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6x45 Still Works.
Rancher friend of mine told me on Sunday that the pigs were back to messing up his fields. So, that afternoon I went out to try and find what part they were feeding in and maybe what direction they were coming from. Did my scouting, found the damage and tracks coming and going from both sides of the LARGE field. Went home and made a plan.
Couldn't go out Monday night, but I made time last night to take a trip out. Got to the field around 9:00 PM and set up shop. No pigs. Just a butt load of skunks rooting in the freshly harvested milo on one side of the tank and newly planted winter wheat on the other side.
Sat there for about an hour and a half to no avail. At 10:30, being as I had to work in the morning, I packed up and headed home. Driving down the road, I got to the corner of the field that afforded a different angle. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I stopped and got out to scan the other side of the field which had been obscured by the stock tank. Yep. There they were. A band of about 15 sows and piglets with 3 bigger boars patrolling the outskirts of the group a little ways off.
Grabbed my my stuff and took off across the field. They were a GOOD ways off and moving away. Which, didn't make it easy. I had to boogie to catch up and flank them at the same time in order to stay down wind. I'd catch up to about 150 yards and kneel down to scan the herd. By the time I'd find a boar, they would all be quickly moving on off down the field. They obviously hadn't found their preferred feeding spot and they were traveling.
After a a couple stop and goes, they were getting close to the another stock tank and surrounding brush. Figuring I was about to lose a chance, I hurried forward and knelt down. With my gun on the tripod with my new Pig Saddle adapter, I found a boar as he quartered away slightly. At something around 150 yards. Let fly with a 85gr Sierra HPBT Game King.
"Pop!"
"Roink!"
He took the round behind the right shoulder angling forward. Spun to his left and started running at an angle towards me. At approximately 100 yards, he stopped and started spinning in circles squealing. Suddenly stopping broadside facing to my right.........I put another round in his shoulder. And with that, he fell over dead.
I was a LONG ways from the gate and even further from the truck. So, I set off walking back. With the recent rain, the field was damp and dirt soft. No driving through the field. I'd have to get him to the edge of the field by the gate. There was NO way I was ever gonna drag that sucker to the gate. I'd have left him or died trying.
But, I had a new toy..............Game Cart!!!!
Even with that, it was a mother in the damp, soft dirt of the recently harvested field. Couldn't have made it without the cart. Money well spent.
I even bought a scale this year. Sucker weighed 210 pounds. And no.......there are no autopsy pics. He stank. I didn't get home until 2:00 AM.........it wasn't happening.
Here is my new rest.
Combined with a carbon fiber Manfroto Tripod............it's pretty handy.
So, lots of new toys used and they all worked perfectly. Will be going back for more pigs.
Couldn't go out Monday night, but I made time last night to take a trip out. Got to the field around 9:00 PM and set up shop. No pigs. Just a butt load of skunks rooting in the freshly harvested milo on one side of the tank and newly planted winter wheat on the other side.
Sat there for about an hour and a half to no avail. At 10:30, being as I had to work in the morning, I packed up and headed home. Driving down the road, I got to the corner of the field that afforded a different angle. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I stopped and got out to scan the other side of the field which had been obscured by the stock tank. Yep. There they were. A band of about 15 sows and piglets with 3 bigger boars patrolling the outskirts of the group a little ways off.
Grabbed my my stuff and took off across the field. They were a GOOD ways off and moving away. Which, didn't make it easy. I had to boogie to catch up and flank them at the same time in order to stay down wind. I'd catch up to about 150 yards and kneel down to scan the herd. By the time I'd find a boar, they would all be quickly moving on off down the field. They obviously hadn't found their preferred feeding spot and they were traveling.
After a a couple stop and goes, they were getting close to the another stock tank and surrounding brush. Figuring I was about to lose a chance, I hurried forward and knelt down. With my gun on the tripod with my new Pig Saddle adapter, I found a boar as he quartered away slightly. At something around 150 yards. Let fly with a 85gr Sierra HPBT Game King.
"Pop!"
"Roink!"
He took the round behind the right shoulder angling forward. Spun to his left and started running at an angle towards me. At approximately 100 yards, he stopped and started spinning in circles squealing. Suddenly stopping broadside facing to my right.........I put another round in his shoulder. And with that, he fell over dead.
I was a LONG ways from the gate and even further from the truck. So, I set off walking back. With the recent rain, the field was damp and dirt soft. No driving through the field. I'd have to get him to the edge of the field by the gate. There was NO way I was ever gonna drag that sucker to the gate. I'd have left him or died trying.
But, I had a new toy..............Game Cart!!!!
Even with that, it was a mother in the damp, soft dirt of the recently harvested field. Couldn't have made it without the cart. Money well spent.
I even bought a scale this year. Sucker weighed 210 pounds. And no.......there are no autopsy pics. He stank. I didn't get home until 2:00 AM.........it wasn't happening.
Here is my new rest.
Combined with a carbon fiber Manfroto Tripod............it's pretty handy.
So, lots of new toys used and they all worked perfectly. Will be going back for more pigs.
"To Hell with efficiency, it's performance we want!" - Elmer Keith
Replies
I have loads made up for testing for my 6x45, just have not made it to the range.
Dad 5-31-13
I know you had no time or inclination to do a postmortem, but that would be dang good info, considering a 150 hard hit and a 50 yard hit.
As always, you rock!
D
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.... now who's bringing the hot wings? :jester:
He's in the bed of my truck probably stinking to high heaven right now.
None of the bullets exited.
Roink had me laughing. My youngest daughter asked how you folded the pork chops on night when we were having stuffed pork chops. I said that "You put the pig in the back of the truck and run down the road. When you get close to a telephone pole, you push him out." Followed by the sound RRRRRRRRROINK and the visual of my hands clapping.
I got water to come out of my oldest ones nose and the wife was close.
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
Just making sure. I mighta screwed the first shot.
I think I need to try this 6x45mm contraption....
"The Un-Tactical"
What optic are you using ?
The pigs had been rooting up the ground around the "4 Acre Tank" in the middle.
Parked at 1 for an hour and a half. Drove down the road to 2 and noticed the pigs (blue line) between 4 & 5. Got out and walked (red line) watching the pigs move left (blue line) towards that tank on left. At 3, I shot the boar at 4 and he ran to the * where I shot him again and he dropped.
I walked to the boar at the * and then to the gate at 5 and down the fence to my truck at 2. Drove back to 5 and walked to the boar at the * with the cart. Loaded him on the cart and pulled him back to my truck at 5.
Total distance walked (not driven)..........
1.9 miles
Uh, er......:cool:
the scope is a Leupold TS-30 A2 3-9 with illuminated reticle. Have actually never turned it on to use.
What FLIR are you using?
FLIR? That would be cheating!!!
I never!
Cheating puts pork in the truck.
They were ponds when I grew up................apparently........here in Hell..........their called tanks.
Dad 5-31-13
Here, in east Texas, almost everything is a pond. The land is sandy here and any dug-out 'tanks' have to be cored with clay to hold water, so folks won't usually dig one unless there is an underground spring, or unless it can be constantly fed by a spring branch or creek branch. Out west, there are still tanks, but if not fed by a windmill, they usually go dry during the summer.
The 6x45 has my interest now that the 6.5 Grendel is losing me. Looks like a perfect deer slayer for southern whitetails based on what you're seeing on these hogs, particularly when it comes to my daughter's next step up for the .223 Rem AR.
early 17th century: perhaps from Gujarati tānkũ or Marathi tānkẽ ‘underground cistern,’
from Sanskrit tadāga ‘pond,’
probably influenced by Portuguese tangue ‘pond,’ from Latin stagnum
Dang pigs don't have to be REAL big to top 200 Pounds. The damn things are made of led. To say they're dense is an understatement.
I sure love game kings. They are just strong enough for good penetration on deer and hogs but they open up for a good wound channel. And they don't hand granade like Ballistics Tips.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Impressive shooting at that hour
I'd say 60% maybe 70% of the hogs shot around here are shot between the hours of 12 midnight and 4 o'clock in the morning. And you better be alert and on your game or you're going home without pork.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I honestly thought he was bigger (heavier). Or at least he FELT heavier after all that distance! But, I guessed him at around 250 and he ended up 210.
Hogs can be deceptive. Which is why I splurged and got a game scale to actually weigh them. I laugh when I see all these pics on the internet about 300 plus pound pigs. It's just absurd. It takes a LOT of pig to be over 300 pounds! Most of these "monster" 300-500+ "Russian Boars" are, in reality, sub 250 pound feral hogs.
Everybody's gotta be somebody, I guess.
The places I'm culling at, the pigs are STRICTLY nocturnal. You'll never see them in the day.
It's not a hammer. More a zero recoil (with brake) surgical tool. The gun doesn't move when I pull the trigger. I can shoot and track my target or shoot multiple targets rapidly. But, don't expect it to flatten King Kong.
It does its task with little fan fair.