Berger VLD-Hunting Hog#10

[Double Naught Spy]

Video... https://youtu.be/FMFsG3wuK5g

Timing is everything. I went after this guy three nights in a row before finally getting him. He showed up early on Thursday and so I showed up even earlier on Friday and stayed late, but then the hog showed up a couple of hours after I left and on the other side of the property, early Saturday morning. So I showed up late on Saturday night around 2300 hrs hoping to see the hog around 0100 or 0200 hrs on Sunday morning, but unbeknownst to me, he had probably already been there and gone. Sunday afternoon found Bob and Toly at my place and we spent the afternoon sighting in one of my rifles (Toly is shooting it in the video), shooting Bob's Grendel Pistol (remind me not to ever by one of those), and then trying to beat Toly at a game of shooting quarters at 200 and 300 yards with one of Bob's Grendels (not the pistol). We came close at 300, but Toly cleaned our clocks at 200, getting more and better hits than Bob or me.

They had to head back to Dallas and so I geared up for the night. Less than an hour after they left and about 30 minutes after I got into the stand with all my gear to go the entire night again, I hear this "shoom shoom shoom shoom" as the hog crossed my clearing at a fast trot like he was late for dinner. I ducked down behind the skirt of my tree stand because I figure he could see me as well as I could see him. I got my muffs on, scope on, and and recorder on, and then slowly came up over the rail with the rifle, spying him through the scope, as he stood there eating, unaware, happy as a hog on fresh corn, which he was....

The frangible VLD-Hunting round certainly held together well enough to pass through a lot of bone of the lower skull and face of the hog. It performed well.

[VASCAR2]

Great video, any more info on the 6.5 Grendel pistol, is it an AR-15?

[Double Naught Spy]

This is just my take on the whole Grendel pistol concept. No offense or judgment is meant against anyone who has one of these and thinks it is wonderful.

It is a bit loud, yes, but the recoil is a what I would consider much less than reasonably manageable. It was an AR15, yes. An SBR format would still have some stout (as compared to what I am used to shooting with a 20" hbar) recoil, but readily managed. However, without being on the shoulder, the gun goes free-ranging during recoil. I discovered that you don't want to go light on the grip with your off hand. It jumped out of my hand on the first shot, LOL. By shot #2, I had a decided flinch. By shot #4, I had things down, but the gun still went squirrely off target during recoil, as in nowhere near to being still on target.

I came away with the feeling that this is not an advantageous hunting configuration, which was why Bob built the pistol, not wanting to get a tax stamp for an SBR, but wanting a compact and very light Grendel. I told him that I thought he should just pony up the bucks and make it truly practical and do the tax stamp for the SBR. Maybe there is an art to shooting AR pistols that I don't know, but a Grendel pistol is not a gun for quick, controlled followup shots when dealing with wounded hogs or sounders.

With that said, it was fun to shoot and quite challenging. It was scoped and I managed a couple of good shots with it and made some really terrible shots with it as well. This particular gun, buttressed with sandbags on the bench will hold a 1" group at 100 yards with Bob's reloads, but you can't readily hunt that way and sandbags would defeat the whole purpose of the compact, lightweight hunting gun concept.

[Drift]

Great video as always. Testing your 130gr Bergers I notice you are trying for Central Nervous System shots. I say respectfully " most any bullet is effective when striking the CNS.. The test of a hog bullet is plate and shoulder shots." Would you consider aiming there?

[VASCAR2]

Thanks for the info on the 6.5 Grendel pistol DNS. I have not read of any 6.5 Grendel pistols but was curious if it was made like a Thompson contender single shot or AR-15. I could see the SBR or Bullpup in 6.5 Grendel for hunting. The way my Tavor handles in close and for snap shooting it would be interesting to try it in 6.5 Grendel. I may end up looking for a 6.5 Grendel RDB in the future if they become readily available.

[jawbone]

as per your usual, an interesting story, great video, excellent dedication. i was a bit stunned, though, with your deep base of anatomy knowledge. wow.

[Double Naught Spy]

Great video as always. Testing your 130gr Bergers I notice you are trying for Central Nervous System shots. I say respectfully " most any bullet is effective when striking the CNS.. The test of a hog bullet is plate and shoulder shots." Would you consider aiming there?

It really isn't as simple as you indicate and what you describe that you want really isn't a "hog bullet test" but a "boar bullet test" and on top of that, it needs to be a fully mature, trophy boar bullet test as the shield is not uniform between boars, but tend to be thicker with age and is all but absent in females.

The "shoulder" (vague expression) is a secondary shot locality for me as I know from past experience that shoulder shots may not result in immediate incapacitation, thus requiring tracking of wounded and potentially very pissed off hogs. From my perspective, it would be unwise and unethical to intentionally take a poorer shot if I know I have a better shot available.

I do take plenty of shoulder shots, but they are when I feel that a CNS shot cannot be made for some reason (movement of hog, my own excitement, target availability, distance to target, etc.). Of late, I have just been lucky in having the opportunity for CNS shots on a more regular basis.

Remember, bullet testing is not my first priority. My first priority is satisfying the needs of the landowners that I serve in the control of hogs and predators. Any data that I am able to garner beyond meeting the landowner needs are simply a bonus.

I can tell you from personal experience that hogs can run 100 yards with blow hearts, though it is usually less. Hogs can run up to 150 yards with a double lung shot, though it is usually less. In the areas where I usually hunt, a hog can get readily lost from view in a very short distance. I have seen a hog with two broken humeri (what some people would call "shoulders") that ran a bit over 60 yards that was snorting blood from a lung injury as well. If cover is available, injured hogs tend to run to cover. Then you are left with going after the hog and trying to find it, hoping it is expired and not just wounded and really pissed off. Cover in my part of the world, this time of year, involves a lot of briar and poison ivy. Did I mention that I am very allergic to poison ivy?

[Double Naught Spy]

Unfortunately, when hogs aren't recovered, no assessment of any sort can be made.

https://youtu.be/mDloydQu3wM

[customcutter]

Talk about a major sinus headache...CNS shots should mean DRT, and no loss of meat. Shoulder shots involve loss of shoulders and ribs if the animal is going to be harvested. It's always a disappointment when I know I didn't do my part to dispatch an animal as cleanly and efficiently as possible.

Yes your knowledge of anatomy and animals is surprising, not just another pretty face.

[kmon]

Haven't killed as many hogs as many only 50 or so I guess. For me it all depends on the shot presented and how comfortable I am with a CNS shot which for meat recovery I prefer head shots. For bullet testing I like a high shoulder shot that will also take out the backbone and spine. That is about the toughest test of a bullet IMO depending on hog size and angle. Also use the same shot on deer when I want them anchored on the spot. Sure it damages some meat but better that than a lost animal. And hogs are plentiful enough to keep the select cuts and donate the rest to the turkey vulture preservation society.

Agree with the assessment of lung and heart shot hogs ability to go further than one might think and if you single lung a hog do not be surprised if it goes well over 200 yards.