11-06-2023, 01:15 AM
Hunted animals, most notably hogs, die as a result of exsanguination (blood loss), suffocation, or disruption of the upper central nervous system. Most of the time that you see hogs drop and stay down in my videos is because they have had either direct or indirect upper CNS damage. All other hogs are apt to run or try to run.
Where I am going with this is that just because an animal went down doesn't mean the bullet is particularly good (or necessarily bad if the animal didn't go down). It all comes down to what the bullet strikes and if there is a shock wave that might result in hydrostatic shock to the upper CNS (for which nobody has produced a bullet that will necessarily cause death via hydrostatic shock).
You are going with TTSX which are a good bullet if you want a particular type of performance. They open up to about double the diameter of the original bullet, maybe a bit more, and that is it, but then then power this modestly expanded bullet deeply through tissue, often resulting in overpenetation. Overpenetration is fine if you are hoping to generate a blood trail, but as some folks point out, the energy carrying the bullet away from the hog is energy that could have been used by the bullet to do even more tissue damage.
As you are in CA and apparently must use copper bullets, I would suggest trying Maker Rex or T Rex bullets. They will expand to right at an inch and may retain all or most of their petals, though sometimes they will break off...but they don't seem to detach as a matter of design. As a result, they tend to bore a larger diameter hole through the animal and are less prone to overpenetration. So my argument here is that a bullet of comparable weight and velocity that stays together after expansion without overpenetating will do more tissue damage than one that overpenetrates. However, for the bullet that doesn't overpenetrate, it still much penetrate fairly deeply and the Rex and T Rex will do that. It isn't like a varmint grenade that blows up the first 3-4" about the size of a baseball and doesn't do anything else.
As for heavier bullets, I don't know how much more you can go with copper bullets as their OAL will become excessive or you will have to reduce your powder in order for them to fit in the case at standard length.
Gutting? You should gut ASAP, as with other game animals. You also want to get your meat on ice ASAP. As the temps drop, your handling time increases, right? Gutting and butchering at 100 degrees needs to happen sooner than at 30 degrees.
How much do piglets weigh? Anywhere from 2 lbs to maybe 10 or so, if you are being technical and a piglet is an unweened juvenile. A lot of what we call "piglets" are shoats (juvenile hogs) and we call them piglets as a term to denote significantly smaller hogs than the adults. Depending on your definition and how well the hogs are feeding, shoats may get up to 70-100 lbs. They aren't "piglet" size at that point, but they are still shoats. As a side note, piglets may begin eating solid food 10-14 days after birth and can survive without milk at that point and be weened. They will stay on the teet longer, of course, if they have the opportunity.
I keep waiting for folks to cook up some fetuses as the ultimate veal of the pig world, but few people admit to eating them.
Where I am going with this is that just because an animal went down doesn't mean the bullet is particularly good (or necessarily bad if the animal didn't go down). It all comes down to what the bullet strikes and if there is a shock wave that might result in hydrostatic shock to the upper CNS (for which nobody has produced a bullet that will necessarily cause death via hydrostatic shock).
You are going with TTSX which are a good bullet if you want a particular type of performance. They open up to about double the diameter of the original bullet, maybe a bit more, and that is it, but then then power this modestly expanded bullet deeply through tissue, often resulting in overpenetation. Overpenetration is fine if you are hoping to generate a blood trail, but as some folks point out, the energy carrying the bullet away from the hog is energy that could have been used by the bullet to do even more tissue damage.
As you are in CA and apparently must use copper bullets, I would suggest trying Maker Rex or T Rex bullets. They will expand to right at an inch and may retain all or most of their petals, though sometimes they will break off...but they don't seem to detach as a matter of design. As a result, they tend to bore a larger diameter hole through the animal and are less prone to overpenetration. So my argument here is that a bullet of comparable weight and velocity that stays together after expansion without overpenetating will do more tissue damage than one that overpenetrates. However, for the bullet that doesn't overpenetrate, it still much penetrate fairly deeply and the Rex and T Rex will do that. It isn't like a varmint grenade that blows up the first 3-4" about the size of a baseball and doesn't do anything else.
As for heavier bullets, I don't know how much more you can go with copper bullets as their OAL will become excessive or you will have to reduce your powder in order for them to fit in the case at standard length.
Gutting? You should gut ASAP, as with other game animals. You also want to get your meat on ice ASAP. As the temps drop, your handling time increases, right? Gutting and butchering at 100 degrees needs to happen sooner than at 30 degrees.
How much do piglets weigh? Anywhere from 2 lbs to maybe 10 or so, if you are being technical and a piglet is an unweened juvenile. A lot of what we call "piglets" are shoats (juvenile hogs) and we call them piglets as a term to denote significantly smaller hogs than the adults. Depending on your definition and how well the hogs are feeding, shoats may get up to 70-100 lbs. They aren't "piglet" size at that point, but they are still shoats. As a side note, piglets may begin eating solid food 10-14 days after birth and can survive without milk at that point and be weened. They will stay on the teet longer, of course, if they have the opportunity.
I keep waiting for folks to cook up some fetuses as the ultimate veal of the pig world, but few people admit to eating them.
Kill a hog. Save the planet.
My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange