nice boar for the .270x.225 Van Horn/bullet photos included

https://i.postimg.cc/rw64Nn5S/boar-2...sx-4-18-24.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/3wxxXmfX/recovered-95ttsx-2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/1zwJKVgz/recovered-ttsx95-1.jpg

Well, I finally got to bloody the .270x.225 (aka .270 JDJ) Van Horn barrel this evening. I had no intentions of checking outside tonight as I had a bad flare-up with the chronic colitis and was feeling pretty weak. But when our little furbaby decided he needed to potty once more before calling it a night, I opened the door and got the unmistakable whiff of a boar.

I haven’t seen a hog here since around the first of the year, so I knew I needed to check things out and try and capitalize on the rare opportunity. I grabbed the Van Horn .270x.225 since it had a shooting light on it, but it turns out it was not needed as there was ample moonlight for the Zeiss V6 2-12x50.

The hog was only about 130 yards from my shooting rest and ever-so-slightly quartering to me. I wasted no time putting the tiny red dot of the #60 reticle towards the front of the shoulder and touched off a round.

The 95 grain Barnes TTSX, which was designed for the 6.8 SPC and leaves the muzzle of my barrel at 2920 fps, flew true and dropped the boar in his tracks. The bullet hit where I hoped, penetrating the thick shield, breaking the shoulder bone, wrecking the lungs, passing through the edge of the opposite shoulder, breaking a rib and then lodging in the hide and very nearly exiting.

Impact speed should have been about 2550 fps. It lost a couple petals but still weighed 78.4 grains. The widest point measured .536”. Had it retained the petals, the width would have approached 0.7”. One kill means nothing, but so far, I am quite pleased with the performance.

Congratulation on breaking in the new barrel.

Nice work, Bobby!

I'd be very tempted to get some of those to try for my 6.8 SPC but I ran across a decent supply of Sellier and Bellot ammo at a reasonable price and it looks to be very accurate in my barrel from initial results. It's loaded with a 110 grain proprietary "PTS" polymer tip spitzer bullet which looks to be moving quite fast judging by the difference in POI between it and the Hornady 110 V-Max factory ammo (a little research shows it to be considerably faster than the Hornady). Since the bullet should compare well to the V-Max, I expect good results for any hunting that I'd doing with it.

At current powder and primer prices, I'd be hard pressed to reload existing brass with those Barnes bullets for any less than the S&B ammo costs. A more accurate comparison would be loading these bullets in new brass and that would would be pushing 50 cents a round more expensive to load with the TTSX.

I was wondering about you, Hope you get to feeling better soon. Nice little piggy!! even nicer toy. Funny how that smell can get things flowing

Excellent results! Congrats.

Well done Sir...well done. The right bullet in the right place. Congratulations. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Taidog1

Well done Sir...well done. The right bullet in the right place. Congratulations. :rolleyes:

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Thanks. The way he dropped, I actually thought I hit the spine, which dips pretty low in the shoulder area on hogs. But all the vertebrae were intact, and I could find no evidence that one of the sheared-off petals would have impacted there. One petal definitely veered somewhat to the right and cut through the liver. It seems the other went to the lower portion of the chest cavity, but I did not locate it (and didn't really try).

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Originally Posted by sunnysmarine

I was wondering about you, Hope you get to feeling better soon. Nice little piggy!! even nicer toy. Funny how that smell can get things flowing

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Thanks. Today is definitely better than yesterday. After not having a hog here for so long, picking up that smell from the south wind sure did get my attention in a hurry. Maybe his buddies will come looking for him soon ha ha.

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Originally Posted by J A XSP

Nice work, Bobby!

I'd be very tempted to get some of those to try for my 6.8 SPC but I ran across a decent supply of Sellier and Bellot ammo at a reasonable price and it looks to be very accurate in my barrel from initial results. It's loaded with a 110 grain proprietary "PTS" polymer tip spitzer bullet which looks to be moving quite fast judging by the difference in POI between it and the Hornady 110 V-Max factory ammo (a little research shows it to be considerably faster than the Hornady). Since the bullet should compare well to the V-Max, I expect good results for any hunting that I'd doing with it.

At current powder and primer prices, I'd be hard pressed to reload existing brass with those Barnes bullets for any less than the S&B ammo costs. A more accurate comparison would be loading these bullets in new brass and that would would be pushing 50 cents a round more expensive to load with the TTSX.

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Factory ammo is the route I had planned on taking with the 6.5 CM but had a few boxes of those 115 grain Tac-TX bullets, so -- for now, at least -- I am loading for it. As to that S&B ammo, I've had good results with the small I amount I have tried over the years, and several people I know sing its praises. I believe the PTS is made specifically for S&B by Hornady. I'm wondering if it has the same internal construction as the V-Max.

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Originally Posted by BruceP

Congratulation on breaking in the new barrel.

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Thanks. It took me long enough ha ha.

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Originally Posted by BT

Excellent results! Congrats.

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Thanks. I appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by Bobby Tomek

... I believe the PTS is made specifically for S&B by Hornady. I'm wondering if it has the same internal construction as the V-Max.

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I have seen some posts exploring the comparison but there may be more than one bullet used in production over the years. I never have done any terminal ballistics testing but it would be possible out at my son's place so I may take a stack of news papers next time I go out there. I've been resisting the temptation to stock up on another hundred rounds. If I'm not careful, I'll skip reloading altogether for that thing. :)

I'd be curious to hear the results of your test. Be sure and soak the papers overnight for best results. Dry newsprint is rough on bullets. The easiest way to soak them is to loosely put a string around them in such a fashion that the strings make a "+" sign. Then soak them in the tub over night. They'll swell, and the string will be taut and allow for easy carrying. Putting a thin jug of water in front of the wet newsprint (like what Prestone antifreeze used to come in) along with a thin piece of plywood or a piece of paneling helps simulate impact on game and will give more realistic results. Set it up at 150 or 200 yards...and you are all set.

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Originally Posted by Bobby Tomek

I'd be curious to hear the results of your test. Be sure and soak the papers overnight for best results. Dry newsprint is rough on bullets. The easiest way to soak them is to loosely put a string around them in such a fashion that the strings make a "+" sign. Then soak them in the tub over night. They'll swell, and the string will be taut and allow for easy carrying. Putting a thin jug of water in front of the wet newsprint (like what Prestone antifreeze used to come in) along with a thin piece of plywood or a piece of paneling helps simulate impact on game and will give more realistic results. Set it up at 150 or 200 yards...and you are all set.

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Great advice. I’ve never done this either but have often thought about it. Now I know the method. Thanks.

Years ago, I used to have a crate with top-and-bottom-end partitions that allowed me to easily alternate newsprint and water...or even newsprint and air pockets, etc. If memory serves, it was close to 4 feet in depth. It worked like a charm and allowed for a better means of comparisons as I could be consistent in terms of medium I was shooting through. It also allowed very easy retrieval of the bullets. I think I even posted photos of it way back on SP.

I never felt the need to use the full length of it, and the times I was testing monos or other deep-penetrating projectiles, I stuffed the back end with wet cotton material to ensure I'd catch the bullet and not damage the back end of the set-up.

The crate was actually built by a fellow for shipping me a couple of Mausers in the late 1990s. I used it for storage for a while before deciding to convert it.

great job!!!

Dam it Bobby!