Ammo Testing On Hog - Off To The Races

[Double Naught Spy]

I am in the middle of field testing a different type of ammo than I usually use. I have tried a variety of rounds in the past, but keep going back to Hornady SST 123 gr. for my Grendel. I am now trying Federal Speer TNT 90 gr. It is really a varmint bullet, but one of my hunting partners was reloading it and getting good results, so I thought I would try the factory version.

When it comes to hog hunting, not every shot is going to be perfect and so despite having a better shot, I intentionally make shots that are less ideal to see how the ammo will perform. In this case, I am attempting to intentionally hit a leg bone to see how that will affect bullet terminal performance. Unfortunately, I missed bone and the bullet blasted through and the hog took off on me. Just how far it ran and how fast was a surprise to me...



At the end of the video are links to two previous tests on this round. In all, I have been out with it four times, the first time with my buddy who was shooting the reloaded version as well. We didn't stop to do any analysis. These initial results indicated to me that the round would be decent at typical hunting distances (but I don't know about longer range.

 

[Mrvmax]

Do you handload? I’ve been using Barnes 120 grain TTSX for my Grendel but have not had a chance to shoot anything with them.

 

[Fishhog]

I've been loading the 123 SST for some time now in the 6.5 Creedmore, and recently started loading it in the Grendel. Still in the experimental area with the Grendel, but my last hog a few nights ago with it was really surprising to me. I was trying for a neck shot at about 130 yds, and managed to get it a little bit further back and through the shoulder. It ended up breaking both front legs on one that was at least 250 lbs.....I am still impressed with that bullet. It didn't exit, which didn't surprise me, but the damage within was impressive.