300 Blackout as a Hunting Companion for Hogs — Graphic
The 300 Blackout is one of the most controversial cartridges in the past decade. There are many topics which has lead to the controversy surrounding this caliber, one often discussed is it’s use in hunting. At the tail end of winter I went out with a friend on a hog hunt who brought along his AR chambered in 300BlkOut. He used 120gr factory ammunition. With it being his first time out with 300Blk, to minimize the possibility of a wounded loss he wanted to keep all of his shots under 50 yards for a humane kill. Though I believe anything under 100 yards would have been possible with is marksmanship ability and his rifle sporting the Nikon 300Blk optic.
We hunted from a make shift blind with our backs against a tree from a sitting position. This 130 -150 pound hog would make his way over the hill down into the valley we were hunting from. With a clear shot, being very aware of his backstop and surroundings BB pulled the trigger. With the bark of the 300Blkout round the hog dropped right where he stood at approximately 35 yards away. I was shocked that it did not run off and require any tracking. Upon field dressing this boar, BB put the round right in the vital areas for perfect shot placement, most interesting you can see the round hit bone started to tumble severed the spine and exited out the other side. This explained the hog dropping in tracks.
With all of the buzz and attention the 300BLK is garnering right now, don’t get absorbed into believing this is a do it all hunting round. Though due to it?s subsonic offerings, this round offers tremendous quiet killing opportunities for eradicating feral hogs or any medium sized game under 100 yards. Unfortunately on this trip the government was still processing our background checks and our suppressors weren’t out of jail yet. The 300Blk on this trip definitely proved that in the right hands for the right application it is more than capable as a hunting companion.
Stop here for those with queasy stomachs
Graphic Pictures Below:
-
- Entrance Wound
-
- Exit Wound
How is that graphic?
not a lot of damage to the meat either .. very nice. Problem with a suppressor: The pig won’t know it’s dead ??!??
Great accuracy in the story. I offer that MrRevolverGuy was with me every step of the way in the 300 Blackout build. I am very pleased with the build. the Optic is only lacking in a lighted reticle. The firearm will eventually sport a hunting trigger as the milspec trigger and s not conducive to hunting. And finally, it may eventually sport a gas cutoff. For reduced sound signature, the gun sported something akin to a pressure rate reducer by Simple Threaded Devices – Quite Effective!!!
I sighted the hog on 2X with both eyes open. The shot passed through the cavity high, bounced off the spine, and made the nice exit wound. The hog dropped and did not move except for a Two second one leg twitch. It was quite humane. I have only shot one deer and this hog as I am a bird hunter. However, I will continue to hunt bigger game after this experience with this equipment. This combination is the modern sporting rifle version of the 30-30. While I would not hunt game larger than deer or hog, I believe it is adequate for self protection anywhere in North America. If a follow up shot were necessary, it would have been easily accomplished as the hog was in the reticle at all times due to the light recoil. I was using a flush fit magazine and had 4 more rounds available. Plenty for a hog.
As MrRevolverGuy mentioned, my suppressor were still in NFA jail at the time of the hunt. They have since been freed and have been used extensively on this build at my range. With the Sig Supressor mounted, many a new shooter including persons of tiny frame have enjoyed shooting the rifle. And when shooting subsonic, the shoot it like a .22LR!!! The only problem is it not friendly to my wallet when they rapidly put 10 rounds downrange!
Again – much gratitude to Mr.RevolverGuy for sharing his incredible expertise in this build as well as his memorializarion of this hunt.
Mr. Revolverguy are there any reports from the 300 blackout community showing a hog kill over 100 yards to 200 yards ?
I shot a largish boar at 200 yards (measured on google earth) this past weekend with my blackout. 16″ barrel with carbine gas, cheap red dot sight, hand loaded Barnes 110gr TAC-TX over Lil’Gun. He was running (because I missed the first shot – sigh) and I hit him in the head. The bullet exited under the ear, and he of course tumbled right there. Not sure if that really tells you anything useful about long range effectiveness of the blackout, but FWIW.
I shot two ~150lb pigs in December with the same gun and load. First was standing at about 75 yards. Hit high on the shoulder. A few seconds later I saw another running in the cotton about 40 yards away (it was dark but I had a green led light) and shot again. Broke the front leg and passed through the lower abdomen forward. Both bullets exited, and both pigs died right there.
I’m a fan. The blackout has very limited case capacity so max velocity is limited even with small for caliber bullets. That means bullet selection is critical. Too solid (say Sierra GameKing) and it will never expand. Too thin skinned (say Hornady Vmax) and it won’t get through bone. The Barnes TAC-TX seem to be perfect for my needs, though a little pricey. Fortunately a minor variation on the load with Hornady Vmax prints at the same point in my rifle so I have a cheaper alternative for target practice. The Vmax and the TAC-TX have the same B.C., but the Barnes, being copper, is significantly longer than the lead based Vmax. The Vmax load is seated shallower, but to a shorter COAL, and requires a pinch more powder because of the extra free room in the case.