Well, I've been hoping for an opportunity to put the 150 grain Sierra HP Varminter into a suitable target, and a little after 4:00 this morning, an opportunity arose.

Through my old Leupold thermal monocular, I picked up movement to the west side of the creek bottom. The deer had recently left and bedded about 125 yards away, so the solitary heat signal gave me hopes a hog was on the move. I quickly got behind the .300 Savage Contender, and through the Docter 8x56, it was obvious that this was a hog -- and a decent-sized boar at that. I raised the rifle, flicked on the red shooting light and slowly brought it down onto the boar. He made an immediate about-face, turned away from me and disappeared into the night.

I scanned with the monocular another couple of minutes and saw nothing. I was about ready to go back in and retrieve the 25-06 since it had a thermal scope on it, but at the last instant, a large heat signal appeared in the very same spot the boar had vacated. I've learned that hogs don't get age on them by being dumb and knew that if the light spooked him again, this adventure would likely be over. A partial moon was overhead, but cloud cover made the twilight quite diffused. I wanted to get the other rifle but also knew this hog may not tarry for long, so I decided to stay put and try my luck.

Good fortune did happen. The hog soon zig-zagged toward the creek and wound up in front of some dry grass, which helped his dark form stand out and allowed me the opportunity I needed. I placed the softly-illuminated dot where I thought it would do the most good and tripped the trigger.

The wind was blowing directly into my face, and the sound of the impact was quite pronounced. The higher-pitched "splat" was reassuring as it indicated contact with heavy bone. He went down immediately.

The 150 grain Sierra, which leaves the muzzle at 2484 fps, took the hog on the inside part of the shoulder and centered and broke the opposite-side shoulder before stopping just under the hide. Along the way, it completely demolished the heart and left it in tatters.

Its performance on the 140-yard boar impressed me. I cleaned it up after getting a couple photos. It retained 89.9 grains of weight and -- discounting the wild sliver of jacket -- had expanded to 0.615". (If you count the shred of jacket, the measurement would register much wider.)

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EDITED TO ADD: I got an email wondering why I'd use a varmint bullet on game. Yes, these are varmint bullets -- at .308 and 30-06 velocities. But I am running these at glorified 30-30 speeds (2484 fps), and all indications from test medium told me this bullet would do what I wanted on hogs at these pedestrian velocities.

The first photo below shows bullets taken from test medium at 100 and 175 yards. The bottom photo had an impact speed of 1792 fps (actually chrono'd in front of the the test medium). The range of that shot into the medium was just over 300 yards.

Test medium is no substitute for on-game performance, but it can give you a good idea of what you can expect at various impact speeds. Lastly, I examine virtually every single wound channel on game. It's time-consuming and not always pleasant, but it does provide one with knowledge and experience that you just can't get any other way.

Fired bullet looks like it’s for an advertisement.
I use varmint bullets on game in low to medium velocity rifles. As Bobby states testing is mandatory, some bullets will disintegrate at quite low speed.

I like his 300 Savage Contender.
But I a prejudice because I made the barrel.

I'd call that stellar performance Bobby. And thank you Mark for making Bobby's barrel.

Mark-

That barrel makes me smile every single time I use it -- or even think about it. I have loaded everything from 110 grain Barnes Tac-TX up to the long, streamlined 168 grain LRABs, and everything has grouped incredibly well.

And I guess you actually made the barrel twice, so to speak. When Dave shipped the original order, the tube arrived empty. As fas as I know, the USPS never located the barrel, and I still watch the classifieds and forums to see if there's ever any mention of a 24" .300 Savage Contender floating around. It's a shame if it just got discarded, but I still think someone along the way swiped it.

USPS found a point the weight of package changed drastically but never found the barrel. They said maybe it fell out!? I’m sure a 2 foot steel bar would monkey wrench the equipment and show up.
I like reading your reports so I can follow the adventures of something I made.
All the others are shipped and disappear into the ether.