Bullet Performance Database

[Daryl S]

I've come to appreciate .458 bullets on moose. The 350gr. Hornady is a monster on them and will do as well for elk this Dec.
Right now is fishing season.

 

[Rule 303]

SkullKeeper I understand now.

 

[curt672]

Just got back from Africa and used my 338 with 180 gr Nosler Accubond on everything except my Buff. 11 animals all one shot kill -- they performed flawlessly. Many of them with a large exit hole and the animal dropped where they stood. Highly recommended.

 

[Steve-O]

Single 200gr Hornady ELD-X bullet fired at ~2650 FPS from a 300 Win Mag. (outfitters handload)

• One shot kill at ~150 yards on a large warthog
• Warthog ran maybe 30 to 40 yards
• Approx. 31% weight retention (the inside chest cavity of the warthog was destroyed). Bullet appeared to have broken up and gone to shrapnel after striking entry rib bone, but did its job. Both lungs and heart heavily damaged.

Pair of 180gr Remington CoreLokt bullets, 30-06 factory Remington ammo from the early 2000’s.

• Left side bullet from very large old warthog shot quartering on at ~120 yards. Warthog ran ~50ish yards and turned before putting in a second shot on his opposite shoulder, at which point he rolled over dead. ~78% retained weight.
• Second bullet was not recovered.
• 
  
• Right side bullet recovered from a Cape Kudu bull shot at 264 yards, broadside shot on shoulder. One shot kill, animal dropped at the shot. Kudu was at an estimated 15-degree angle below us, so I held a bit high on the shoulder to allow for the downward angle (and upon later examination, the bullet had broken the spine). Bullet recovered under hide below the far shoulder. Approx 40% weight retention, bullet core and jacket had separated, but the Kudu was DRT (dead right there).

 

[458 Exp]

Good Morning All

Haven't been on here for a while.
Here's some Spoor Bullets that we've recovered from the last couple of buffalo hunts.

.375 300gr out of a 375 H&H
.416 400gr out of a 416 Rem Mag
.458 500gr out of a 458 Express
.458450gr out of a 458 Win Mag

.375 300gr out of a 375 H&H

 

[ElevenBravo]

I use these in my

I've come to appreciate .458 bullets on moose. The 350gr. Hornady is a monster on them and will do as well for elk this Dec.
Right now is fishing season.

I use these in my Marlin for hogs. Always knocks them dead right there.

 

[ElevenBravo]

This bullet was recovered from a 200 pound hog that just didn't want to die. Or at least take someone with him. My wife lunged him with a 6.5CM and he ran off to die. Good blood trail, I tracked him about 50 yards past where she was, laying next to a log. Bits of lung and lots of blood. You could hear him huffing and puffing. I decided to just finish him off, so I put a .500 Hornady XTP through his heart with my lever gun (yes, this one shoots 500S&W Magnums).

Hog decides that if he's going, he's taking me with him so despite not being able to breathe and recently not having a functioning heart, gets up and charges me at about 20 feet. I have two rounds left in the lever gun, chamber one and it goes *click*. Loudest click you're every going to hear. Primer wasn't seated deep enough, a problem I'd been having since using Hornady's primer seater (now retired). Run the lever and chamber the last round, hog is about 3 feet away from me and I'm already thinking about if Big Horn Armory will replace the stock if I have start using some of that bayonet training and buttstroke this hog to death. I'm using The Force to aim at this point and fire off the last round, it hits the back of the skull, goes down the neck into one of the shoulder and just starts to exit. Hog locks up and dies instantly just inches from me.

Guide was cracking up laughing the entire time. Anyway, I was able to dig the bullet out of his shoulder after we skinned it. Started as a 350gr XTP, ended up at 207gr. Other hogs I've shot with this round have all generally died right there, I think I had one that took a couple of steps and keeled over. This one just a fighter, I guess. I'm just amazed that the bullet didn't exit the hog at 3 feet, but you could see the glint of metal on his shoulder as the bullet just ran out of energy trying to exit.

 

[Daryl S]

The 350gr. FN rifle bullet would have done better at that range. That XTP pistol bullet appears too soft from a rifle, inho.

 

[dchum]

I'm just amazed that the bullet didn't exit the hog at 3 feet, but you could see the glint of metal on his shoulder as the bullet just ran out of energy trying to exit.

Pretty common for finishing shots at PB range not to exit.

The bullet is hitting at full muzzle velocity and can over expand like yours did. That much expansion creates a ton of drag and can almost “parachute” the bullet.

You’re probably more likely to get an exit at 200 yards than at 3 feet because there’s less stress on the projectile.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

That is our overwhelming experience with a 6.5 Creedmoor on hogs. They run off if not ear-holed.

 

[dchum]

That is our overwhelming experience with a 6.5 Creedmoor on hogs. They run off if not ear-holed.

Oh come on, what about the .270 Win shooting the "same" 140 /150 gr bullet at the same speed?

This Creedmoor thing has gotten out of hand. The name stamped on the brass doesn’t mean squat. It’s a 140 gr bullet going 2,750 fps. Sorry, but that kills game just fine. always has.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Oh come on, what about the .270 Win shooting the "same" 140 /150 gr bullet at the same speed?

This Creedmoor thing has gotten out of hand. The name stamped on the brass doesn’t mean squat. It’s a 140 gr bullet going 2,750 fps. Sorry, but that kills game just fine. always has.

I have nothing wrong with the cartridge...just our experience. It kills deer better than pigs.

The .270's I've seen shoot a bullet that size over 3000fps.

Here is another hot take - I use a .300 blackout alot and my thermal is on it. Pigs run more with it than other rifles we use also.

Interwstingly, the 7mm-08 smacks the hell out of them and they rarely run. It has some weird magic...

 

[Daryl S]

Once an animal gets it's adrenalin running from being hit already, they are tougher to stop. Nothing new there.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Once an animal gets it's adrenalin running from being hit already, they are tougher to stop. Nothing new there.

Yea. My only comment is on first shot, well placed and outcomes.

 

[pilar]

Oh come on, what about the .270 Win shooting the "same" 140 /150 gr bullet at the same speed?

This Creedmoor thing has gotten out of hand. The name stamped on the brass doesn’t mean squat. It’s a 140 gr bullet going 2,750 fps. Sorry, but that kills game just fine. always has.

This is one thing that I would agree on.
My 6.5cm , 270win with 150gr Norma & and my .308win with 150gr all have +/- same amount of MV , only variable is S.D , but all kill about equally.
Even when I drop down to 120-130gr mono ( 6.5 120 , 270&308 130gr )

 

[Velo Dog]

Before I escaped from Soviet California, my favorite feral hog getter was a peep sighted (large “ghost ring” type aperture) Marlin lever action rifle, in caliber .30-30 Winchester, loaded with 170 grain flat nose bullets.
Where I have lived now for over 40 something years already, there are no pigs.
(Well, except of course for the arrogant / greedy Anchorage City Council).

Flat nose and round nose bullets have been my preference for a long time, with various calibers, on many species of animals, out to around 300 paces.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Before I escaped from Soviet California, my favorite feral hog getter was a peep sighted (large “ghost ring” type aperture) Marlin lever action rifle, in caliber .30-30 Winchester, loaded with 170 grain flat nose bullets.
Where I have lived now for over 40 something years already, there are no pigs.
(Well, except of course for the uber-greedy Anchorage City Council).

Flat nose and round nose bullets have been my preference for a long time .

I have never...ever...had an animal take a step when I whack it with my 30-30. It's like pushing a brick through an animal.

 

[dchum]

I have never...ever...had an animal take a step when I whack it with my 30-30. It's like pushing a brick through an animal.

Ah yes your 30-30 only drops em but the 6.5 makes you loose hogs.

Lala land is fun

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Ah yes your 30-30 only drops em but the 6.5 makes you loose hogs.

Lala land is fun

Dude, again, not the same cartridge. We shoot 100's of hogs a year. I'm not saying a .22 won't kill them with the right placement. Some cartridges seem to work better than others. A flat nose, Cor-Lokt bullet in a 30-30 (which is open sighted and so within probably 75 yards) smokes them. Same with deer.

Our ranch rifles are Ruger American's in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm not a hater but I have alot of data. At any given night you can go out and shoot a bunch. Hell the state flies this ranch (and surrounding) once a month. Check the dates on different feeders. And that isn't the half of it. It's a war down here. We're using a Boar Buster trap and shooting...about the only thing left is to poison them at some point but i think that is still getting dialed in. We've spent hundred's of thousands of dollars fencing our center pivots with high Tencel mesh wire.

If you love the 6.5, GREAT. It is a massively low recoiling rifle that works for alot of stuff, especially thinner skinned like deer and coyotes. Pigs are just tougher. And it isn't like it doesn't kill them, they just tend to run a ways. Same with a .223.

 

[dchum]

Dude, again, not the same cartridge. We shoot 100's of hogs a year. I'm not saying a .22 won't kill them with the right placement. Some cartridges seem to work better than others. A flat nose, Cor-Lokt bullet in a 30-30 (which is open sighted and so within probably 75 yards) smokes them. Same with deer.

Our ranch rifles are Ruger American's in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm not a hater but I have alot of data. At any given night you can go out and shoot a bunch. Hell the state flies this ranch (and surrounding) once a month. Check the dates on different feeders. And that isn't the half of it. It's a war down here. We're using a Boar Buster trap and shooting...about the only thing left is to poison them at some point but i think that is still getting dialed in. We've spent hundred's of thousands of dollars fencing our center pivots with high Tencel mesh wire.

If you love the 6.5, GREAT. It is a massively low recoiling rifle that works for alot of stuff, especially thinner skinned like deer and coyotes. Pigs are just tougher. And it isn't like it doesn't kill them, they just tend to run a ways. Same with a .223.

I get it, your 30-30 is a death ray and the 6.5 is a wounding machine.

Thanks for sharing pictures of hogs on a game camera... for what reason, I am not sure.

The state of Texas does not fly whatever ranch you are talking about to shoot hogs "Once a month"