Took A While...Single Hog, Complete AA Hornady SST 129 gr. Recovery

[Double Naught Spy]

We had some good rains on Tuesday and so I opted to hunt from an elevated box blind on my place and avoid some of the muddy pastures. A quick check revealed turkeys had obliterated any sign of hog and deer tracks around the feeders, but I found a few tracks on the trail to the box blind. As such, I figured there was a decent chance of seeing a hog...if I waited long enough.

I was there less than an hour, the hog arriving at dusk. He came in and turned away and headed to the far feeder which was fortuitous as I needed a body length sort of shot in order to hopefully recovery one of these Hornady SST 129 gr. bullets loaded by Alexander Arms. I really don't like the notion of opening with a Texas Heart shot because the bullet can be stopped short on the pelvis, so I needed a severely quartering away shot to have the best chance for both a good kill and recovery. Mind you, I wasn't going to let the hog get away, but he presented me with an excellent opportunity to make the shot I needed.

The hog didn't go down and danced around briefly before starting to run off. I fired a TNT 90 gr. bullet at him as he ran that I thought had missed, but actually caught him in the hips.

The AA SST 129 gr. bullet penetrated roughly 22" (maybe a tad more), crossing from behind the ribs in the guts on the right side, through the thoracic cavity and exiting the 3rd rib on the left side and embedding itself in the shoulder near the head of the humerus. Based on the amount of blood that dumped out, there was significant cardiovascular damage. Blood from the nose and mouth indicates lung damage/airway damage and based on how low the shot was on the hog, I suspect lung damage. There was definite intestinal damage, diaphragm damage, and likely liver damage as well. This shot was quickly lethal.

The bullet expanded to nearly double its diameter. I think it could have expanded more, but with only 2275 fps from my rifle, I don't know that it had the velocity to expand more. Impact velocity would be about 2200 fps. Even so, I can't say that I am disappointed with the performance.

The TNT also did well, taking off both back wheels...breaking the left femur on entry and crossing over to the opposite leg and breaking the right femur. For a varmint round, this bullet seems to do okay with hitting a leg bone and still getting penetration to do more damage, in this case with enough left to break another bone. Not much was left of the TNT and that is not unusual. Muzzle velocity of the TNT from my rifle is 2800 fps.

[HuntTXhogs]

Oh that stung him real good, I’m glad you got 1 of those bullets recovered - wasn’t easy!

Good intel and report for the masses.

[GunsAreFun]

New to the forum but am already enjoying all your data you've provided. Am I remembering correctly that your Hornady SST fragmented? This one seemed to stay together quite well.

[Double Naught Spy]

GAF, the factory Hornady SST 123 gr. coming out of my gun at 2500+ fps does tend to open up and come apart. The Alexander Arms 129 gr. version is traveling a good bit slower. Looking at the bullet, it opened well, but I don't think it opened fully. If I recover the cup and core on a 123 gr. version, I would guess that more than half is gone, both lead and jacket.

[kmon]

Another good video, interested in wieght of the recovered bullet, looks like it kept most of the weight and add another hundred yards I doubt it would expand quite as much.

His left front leg was useless to him from the looks of it after the shot

[sundowner]

Another great video , thanks .

[Arkhangel5]

Good vid and data, as always DNS.

Without the followup shot, how far do you think he would have run with only the first, based on the damage observed? Curious.

SY

[GunsAreFun]

Maybe you mention it in another video but what is your barrel length?

[Double Naught Spy]

Another good video, interested in wieght of the recovered bullet, looks like it kept most of the weight and add another hundred yards I doubt it would expand quite as much.

His left front leg was useless to him from the looks of it after the shot

As I do not reload, I don't have a scale that will measure in grains. Maybe I can get that information later.

Interesting on the front left leg. It was not actually harmed as near as I could tell, not directly, no like when you shoot through the scapula or humerus, so damage was only to soft tissue. I wonder if I hit a nerve?

Good vid and data, as always DNS.

Without the followup shot, how far do you think he would have run with only the first, based on the damage observed? Curious.

SY

4.672 yards, +/- 0.413 yards, best guess off the top of my head.

A bit more seriously, given all of the internal damage and the 7 or 8 seconds lost before he took off running, at best I would guess he had 0-10 seconds of consciousness left in him, probably closer to 0. Had he chosen to run for those 7-8 seconds, he potentially could have made it well into the woods and my woods are awfully thick in places.

Maybe you mention it in another video but what is your barrel length?

This rifle which I have used for the AA SST 129 gr. ammo testing has an 18" barrel.

[Les]

Very interesting, I too haven't had a factory Hornady 129 gr SST not separate and now I know why. Normally the thought never occurs to those of us whom reload to reduce the velocity as we as hunters/reloaders normally chase the elusive combination of accuracy/velocity/effectiveness on game. Not surprising Alexander figured this out. Although I'd still prefer the velocity for where I normally hunt.

[BCHunter]

Nice work as always. I find it interesting that the second shot looked good but hit further back the it appears in the video. Explain those times when it appears we have mad a good shot but have difficulty recovering the animal.

[Double Naught Spy]

BC, the shot did not hit where the gun was pointed not there when the bullet arrived. In reality, it was a poor shot and I am lucky I didn't miss the hog all together. Given the ballistics of the shot, it would take the bullet something like 0.06 seconds to arrive. The shot hit somewhere between 12-18" behind where I was aimed. That would indicate that the hog was moving at something like 12-17 mph.

Had I wanted to make a boiler room shot, I would have needed to have been aiming just forward of the nose at this distance with this ammo, but I was slow in catching up with the hog and getting the shot.

So for those times it looks like you made a good shot but have trouble finding the animal, if the animal was stationary, then this will not help explain away why the animal didn't go down. That is going to be on the shooter. For animals on the move, particularly when moving laterally, the shooter needs to compensate for the animal's speed. You have to aim where the animal will be when the bullet finally arrive, not where the animal is at the time of the shot.

Here is the frame of video where the shot is breaking, causing disruption of the video. That is the point of aim. Of course, the shot hit well to the right of there because the hog was running to the left.
Snapshot_95.png