A few more hogs with the Ruger 96/44 and the Lee 310gr

[Fenring]

This hunt took place in southern Queensland, Australia. Unfortunately the area is once again very dry, and farmers are struggling. Hogs cause a lot of damage to crops, made even worse by the current dry conditions limiting crops.

We shot a bunch of pigs out tearing up the chickpea crops.

Loadout for me was the Ruger 96/44 shooting the 310gr Lee cast for ACCOWW's loaded over 20gr of AR2205 / H110 for 1500fps MV.

A few out of a mob of about 15 we caught on the crop one morning. Two sows and a boar. The larger sow and boar appeared to have no exit holes - I couldn't find the boolits, however, but know what to expect from the Lee.



Bogged my bike just beside the river. Shortly after this I put up a small mob and shot a couple as they crossed the water.



My friend's Marlin 1894 shooting factory American Eagle 240gr JHP's. I left him some Devastators and Lee 310's to try.

[Fenring]

Sunrise on the last morning's hunt. We stayed 5 nights. This morning, we again caught a mob of what we thought from a distance, was about half a dozen pigs out on the crop - it turned out to be about 20 pigs and for the next hour and a half we mopped up most of them and found a few others. 30 pigs in 1.5 hours...

Our sunrise just before all hell broke loose....



Small boar.



My pal and his new Remmy 7600 .30/06....he normally rocks a 96/44 shooting cast. Traitor!



Post hunt milkshakes.



Total was around 110 pigs for the 5 day trip, which was pretty good.

One thing that annoyed me, and it has before, was the wee little four round mag on the 96/44 - I ran dry right in the middle of mobs of pigs a few times.

[missionary5155]

Greetings from the other side of the pond
You and your mates should be presented with a medal for undertaking such fine public service ! Excellent work !
Not to mention the fun of riding about on a 2 wheeler popping vermin. Thank you for all the good photos.
Mike in Peru

[Fenring]

Thanks Mike. I was rolling on my Suzuki two wheeler, the other guys had a Honda four wheeler, and Yamaha four wheeler, with a handy pair of pig dogs on board too.

It's great fun, and helps with the vermin problem.

One morning, we were hunting at ground level, and the place next door had a heli-shoot going on so there was air support nearby.

It sounded impressive.

[psweigle]

Awesome bike! Good to know the boolit works so well on thick skin and dense bone. Nice pictures as well. The ruger is a nice gun, wish they would have made one in 357.

[Fenring]

Thanks.

I've shot some decent sized hogs with the Devastator. Including some shots up the rear. It works quite well, and is, well, "devastating" on smaller animals as you'd expect.

The 310gr Lee will expand nicely on more solid animals too, with plenty of penetrating power.

The Ruger is just so slick and fast to use and I like the modern handling / feel of it. But the four round mag has left me waving a white flag a few times!

[kbstenberg]

Fenring what alloy are you using?
I was surprised by you posting your pic. You said the antys mite retaliate.

[Fenring]

Air cooled clip on wheel weights is all I use.


You'll note my face is semi obscured.

[Rainier]

Great work! Thanks for the pictures - enjoyed them. So can you make bacon outa them or do you just dig a pit? And... maybe we can get Ruger to make a belt fed model 96 - reduce the need to keep reloading 4 rounds at a time ��

[Fenring]

Generally they get left where they fall. The meat on the small ones is fine, especially if they've been eating crops etc.

[psweigle]

Over here in the USA, wild boar meat is very good. But then I've only ever hunted them in Arkansas. I can't say for the rest of the country.

[Tripplebeards]

Thanks for sharing. Have you ever tried quenching the lee 310's and if so how did they do on hogs?

[Fenring]

No, haven't tried it and TBH I want them as soft as possible to get some expansion. As it is, they will whizz right through smaller pigs and even big ones, if the heavy front end isn't hit.

[luvtn]

Shot up 13-320g .430 boolits, along with 9- 300 g boolits today from my Redhawk with a 4 inch barrel. Sure would love to exercise her like you get to do!
luvtn

[Tripplebeards]

No, haven't tried it and TBH I want them as soft as possible to get some expansion. As it is, they will whizz right through smaller pigs and even big ones, if the heavy front end isn't hit.

Think I'm going to have to try AC the 310's and give them a try. I'm new to cast and WQ mine. I would like some expansion for energy transfer to put them on the ground quicker.

[Fenring]

Left three are recovered Devastators - 100gr of nose cone peeled off. Retained weight around 175gr. Found under the skin on the far side. Other two are 310gr Lee. 100% weight retention.

[Smoke4320]

wonderful documentation of what looks like a great hunt .. you did a good service for the farmers
I live for the day I can leave to hunt 5 days in a row . Adding a bike to the mix would be icing on the cake
CONGRADS

[Tripplebeards]

Left three are recovered Devastators - 100gr of nose cone peeled off. Retained weight around 175gr. Found under the skin on the far side. Other two are 310gr Lee. 100% weight retention.

Awesome! Nice to see that they both mushroom being AC COWW...and stay inside the animal on top of it at 1500fps. Must be one heck of an energy transfer to slam em on the ground. I would assume most pigs drop at the shot. I just tested mine with the lee tester I got in the mail the other day. WQcoww tested at 33 BNH and the same bullets after PC and WQ again tested at 15

[308Jeff]

Nice! Really puttin' the hurt on those hogs!

[Wolfer]

Hoggone, this sounds like fun!