Rethinking my 357 Mag as a hog rifle?

[zippy]

What do you do with the remains? Sounds like there must be tons of the stuff.

[Ranch Dog]

I would like to see you shoot one more pig but this time with a boolit that has a lower bhn something like 9-10.

The problem with 9-10 BHN is that you are not going to be able to use same internal ballistics that I'm using so the terminal ballistics won't be the same. The best you can hope for with the softer alloy is about 25.0 KPSI. I went back and looked at some of my pressure trace data and at that pressure level the 175-grain bullet will be about 1600 FPS at the muzzle. That is 190 FPS less than what I'm shooting and in such a marginal cartridge that is huge. I really doubt that you would see any penetration with the soft alloy as it is really going to flatten out on the hide. I have seen this happen with jacketed bullets, they have totally disintegrated against the shield.

The problem is that the 357 Mag is a marginal cartridge for this work especially at night. What I'm looking at is a "steel" hog silhouette target out there as much of the dimensions are lost in the dark. What I make to be the perfect shot, might be rejected in the daylight, because shot placement on big game with the 357 Mag is everything. Given the shot in the daylight, it might not have been taken as I know this cartridge needs the stars aligned. I really see it no different that my 32-20 Win other than the Mag ability to send 60-grains more bullet down range.

I would place a hog hide at 6 to 8 times thicker than a whitetail plus the the bones of a deer are match sticks comparison.

The answer here, at least for me, is to use a bigger gun. As much as I would like the 357 Mag work out, it is not cut out for this night time work. My wife said it all yesterday. She looked at the R92 as it sat at rest in the corner rack near the backdoor and said, "if you don't put a bigger rifle there you are going to be spending your days out there (point to yard) filling holes!" And, she's right.

[Ranch Dog]

What do you do with the remains? Sounds like there must be tons of the stuff.

Feed them to the coyotes.

[Ranch Dog]

Ranch Dog, thanks for the hunting story. Your humility of posting a "less than perfect" hunt is to be applauded. We're all here to learn from one another. I for one, learn more from my "less than perfect" hunts than I do the perfect ones. The key word here is LEARN.

Thanks!

I relate these stories as a background to something to ponder. How fast is too fast? Just me thinking out loud: Take a small diameter bullet like a .357 and zip it along at a pretty rapid speed, does it, at some point just cut a nice little hole without causing a lot of damage? My first thought is you can't reach the "zip through" speed out of a firearm. Second thought, maybe you can??? The difference fps of the Rossi 20 inch barrel and the Ruger 6 1/2 barrel with the same bullet is 300 fps. Give the distance of both shots the difference would be reduced. But, take into fact the thick skinned hog vs the thin skinned deer; I don't know?

The idea of driving it hard at the muzzle is to deliver the punch at the working end, especially in light that this is a marginal cartridge. At 75 yards, my load/bullet has lost 255 FPS. That is, in effect, the difference you see at the muzzle between your rifle & handgun with your load and bullet.

RD, did you pull that pig out of the pond? I'd love a forensic report.

Yeap, a couple posts up I mentioned it.

I did the CSI to the hog, fishing her off the bottom of the lake pond. Not in bad shape as the water is fairly cool. She was covered with bottom muck which didn't smell to good once exposed to the air. I cleaned her off enough to determine that the bullet did not exit. The entry was spot on, so she took the entire dose of energy. I wasn't interested in digging in her. The trick is to knock them off their feet so they run in place or expend their energy in trying to get up.

[Mrlucky353]

My wife said it all yesterday. She looked at the R92 as it sat at rest in the corner rack near the backdoor and said, "if you don't put a bigger rifle there you are going to be spending your days out there (point to yard) filling holes!" And, she's right.

Sometimes wives have amazing perspective. Like the time when Ben Hogan was expressing frustration at his difficulties sinking long putts, his wife told him "Why don't you just hit the ball closer to the hole on your approach shots?"

[Ranch Dog]

My wife said it all yesterday. She looked at the R92 as it sat at rest in the corner rack near the backdoor and said, "if you don't put a bigger rifle there you are going to be spending your days out there (point to yard) filling holes!" And, she's right.

Sometimes wives have amazing perspective. Like the time when Ben Hogan was expressing frustration at his difficulties sinking long putts, his wife told him "Why don't you just hit the ball closer to the hole on your approach shots?"

Yeah, sometimes the unknowledgable bystander has a good prospective. For those not familiar with hogs, the holes she is referring to is the damage they do. We have had them dig up just about our entire 4 acre yard, overnight, and it take me weeks to refill and correct (plus the $$$ associated with it).

[pacificpt]

Just out of curiosity RD, what is the biggest round you have used on a piggy?

[Ranch Dog]

Just out of curiosity RD, what is the biggest round you have used on a piggy?

Personally; 444 Marlin, 45-70 Govt., & 450 Marlin. All those with heavy bullets and max loads. I've had hogs shot out here with all the big stuff; all the XXX Mags to include 458 Win Mag, 375 Ruger, you name it. Never a 50 BMG. The funny thing is that at the typical 70 to 80 yards, all the killing happens about the same as the 41 & 44 Mag.

I've also killed them with the 22 Long Rifle, 218 Bee, 219 Zipper, 22 Hornet, 222 & 223 Rem, and the list continues. I've also run hundreds of arrows through them; was a hardcore recurve hunter for 34 years.

The best kill I've ever seen was Steelbanger's son, Michael, using my 450 Marlin (1895MR) & my 425-grain bullet. The hogs went into a feeder pen that was fenced with barbed wire to keep the cattle out. He shot, clipped a wire and separated the big fat bullet into three segments! Each laid out a hog pretty as you please.

Steelbanger might recall it different as it was 10 years ago but I heard that big rifle shot about a 1/2 mile away while I was cooking and shortly after Michael called me. He said "I hope I didn't do something wrong but I have hogs laying everywhere!"

[Maximumbob54]

I would still be curious what a 158gr SWC Or RFN would do. Bit more energy or velocity to hit them with and I bet it would still go clean through them. I'm just wondering if the use of the heavy for caliber while it may have the punch may not have the energy. You are the expert (RD) so I don't want to say I doubt you, your logic, or your ability.

[klr]

The best kill I've ever seen was Steelbanger's son, Michael, using my 450 Marlin (1895MR) & my 425-grain bullet. The hogs went into a feeder pen that was fenced with barbed wire to keep the cattle out. He shot, clipped a wire and separated the big fat bullet into three segments! Each laid out a hog pretty as you please.

Steelbanger might recall it different as it was 10 years ago but I heard that big rifle shot about a 1/2 mile away while I was cooking and shortly after Michael called me. He said "I hope I didn't do something wrong but I have hogs laying everywhere!"

Great story!