Hard Cast vs JHP for hogs

[SPDSR]

Underwood and Buffalo Bore's 10mm hardcast bullets are not gas checked. And they don't seem to have a very large flat meplat compared to what some of the guys on here post pictures of in their reloads.

[TonyRumore]

So does anyone have any experience with trying to shoot through the shield with a JHP?

Not all hogs are created equal.  Some have that armor plate on the shoulder and others don't.  It makes a huge difference on how your bullet will perform.

Years ago, I shot a big hog right on the shoulder, using a 170gr Sierra HP from a 41JMP Automag.  It made it through the armor, BARELY.  Penetration was dismal and the recovered bullet looked like a lead nickel.
If it wasn't for a second spinal hit, that hog would have gotten away.

Later that same day, I switched over to a 45 Win Mag Wildey using 260gr Speer HP's.  About the same result.  Shoulder hit on a large hog and penetration was better than the 170gr Sierrra, but not by much.  That hog ran 150yards before falling over.

The next day I took out an LAR Grizzly with factory MasterLoad ammo.  I'm not sure what bullet was loaded in that, but they were hollow points.  That load zipped through the hog with no trouble at all.
The last hog I shot on that trip, was with a Freedom Arms 454 Casull shooting factory SSK Industries Freedom Arms 260gr flat point ammo.  It had no trouble blowing a hog into the dirt with a complete pass through.

This was in South Texas and the hogs were all about 275 pounds and armored up.

I've also shot a bunch in California and in Oklahoma that didn't have that armor on the shoulder.  Several were shot with a 4" Ruger Security Six using 158gr Keith style semi-wadcutters.  It had no trouble taking them down.

The only gun I've had problems with, dropping even the wimpy hogs, is the 45 ACP.  I wouldn't use it on any kind of hog.  Short, fat, slow bullets, don't seem to work very well.  Even with no expansion, penetration is dismal.  Leave the 45 ACP to shooting gel blocks.  It does a good job on those.

Tony Rumore
Tromix

[Spudmeister]

So does anyone have any experience with trying to shoot through the shield with a JHP?

Not all hogs are created equal.  Some have that armor plate on the shoulder and others don't.  It makes a huge difference on how your bullet will perform.

Years ago, I shot a big hog right on the shoulder, using a 170gr Sierra HP from a 41JMP Automag.  It made it through the armor, BARELY.  Penetration was dismal and the recovered bullet looked like a lead nickel.
If it wasn't for a second spinal hit, that hog would have gotten away.

Later that same day, I switched over to a 45 Win Mag Wildey using 260gr Speer HP's.  About the same result.  Shoulder hit on a large hog and penetration was better than the 170gr Sierrra, but not by much.  That hog ran 150yards before falling over.

The next day I took out an LAR Grizzly with factory MasterLoad ammo.  I'm not sure what bullet was loaded in that, but they were hollow points.  That load zipped through the hog with no trouble at all.
That last hog I shot on that trip, was with a Freedom Arms 454 Casull shooting factory SSK Industries 260gr flat point ammo.  It had no trouble blowing a hog into the dirt with a complete pass through.

This was in South Texas and the hogs were all about 275 pounds and armored up.

I've also shot a bunch in California and in Oklahoma that didn't have that armor on the shoulder.  Several were shot with a 4" Ruger Security Six using 158gr Keith style semi-wadcutters.  It had no trouble taking them down.

The only gun I've had problems with, dropping even the wimpy hogs, is the 45 ACP.  I wouldn't use it on any kind of hog.  Short, fat, slow bullets, don't seem to work very well.  Even with no expansion, penetration is dismal.  Leave the 45 ACP to shooting gel blocks.  It does a good job on those.

Tony Rumore
Tromix

Thank you for offering  your perspective Tony.  You give the extremes on hog hunting.  I believe that, in 10mm, a 200-220 gr very hard cast tough bullet going faster than 1,200 fps may not be perfect but it will penetrate most any hog with or without a gristle shield and do considerable internal damage.  I do not believe such a guarantee can be made of any expanding bullet.  Under ideal conditions the expanding bullet is superior but when energy is limited and everything has to be put into boring a deep decent sized hog KILLING hole, IMO, the heavy for caliber WFN bullet has no peers.  Lots of bullets work but if deep & difficult penetration is the first order, reasonably fast, heavy and big metplats are my preference. 

[dredonn]

I think the Double Tap 200gr hardcast doing 1300fps and 750lbs of energy is what I'll be using, I know those will penitrate any shield, I'm hoping they won't just pass through without doing enough damage for a quick kill. I'll be hunting hogs up in North Florida so not sure how tough a shield they'll have, hopefully I'll get lucky and I'll get good opportunities at ear shots.

[SPDSR]

North FL hogs can have pretty tough shields and be of decent size. The further south in FL you go the more abundant but smaller they get. I'm not too sure those DT's will get close to 1300 FPS like the box claims though. I've been weary of DT for the years of interweb ales of inconsistent volcities. Plus McNett told me their 100 fmj 380 auto ammo offers "great" barrier penetration, great through auto glass and really brings the 380 to full potential. Even his velocity claim was like 800 FPS (full potential?) I asked what kind of bullet it is, and was informed it was a Berry's. I emailed Berry's and they said it's a plated bullet designed for plinking and would likley fragment or tear apart through hard barriers, although they have never tested any of their bullets through any media, since they cater to plinking at the range ammo. That didn't sound optimistic.

Eh, I don't know.