Some time back I called AL at NOE and discussed what bullet to use for hunting hogs with my 300 blackout. I told him I had not been able to get the rifle to feed my preferred flatpoint bullets, and he recommended his 311-121-RN. After some discussion I went with his recommendation and ordered my mold. After load development I settled on a PC'd 311-121-RN in front of 16 grains of AA#9 for just over 2200 fps out of my 16" AR. This weekend I finally got to use them on some hogs and here are the results...
Sunday night I was in my stand when a piglet showed up at about 60 yards. One shot dropped it. Then a half hour later a larger hog (close to 300 pounds) walked up to the piglet and sniffed it. Wanting to give the bullet a good test, I held on the shoulder of this hog. At the shot he squealed and dropped, struggled for a bit then layed still. After another hour a hog started working his way down the hill to my right. When he poked his head out from behind a tree at about 30 yards I shot him in the neck, right in front of the shoulder. He dropped, then flopped around some, coming to rest about 10 yards further down the hill. Once things settled down, I was thinking about calling my friends to come help recover the hogs when I heard a twig snap to my left. This time it was a coyote and he recieved a bullet in the shoulder. He did a quick spin, biting at the wound and then fell dead.
So, I was initially pleased with the bullet performance. Every animal I had the opportunity to shoot died from just one round and with very little fuss. Later, upon inspecting the animals I became aware that on the piglet and coyote penetration had been complete, but on the larger hogs (150 and 300 lbs) neither bullet exited. This may have been due to the fact that my alloy was a 50/50 mix of COWW's and pure lead. I may have been better served with straight COWW alloy, as I much prefer complete penetration so if the animal does not drop quickly there are two holes leaking for a good blood trail.
Anyway, I called Al and shared this experience with him. He appreciated the feedback, stating that this bullet was never really designed to take large hogs. We both felt that something pointier, heavier and made of a tougher alloy was needed to get better penetration on a hog. I decided to purchase another one of his molds and when I get the chance to use it I'll relate the experience here.
So what I found out is, the 311-121-RN is a very useful bullet. It's accurate, recoil is light and it's fun to shoot. It would be entirely adequate at normal woods ranges on thin skinned game like deer, especially with the 50/50 alloy I was using. Penetration was complete, and wound cavities gave evidence of expansion. I feel it's a little light for hogs however, especially larger ones unless you restrict yourself to head shots. My bigger hog (a boar) had a coating of mud on his fur, and this coupled with a serious gristle plate on his shoulder limited the bullet's penetration. This was my first hunting experience with the 300 blackout and I enjoyed it immensely. I'm also grateful to see how these bullets worked and pass that information along to others who may be interested.
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Originally Posted by versa-06
USAF RET 1971-95
