Grendels Go A-Hog Huntin': Federal Fusion 120 gr. & Speer TNT 90 gr.

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  • Double Naught Spy
    Chieftain
    • Sep 2013
    • 2560

    Grendels Go A-Hog Huntin': Federal Fusion 120 gr. & Speer TNT 90 gr.

    My buddy, Dave, is a Grendel convert. I lured him over from the darkside. He now owns 3.

    We got a new property that we had been watching for a while. It is a nifty valley situation where the hogs are usually down in the bottom area or up the north side. Our first pass by the property for the night revealed that the hogs were already there and grazing on the newly spouted plants (winter wheat?).

    Dave is shooting Speer TNT 90 gr handloads. I am shooting Federal Fusion 120 gr. factory ammo (recently chorno'd from my rifle at 2480 fps). Our sample wasn't very large and I didn't have much opportunity for necropsy work, but both rounds did alright. Dave had a sub par night. We started off the night by zeroing his gun with one of my suppressors, so that was solid. As near as I can tell, he shot 3 hogs. One that didn't drop (no exit) and that I finished off (large sow), one where the TNT overpenetrated after tearing through the lungs (large sow), and a body shot on a boar (no exit) that we tag teamed and was necropsied. On the boar, a portion of the bullet was found on the opposite side in the skin. On the hogs shot with Federal Fusion, it would appear that I didn't have any rounds remaining inside of the hogs. If there was an entrance, there was an exit. Hide exit wounds on hogs often fail to reflect the damage done inside and when I finger probed wounds through the hide, I found open areas indicating the bullets had expanded. Again on the boar that was partially necropsied, the Federal Fusion round had a small exit hole through the skin and apparently because the hog fell with the exit side up, no blood leaked from the wound. Peeling back the skin revealed a 1/2-3/4" diameter permanent would cavity. Probing the cavity revealed that the bullet passed through the cervical vertebrae, probably through the axis (C2) vertebra based on what I could feel, but maybe also C3. It was a little hard to tell where one stopped and the next started, particularly given the sharp bone shards.

    Based on what I saw, which was all pretty cursory, the Speer TNT 90gr. did alright. I would not have expected it to exit at all or necessarily penetrate all that deeply, but it did well. The Federal Fusion penetrated quite well and appeared to expand just fine. The wound channels produced that I could feel and one that I could see indicated a permanent would channel akin to what I expect was the diameter of the bullet, not huge, but respectable.

    FYI, the landowner limited the area we could hunt on the property to two adjoining pastures, roughly 40 acres in total. I am not sure the reason for this, but the larger pasture (~23 acres) is where we were seeing hogs previously, so this worked out fairly well for us.

    Kill a hog. Save the planet.
    My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
  • IescapedCali
    Warrior
    • Sep 2017
    • 335

    #2
    Great video, as usual, DNS! Thanks for sharing.

    Comment

    • Sticks
      Chieftain
      • Dec 2016
      • 1922

      #3
      200+ yards and a 90gr still did not do enough damage.

      Too fast or bad design?
      Sticks

      Catchy sig line here.

      Comment

      • Double Naught Spy
        Chieftain
        • Sep 2013
        • 2560

        #4
        Well, it was 200+ yards with 120 grs. I was shooting.
        Last edited by Double Naught Spy; 02-03-2018, 08:29 PM.
        Kill a hog. Save the planet.
        My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

        Comment

        • Sticks
          Chieftain
          • Dec 2016
          • 1922

          #5
          Originally posted by Double Naught Spy View Post
          Well, it was 200+ yards with 120 hrs. I was shooting.
          My bad. Got confused.

          Same question applies. Too fast, or bad design?
          Sticks

          Catchy sig line here.

          Comment

          • 6.8 klr
            Bloodstained
            • Oct 2014
            • 49

            #6
            The TNT is a "Grenade" of a varmint bullet.....Bad choice for this application.

            That being said , am very surprised it did the job as well as it did.

            Comment

            • Les
              Warrior
              • Oct 2016
              • 337

              #7
              Originally posted by 6.8 klr View Post
              The TNT is a "Grenade" of a varmint bullet.....Bad choice for this application.

              That being said , am very surprised it did the job as well as it did.
              Yup, the TNT isn't fur friendly in 5.56 at least for dogs. Nice job DNS.
              Nebraska Firearms Owners Association. https://nebraskafirearms.org/wp/

              Comment

              • Double Naught Spy
                Chieftain
                • Sep 2013
                • 2560

                #8
                Yeah 6.8 klr and Les, the one time I used the TNT 90 gr. was specifically for a neck shot on a hog (which is what I was told to use it for) and it worked terrifically. The hog also seemed to have multiple tiny exit wounds. I have more of it (sold by AA), but haven't tried it on a hog again. Dave thought it would be interesting to try, so he handloaded a bunch.
                Kill a hog. Save the planet.
                My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

                Comment

                • Les
                  Warrior
                  • Oct 2016
                  • 337

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Double Naught Spy View Post
                  Yeah 6.8 klr and Les, the one time I used the TNT 90 gr. was specifically for a neck shot on a hog (which is what I was told to use it for) and it worked terrifically. The hog also seemed to have multiple tiny exit wounds. I have more of it (sold by AA), but haven't tried it on a hog again. Dave thought it would be interesting to try, so he handloaded a bunch.
                  It is puzzling why it went though and through, would've thought it'd disintegrate inside or blow up on contact. Maybe no bones were hit? Normally those open up spectacularly.
                  Nebraska Firearms Owners Association. https://nebraskafirearms.org/wp/

                  Comment

                  • VASCAR2
                    Chieftain
                    • Mar 2011
                    • 6219

                    #10
                    With the moderate velocity of the 6.5 Grendel I’m not surprised. Penetration is determined by velocity, bullet construction, diameter/mass and target/critter. At 3000+ FPS the 90 grain TNT would behave more like a 50-55 grain 224 bullet out of a 22-250. With a 6.5 Grendel the velocity at distance is probably 2700 FPS or less plus it is still 90 grains which is kind of heavy compared to many varmint cartridges
                    I water tested 85 grain Sierra Varmint, 90 grain TNT, 95 grain V-Max and 100 grain Sierra varmint at 50 yards. All four produced similar results and more penetration and retained mass than 224 varmint bullets out of 16” & 20” AR-15.
                    Last edited by VASCAR2; 02-03-2018, 10:46 PM.

                    Comment

                    • 6.8 klr
                      Bloodstained
                      • Oct 2014
                      • 49

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Double Naught Spy View Post
                      Yeah 6.8 klr and Les, the one time I used the TNT 90 gr. was specifically for a neck shot on a hog (which is what I was told to use it for) and it worked terrifically. The hog also seemed to have multiple tiny exit wounds. I have more of it (sold by AA), but haven't tried it on a hog again. Dave thought it would be interesting to try, so he handloaded a bunch.
                      Good Job you guys.....Keep on Killin'em........

                      Comment

                      • howl
                        Warrior
                        • Nov 2015
                        • 236

                        #12
                        Got an opinion on Fusion vs SST yet?

                        Comment

                        • Double Naught Spy
                          Chieftain
                          • Sep 2013
                          • 2560

                          #13
                          Opinion?

                          Are you meat hunting or doing eradication? SSTs do a lot of damage, often outside of the main wound channel because they tend to come apart. You get bits of lead and copper jacket throughout the wound channel and often in tissues surrounding the wound channel. This bullet penetrates well. Cup and core often separate and if you find them together, what is left of the bullet has lost considerable weight. I have never found one remotely intact. If you are trying to preserve meat, this is not the bullet of choice.

                          The Fusion is a tad faster, tad lighter, has the jacket fused to the lead core. The bullet expands less, but burrows a hole through the animal. A lot less meat is going to be ruined by it. It has a poorer BC and so is going to have a bit more drop than the SST at a given distance and bleed off speed more quickly. These are pretty much non issues at typical hunting distances where most people hunting less than 100 yards. For the few that hunt out to 200 yards, it is only a small factor. For longer distance hunters, it will matter more, but if you know your dope, it is a non issue until the bullet is going too slow.

                          Right now, Fusion costs a bit more $20 a box of 20 versus about $18.50 for SST (bulk order). I will try to shoot a few more with the Fusion ammo and do a better necropsy, but for all practical purposes, the Fusion appears to be doing exactly what it is designed to do and that is excellent...if you want that kind of performance.
                          Kill a hog. Save the planet.
                          My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

                          Comment

                          • howl
                            Warrior
                            • Nov 2015
                            • 236

                            #14
                            Thanks.

                            Comment

                            • usmcm16a2
                              Warrior
                              • Aug 2015
                              • 538

                              #15
                              DNS,


                              Are you using the 118gr MKZ anymore? A2

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