Questor Jr. and I went hog hunting this week and took a couple of nice eating size sows of around 200# each. He used his .308 rifle to very good effect and I used my 44 magnum revolver. This time I tried a jacketed bullet for handgun hunting on the theory that I might get a quicker kill, and also to try something new. The bullet was the 250 grain Nosler Partition in a 1300fps load.
I discovered that the performance of this bullet is the same as the performance of cast bullets, except that they don't penetrate as well. The Partitions cost about $45 per box of 50, the cast bullets cost about $32 per box of 500.
The partitions do definitely expand well and do more tissue damage, but on a hog it doesn't seem to have any improved effect. Either bullet punches a big hole that bleeds freely. And while the Nosler does expand, it does not have the same destructive effect that, say, a .308 rifle bullet has on tissue, nor does it have that killing power that just knocks the animal down. After a well placed lung shot for the first shot, I still took a neck shot to stop the running animal (because I didn't know for sure how hard it was hit with the first shot), and then fired another shot into the neck when it was down. This matches previous experience with cast bullets.
None of the bullets exited.
One important thing happened that has never happened before: I had a ringing in my ears for more than a day after firing these shots. I have never experienced ringing ears after using comparable loads with cast bullets after taking a hunting shot. I was not in a confined area. I think there may be something about the pressure dynamics of the jacketed bullet in the way sound escapes the cylinder gap. In any case, I am very concerned about this and will not be using bullets like this again without some hearing protection. I'll have to research ear plugs that are suitable for handgun hunting. (If you have suggestions I will really appreciate them!)
Questor Jr. took almost the identical shot with his .308 using the wonderful 150 grain Speer Hot Cor bullet that we like very much. The pig went down legs up and kicked a bit, then was still. The bullet exited. His load was the starting load for Varget which should give about 2650fps. This has been an excellent practice load for Q Jr. and he shoots it very well. He also took a mouflon ram on this trip and that animal too went down instantly, kicked a couple of times, and then was still. That bullet exited too. I like the load because it is effective, has very mild recoil even in his light Tikka rifle, and kills well without being overly destructive. Ballistics are good out to 200+ yards and could be used out to 300 with some hold-over.
