.elusivewildlife.com/?section=22&p=productMore&iProduct=125

This is a good video on how to build one:




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Originally Posted By: TripleDeuce660Just to add to the growing pile of evidence for the efficacy of the .223 on hogs...As will I. I've posted these in other places on "the internets," but thought I'd post them here, too. (Bacon makes my dog and me do some strange things.)

Shot around 9:00 A.M. on 5-19-13 with a Winchester 45-grain Wal-Fart "value pack" 3600 FPS load from approximately 125 yards. One shot just immediately forward of the left shoulder, hog ran about three steps and piled up.
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Shot at dark on 6-14-13 from about 50 yards. Larger black sow was a head shot, juvenile sow was a chest shot. I used a handload consisting of a 55-grain Sierra BlitzKing (#1455) over 25.0 grains of WC844 in a Winchester case with WSR primer chronographed at 3011 FPS. Both pigs, more or less, dropped where they were standing when I shot.
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Shot at 7:20 P.M. on 6-15-13 from about 100 yards, same handload as above. Bullet entered just aft of the left shoulder and pig ran about 20 yards before expiring in tall grass.
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My rifle has consistently produced slightly over 1/2-inch groups at 100 yards (0.552") with the loads mentioned as well as slightly under 1-inch loads (0.998") with the same loads at 200 yards.
 
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