!50 gr. Speer flat nose bullet report

R

rickt300

New member
Well I have a stand near a wallow with a feeder next to it. The wallow is huge, nice soft grey mud, it is a pond the dam has been slotted to drain a pond. Range to feeder is 40 yards. My game cam has been telling me the hogs have been hitting this wallow in the middle of the day so I got there about 11am and quietly climbed into the stand. 20 minutes later a pair of hogs get into the wallow and have a blast, they are out of my sight just barely as I can't see down into the wallow from the stand but I can sure hear them. They get out of the mud and go right under the feeder. I select the bigger one of around 175 pounds, aiming right above his elbow for a heart shot. Bullets hits just a bit higher than I expected, hog runs 20 yards and is down. Very unexpectedly the other hog seems to not know what happened and stands there sniffing the air and looking at his buddy. Which gives me time to put another shell quietly in my Contender carbine and shoot him in almost the same spot. This time the hog squeals and runs across the wallow out of sight. I wait a few minutes and climb down to look at the first hog. Talk about mud coverage! I set to cleaning him and find the bullet has gone through the ribs on the far side from where I shot him with the hole in the ribs on the impact side being 3 inches across and on the exit side half that big. I look for the bullet and find it in the mud just outside the exit hole, some flattened lead and the jacket. It started at just under 2600 fps and I figure it hit going at least 2500fps. Major damage to the heart and lungs, soupy. The other hog was not nearly as muddy or big, 125 pounds or so and that bullet was lost as it exited. Plenty of damage and somewhat smaller holes in the ribs and the exit through the hide was less than an inch. I am going to load down a bit to 2400 fps even though I don't expect to shoot a lot of hogs with 2 inches of mud on them I think maybe I will get better bullet performance with a bit less velocity. Then again can I really complain about the performance of the bullets? Oops 30-30AI is the cartridge.
 
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"...going to load down a bit to 2400 fps..." Load for accuracy, not velocity.
"...started at just under 2600 fps..." Out of what cartridge?
 
The Speer 150 grn. SPFN bullet is a real killer on a whitetail deer, and it looks like it works quite well on a hog. I'll probably never shoot a hog, but I see no reason to use anything else for a bullet on a whitetail from a 30-30 Win. round. Tried and true, it's a great, well constructed bullet for sure (been around for many years). My 30-30 handload for both my Marlin 336s come out the muzzle @ (approximately) 2250-2300 fps. That's plenty for a whitetail, even at 150 yds.; always a pass through with a good half inch exit hole on the off-side (broadside shot). Good bullet, certain sure; 2300 fps is plenty fast from the muzzle (IMO). I always kind of wondered about the A.I. altering of the 30-30 chambering, but I don't believe it intrigues me that much for the 30-30. I'll use my '06 if I feel I need more gun. But that's just me... Congrats on your hunt!
 
I ordered the barrel as a regular 30-30 but on the first shot I found it has an improved chamber. What I like about the AI version is cases don't stretch so much every shot, in fact after the first firing hardly at all. I have been hunting Whitetails since 1970 and the number of deer I couldn't have taken with a 30-30 is probably less than 5% of the total. Mule deer that percentage is much higher but still it would have been fine for at least half of the Mule deer I have taken.
 
Hey r300,

Looking over my post #7, I mentioned that a pass through shot at 150 yds. left a half inch exit wound. I meant to say a half DOLLAR exit wound; just wanted to correct that...

This morning I took the 336 I shot my w.t. doe with this year (ranged at 112 yds.) out to our local range to take a few shots with it before my after season cleaning, and before it gets put in the safe for its "hibernation" for the winter. There's a 3 and 1/2" thick piece of iron out there at 200 yds. that's about the size and shape of a BIG prairie dog, so I shot at it 3 times, using my hunting pack for a rest on the bench. First shot was a hit, low, and just wiggled it a bit. Second shot I held just a hair over the top of the iron, and toppled it. Then I went out to set it up again and shot my last shot holding the same "just over the top" position of the hairs on the scope (4x Leupold compact) and toppled it again. Pretty cool, so took the old Marlin home, gave it its good cleaning, and put it to bed in the safe. Yup, used the Speer 150 grn. SPFN reloads. Not only great hunting bullets, but wonderfully accurate in my old, early 60s, 336. Hard to beat the old lever guns, especially in 30-30 cal.
 
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