Humane .223 Bullets for Hog Killing?

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  • Double Naught Spy

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    The bottom line is that if you do not do significant damage to the central nervous system, either directly or indirectly, the hogs will run, regardless of caliber. Directly would involve actually hitting the spinal cord, brain stem, or brain. Indirectly would be most commonly via hitting a bone that goes into the spinal cord, brain stem, or brain, or my hydrostatic shock.

    When using a smaller caliber such as .223, shot placement, trajectory through the animal, and penetration are all that much more critical than when using larger and heavier calibers.

    Unless you are meat hunting off your back porch, worrying about the cost of ammo (Barnes TSX being 'rather pricey') is pretty silly in the grand scheme of fuel costs, lease prices, all the snacks and beverages you take when you go hunting, meals on the road, etc. Buy a box of 20. Get sighted in with 5 or so. Then shoot 10 hogs and have a few to spare for coupe de grace shots that may sometimes by needed.
    Guns International
     

    APynckel

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    I load my own ammo, so I'm just looking for pill recommendations. I have a couple boxes of 70gr TSX's and have a good load up with Varget, just wondering if there were better alternatives.
     

    Double Naught Spy

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    So you are complaining about the cost of just the pills? That makes the expense even more inconsequential.

    A LOT of bullets will work. It really comes down to how you want them to perform inside the hog.

    If you want a superpenetrating round that won't distribute lead particulates in to the flesh, go with a monolithic like Barnes TSX. Avoid ammo such as AMAX, SST, various Bergers, cup and core bullets, etc. that fragment and come apart if you worry about lead in your meat. The problem with copper monolithics is that you generally can't quite get as heavy of a bullet as you could with lead-based bullets. You won't find too much competition for the TSX that will give you the performance of TSX. However, Hornady GMX might be a less expensive alternative.

    Do not use any target loads. Some work great, but they tend to have irregular performance.

    Or just shoot them in the head as others have suggested. You can use some awfully cheap pills and get the result you want. You will just limit more limited shot opportunities.
     

    APynckel

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    I mean, complaining? I don't think that was the context of this thread.

    Also, considering this thread is in the RELOADING subforum, I would have figured you could figure out I was loading my own ammo... let alone the fact the first post says I'm looking for pills, not loaded ammo.
     
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    ShadowDelta

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    I forgot to mention, the Swift Sciracco II 75gr. They are elusive, but they will do some damage

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
     

    Kosh75287

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    Ordinarily, I'd suggest a larger-bore cartridge, but none of the projectiles I've seen suggested strike me as particularly BAD choices. The BTHP SMKs, though hollow pointed, were not designed with expansion in mind, so quite often they act like solids in tissue. I'd want something that penetrates deeply with not a lot of expansion/fragmentation, even if it constitutes traversing the target area and exiting on the far side.
     

    APynckel

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    Ordinarily, I'd suggest a larger-bore cartridge, but none of the projectiles I've seen suggested strike me as particularly BAD choices. The BTHP SMKs, though hollow pointed, were not designed with expansion in mind, so quite often they act like solids in tissue. I'd want something that penetrates deeply with not a lot of expansion/fragmentation, even if it constitutes traversing the target area and exiting on the far side.

    Yea, they're paper punchers. The jacket is not bonded to the core and often flakes off like foil when glancing off bones.

    Personally, I'd want to transfer as much of the kinetic energy from the projectile into the target as possible without overpenetration, preferably creating a lovely permanent hydraulic shock cavity in the process.
     

    APynckel

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    Hydronic shock cavity?

    So there's this thing in physics called incrompressible fluids. The dynamic bit of those fluids is called "hydraulics". When you ballistically introduce a round into an incompressible fluid (such as flesh, because it's mostly water), it creates what's called a hydraulic shock. There is a temporary cavity, and a permanent cavity. The latter of the two is what creates wounds that cause animals to bleed out and die.
     

    popper

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    I've killed a couple running pigs with 30 & 40 cal cast. Buddy tries 223 and never finds them (running at a distance of course). Yotes the same.
     

    Texas42

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    So there's this thing in physics called incrompressible fluids. The dynamic bit of those fluids is called "hydraulics". When you ballistically introduce a round into an incompressible fluid (such as flesh, because it's mostly water), it creates what's called a hydraulic shock. There is a temporary cavity, and a permanent cavity. The latter of the two is what creates wounds that cause animals to bleed out and die.

    I get temporary and permanent cavity. Explained easily by gel models.

    "Hydrostatic shock" is a term widely used on the internet with vague meanings that are invariably associated with larger calibers. It is not measurable nor scientific, but thought to explained insta-drops. I'd not heard of it being called a cavity.

    I'm not saying it doesn't exist, just that it is not quantified, and temporary and permanent cavity is he only reliable wounding characteristics IMO.
     

    TreyG-20

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    5.56 is plenty for most pigs in Texas. Unless you are seeking out the biggest in the group your average pig will be >100lbs. Not sure why everyone thinks they are bullet proof. Put your shots where they count and 5.56 will do the job every time. I have done and witnessed it plenty of times. As for the bullet any quality brand that shoots well out of your gun should work just fine.
     

    schmellba99

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    If you are shooting ear/head, pretty much anything outside of a varmint/frangible type projectile will work swimmingly - cheap FMJ's to expensive TTSX projectiles all do the job.

    For body shots, you need somethign that has good expansion but holds weight. I don't particularly care for the TTSX rounds, but others like them a lot. Nosler Partitions, PPT or even the lead free ballistic tips are great options. Hornady GMX are also another option to look at. Sierra Game King is always a good selection as well. I would not recommend any match type bullet for hunting - they aren't designed for it and the performance on game is generally really poor.
     
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