I got some sort of "Kennedy bullet" thing going on that I can't quite explain. I tried to do my best from the evidence I had and the time I had in the field, but something seems off. Feel free to offer a different explanation.
Made a good stalk. Had a few hogs up wind to the left of me, cattle in the middle, and a bunch of hogs to the right that were apt to run to where the cattle were. So I chose the larger group, hoping to get more opportunities.
1st hog goes down, no problem. Federal Fusion bullet made much larger holes this time than with coyotes. It was impressive in terms of the permanent wound cavity. It over penetrated, as expected.
2nd hog, this is where it starts getting weird, I 'think' I hit her in the neck. She was hit and does stumble, but the bullet passed through and she made it to safety. The bullet then hit a 3rd hog (smaller boar) which is the #2 hog down, but the bullet hit it just forward of the hip, crippled the hog, and then the bullet disappeared with a surprising lack of internal bleeding despite the external mess. This was the "Kennedy Bullet" shot. That the little boar went down as it did does not seem right, almost like the bullet had to make an unreasonable course change, hit the smaller, trailing hog on the tail end, and then disappear. I was going to consult the Warren Commission, but they are all dead.
The second shot on the #2 hog down was to put it out of its misery but was too far back, tiny entry between ribs, blasted through the vertebral column and took out 2 ribs before exiting. Impressive damage. I did not explore the entry beyond the muscle just under the skin and concentrated on the exit.
The third shot was not examined. I ran out of gloves. It entered the top of the neck and exited out the bottom.
Anyway, it was a good hunt, decent shooting, a little weird on terminal ballistics, but otherwise good results. Sorry it is a bit longer, but that is mostly the necropsy stuff dealing with how the bullets performed. I can't say I am unhappy with the performance so far, but I am not yet convinced to abandon SST yet.
Made a good stalk. Had a few hogs up wind to the left of me, cattle in the middle, and a bunch of hogs to the right that were apt to run to where the cattle were. So I chose the larger group, hoping to get more opportunities.
1st hog goes down, no problem. Federal Fusion bullet made much larger holes this time than with coyotes. It was impressive in terms of the permanent wound cavity. It over penetrated, as expected.
2nd hog, this is where it starts getting weird, I 'think' I hit her in the neck. She was hit and does stumble, but the bullet passed through and she made it to safety. The bullet then hit a 3rd hog (smaller boar) which is the #2 hog down, but the bullet hit it just forward of the hip, crippled the hog, and then the bullet disappeared with a surprising lack of internal bleeding despite the external mess. This was the "Kennedy Bullet" shot. That the little boar went down as it did does not seem right, almost like the bullet had to make an unreasonable course change, hit the smaller, trailing hog on the tail end, and then disappear. I was going to consult the Warren Commission, but they are all dead.
The second shot on the #2 hog down was to put it out of its misery but was too far back, tiny entry between ribs, blasted through the vertebral column and took out 2 ribs before exiting. Impressive damage. I did not explore the entry beyond the muscle just under the skin and concentrated on the exit.
The third shot was not examined. I ran out of gloves. It entered the top of the neck and exited out the bottom.
Anyway, it was a good hunt, decent shooting, a little weird on terminal ballistics, but otherwise good results. Sorry it is a bit longer, but that is mostly the necropsy stuff dealing with how the bullets performed. I can't say I am unhappy with the performance so far, but I am not yet convinced to abandon SST yet.
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