I am hunting hogs over bait in Texas, and my shots will be 80 yards or less due to heavy cover. My rifle is a surprisingly accurate Ruger 77 (red buttpad and tang safety) that fits like a glove. I think either 150 or 165 grains Hornady Interlock, Speer HotCor, or Sierra Pro Hunter at 2000 - 2500 fps MV should do the trick. My thinking is that I need to slow the projectile down so it does not blow up on impact. I am leaning more towards the 165's. Powders to try are, in order of consideration: H4895, 5744, Big Game, and I'm open to other recommendations. I intend to wait until I am presented with neck shots, but boiler room will do. The toughest challenge is: these suckers are nocturnal, so I will be hunting at night with a red light. I have a clear Nikon Monarch scope, however everything, including depth perception, is different in the dark... I have marked key distances to bait sites, trails, etc., and with a 100 yard zero, I just need to put the cross hair where I want to and squeeze.
My questions are:
Which loads have worked well for you when shooting close range?
Hodgdon shows: 165 grain Sierra SPBT with H4895 Start Charge of 43.0 grains (2607 fps) to Max of 47.5 grns (2782) and...
Using 60% Reduced H4895 gives a range of: 28.5 grns to 47.5 grns. Does 38 - 42 grns window sound about right for my target velocity range of 2000 - 25000 fps?
Should I use Dracon filler with H4895 and j-words to get tighter ES and SD?
Do you see any holes in my logic?
By the way, I am in the early steps of putting together a Cast hunting load with 311041 and H4895 with a filler in 30-06 for Hogs, but I do not want to rush as I have a steeper learning curve with casting and powder coating.
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.