Thanks to my favorite furred friend Charlie, I was able to take another hog -- a 95 pound sow -- with the 120 grain Barnes TAC-TX AAC Blackout bullet just before full darkness this evening.

I happened to be outside for all of 5 minutes when Charlie raised his head and held it high in the air, alerting me to the presence of something to our south. I had the 23" 30-30 on sandbags in case a hog did appear, but this was from another direction entirely. So I stepped over to the yard fence and found a dark spot milling about in the grass. There was no clear shot, and it disappeared in a few seconds. Poor Charlie never has had a reputation for patience, and he took off, all-the-while trying to sniff out what exactly was down there. Fortunately, he veered off course just a bit and lost the scent in the swirling breeze (he's older, has failing eyesight and could have gotten himself hurt). The saving grace was that there were 2 deep sloughs between the house and the hog, which helped foil Charlie's best effort.

Anyway, in the meantime, the hog re-emerged, so I leaned across a fence post and sent a bullet downrange towards the 160 yard target. It was a hurried effort, and there was some intervening grass near but not across the vitals. I felt good about the shot, though, as I was certain the illuminated dot of the FD7 reticle had intersected the vitals on the slight quartering presentation.

After touching the trigger, I lost sight of the hog, but within seconds saw a black form go over the top of the creek bank some 50 yards from where the hog originally stood. I thought I heard bullet impact but was not completely certain.

To make a long story short, the there was a second hog. The one I shot at dropped on the spot, the 120 grain bullet taking it through the shoulder and exiting approximately 3 inches behind the shoulder on the opposite side. Blood was much in evidence and the reason I converted the photo to black and white.

The internal damage was substantial and nearly reminded me of the work of a soft cup and core bullet. That was due in part to secondary bone fragments, which helped in completely wrecking the lungs. In fact, a small portion of lung was actually hanging out of the exit wound, which featured 2 broken ribs and measured nearly 2" in diameter.

MV of the load, by the way, is 2630 fps.

With a little work, the color version isn't that bad:

good stuff BT. Glad you were able to connect.

Under the weather and staying in town this weekend, but hope to do some perforatin' of my own next weekend Plus I will be hunting with my son and two of my Grandsons for the first time!

ya!


GWB

I hope you get to feeling better, my friend. Enjoy your family time next weekend...and post some pictures because I know someone is going to put something on the ground.

Bobby, how many hogs does that .30-30 barrel have to its credit? Nice work, as usual.

Thanks, Bill. I just got the 30-30 barrel a few months ago, so it has some catching up to do withs its brethren 6.5x30-30 AI and 7mm Bullberry.

I actually sold my 7-30 Waters barrel in order to get this one, and I was hoping I didn't regret the move as the Waters made bacon, so to speak, many times and was utterly reliable. But I was intrigued by this particular bullet and its low-velocity potential -- and so far, I am smiling.

This may sound strange, but I'll be happy when deer season is over and I get the green flag to get back after the pigs!!! I do miss it--

Great story/great shot. Congratulations Bobby