Another Boar with 9.3x74R Paper Patched Bullet

[Reverend Recoil]

We had another good hunt Saturday. The five of us got eight wild hogs in Jena, Louisiana. My brother got three hogs with my Swiss K-31 carbine. Two of them were a double. Both went down with one shot. I was the only one using cast bullets.

I used my Ruger No.1 in 9.3x74R with a 2.5x Leupold scope. My load was RWS case, 59.0gr IMR 4064, and Saeco .358"-245gr cast lead bullet rolled with tracing paper. This slug comes out the other end at about 2500 fps. One shot was all that was needed. He wasn't the biggest boar I have shot. He was an old boar with 2.5" cutters hanging out of his mouth. He should make a good scull mount.

[mauserand9mm]

That sounds like a healthy load you have there. What was the bullet performance like - obviously good since it killed the pig first shot, but how far did it travel internally and how well did it mushroom?

I hope to do some pig hunting down here in a couple of weeks time (weather permitting - many parts of the state have, or are currently being, flooded, and more rain to come over Christmas) and I've loaded up some 500gn hard cast in my 458WM at about 1600fps. This is about the same muzzle energy as a 308Win so it shouldn't lack the power and the large bore projectile will certainly leave a decent wound channel at the very least. I'm just not sure whether the hard cast will mushroom enough to be effective. I haven't been able to find the fired projectiles at the range to check for mushrooming.

I'm taking some full house reloads using 325gn Hornady FTX and 400gn Woodleigh PPs, just in case the lead doesn't perform well enough. Of course that's assuming I find pigs to shoot in the first place.

[Reverend Recoil]

I have killed hogs with 250, 245, 270, and 286gr 9.3mm bullets.  All have passed completely through.  I think they could pass through two hogs.