I just made a Texas heart shot on a 150-175# boar at about 60 yards. He bucked and spun like a rodeo bull then shot away, through much other hog sign, leaving no blood trail.

Maybe I?m guilty of having higher expectations than reasonable but a short trail, if any, was expected. This was from a SRH 454 with 30.5grs of W296.

Thoughts?

My first thought is that shot placement says it all.

But the anti-Hornady crowd will be along shortly to blame the bullet.

:-)

In truth, we will never know. Without a dead body or a firewd bullet we will never know which aspect caused the failure. The bullet for the shooter.

That is not a slight towards either one. Just a fact, that without tangible evidence we will never know. All else is speculation.

Completely agree Zee. Could have been on my part, I?m far from perfect. But it felt good. I️ ask because there is tons more experience on here than I️ have.

For that size boar and everything else taken into account, I would have expected you to have found your boar a short distance away.. Two months ago I hit a blackbuck at the same distance with a 400gr XTP from my FA`s 475 LB. The buck jumped skyhigh and ran. The guide and I thought we would find him about 20yds away from the hit but nothing....No blood ...Nothing.. They found him dead so many days later about 400yds from the hit...He was to chewed up to tell a story, but I know it was a bad shot on my part...Nothing to do with the XTP.... All about where I placed the bullet....

Yes....

Guess I'm anti Hornady, but not all their bullets. I've had terrible luck with XTPs in most calibers-poor penetration, poor wound channels- all in animals I eventually recovered, plus recovered the poorly penetrated bullets from good hits.
I think James and I are of the pro AFrame crowd- good penetration, lots of damage, and minimal tracking. Handgun Xs are about as good.

Don't know that I'm anti hornady, they are great a making things explode violently. I love the V-max bullet and so do several of my firearms, but imho their brass and other products are up for discussion. Placement is always key, but I get few enough chances to draw a bead on a game animal that I opt for a premium bullet so at least that part of the equation isn't in question.

HANDGUN400: I AM 99% SURE YOU KILLED THAT PIG. I HAVE ALWAYS DONE WELL WITH 45 CAL 300 gr XTP's ON DEER AND IMPALA, BUT THEY ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR TEXAS HEART SHOTS. WITH A FLAT POINT FMJ YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN PROCESSING THAT PIG NOW INSTEAD OF WONDERING.

Was there no time for another shot? If he bucked and spun I would have tried to poke some more holes into him. I of the school that, if he still standing i'm still shooting.Had you of hit bone, hind leg or spine he would have went down at least for a few seconds so possibly no bone hit. Just don't loose confidence in your load or yourself, learn from the experience and move on.

There ain?t a perfect man in this world. Welcome to reality.

Handgun 400 Since you used the 300 XTP Mag... I am thinking that the hog is dead somewhere and probably already eaten by his friends. NO blood trail does not surprise me one bit. Don't matter if it was 2 holes 1 in and 1 out. Hair mud and fat seem to all work together to plug and cover holes. I have seen hogs with broke legs, or shot off legs take off running. They are not tanks or super animals, but fear, survival instinct, and adrenaline Kick in for a superb performance of tenacity, that amazes the best of them. The pig was not too big for that bullet. JMHO,,, but even if placement was not up to your desired POI, or expectations.... DO not let this slow you down. Do not give up so easy next time. Try to track that animal. You may have been easier surprised than not. Also don't hesitate to take a second shot.

There was a few seconds when a better man may have squeezed off another shot and hit. Honestly didn?t think he?d even make it past the spin. I?ve killed a bunch but never had one do this. Also, he ran with both hind legs which makes me think the hit was below the spine and above the scrotum. Guess it could have parted the boys too but seemed to be in enter line with no broken hams

Sounds like neither leg, nor the pelvis or spine was compromised.

...but there are some who think they are....

I have lost count of critters killed with that bullet. As long I have have done my job the bullets worked. I had one fail to expand on a ram once. I believe the thick wool clogged the HP limiting expansion.

HG400,Once shot a boar a little bigger then yours with 210gr XTP from S&W 657.... BANG... he dropped on the spot dead...at least I thought he did...as I walk toward him he jumps up and takes off. Fired a shot that just caught back leg...no stop.... chased that son of a bitch until I could finish... found the first shot was below spine but above lungs...."no mans land".... It can be difficult to get off a 2nd shot especially when you think it`s not needed... One thing I do know is that next time you will be ready for a second shot whether or not its needed....Just like you, I learn something new on each new kill....

Funny, I️ use the same phrase ?no mans land? to describe above the lungs and below the spine.

Great minds and all.

That is a very common expression in the bow hunting world.

BLUE WIIDEBEEST ARE FAMOUS FOR THEIR BIG "NO MAN'S LAND".

"No Man's Land" pushed me to give up bow hunting and take up the short guns. I wanted the challenge of getting close to the animal, but not having them "jump the string", or seeing me draw the bow. As far as the "Texas Heart Shot", I live in the Lone Star State and have never taken one. I would only consider it with a hard cast or solid bullet, because you are trying to reach their heart through their rear end. I ain't cleaning it! Where I hunt, pigs/feral hogs are more like R.O.U.S.'s. There is no respect for them as a game animal like a whitetail. I like the XTP's, and have never had an issue with them, but I know their limitations and aim accordingly. Get back out there and try it again! Good luck!

I always want to recover whatever I shoot. Having said that, our pigs are known to carry brucellosis, TB and a host of parasites which flourish in warner months. They are a target of opportunity that I shall not pass.

I probably got into my own head with this one. Having read on here about the XTP love/hate relationship compiled with a marginal shot. I'd sure like to find him and do an autopsy/recover the bullet and look at the path it took. Perhaps I'll find him soon and learn more.

Good luck Handgun400 in finding that "dead hog." Let us know if you do.

I have only handgunned one big hog, but I tend to agree with 45man and Mech 8; basically that was not the right bullet for that shot. Plus as Zee said, "shot placement says it all." I believe these guys got it covered.

As others have said, learn and move on.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

How about the xtp performance on your sika? Onviously dead but how would that translate into a bigger animal.

I am not anything close to perfect which is why i need as big of a margin for error as possible. I have had great luck with xtp?s and recovered some very very poorly performing bullets. Not much matters on deer. Hogs can be tough or can go down easy. When the game gets bigger i stay away from em but thats just me. I prefer a bonded bullet. If ya dont wanna spend the money on aframes or barnes the speer deep curl work great and many times are cheaper than xtp?s. They work really well. I had great luck with xtp?s in the past and then started having erratic results. Thats about the time i heard they were using softer copper or guilding metal for the jackets. Heard this again recently.

That is interesting info as far as the "softer copper."

For a "Texas Heart Shot" a bonded bullet would no doubt be better as
you need maximum penetration.

Bonded bullets made all the difference this weekend.

And thats not a call out james. Im working and reread my post. My point is what happened to that bullet on the sika may have been what happened to the blackbuck and what happened to this guys hog. Quite frankly its happening to alot of people especially with the bigger calibers. Heart shots on hogs are iffy at best anyway but ive done em effectively with the right bullet. Im not pro or anti anything and based on how accurate they are id love hornady xtps to be the most awesome bullet in existence based on price. For deer theyll kill everything 99% of the time if u do your part. I just post what happened when i or anyone post bullet recoveries.

I am pretty new to handgun hunting and I don?t have experience with the ?old? vs the ?new? xtp?s, but I used a 240gr .454 to try to take down a ram that was getting a little too comfortable around people. Shot that thing in the vitals at damn near 5 yards (we have it on video) and it didn?t even turn and look at me. Shot again, and it just started trotting off with the herd. Last shot into the shoulder finally took it down. I?ve never had a Barnes fail to kill what I was shooting at, be it a small doe or a good sized oryx. That was the first and last time I used an XTP. They?re cheap, but not cheap enough

What did the autopsy show from where the first two shots went?

One shot through the vitals failed to open, just penciled through. Second shot was nothing but small fragments through a narrow wound channel. Both shots in the lungs, but no major vessels hit. Have had similar shots on deer with the barnes that blew almost fist sized holes into the lungs.

How would that translate into a bigger animal??? Read on......
South Africa 2014... Every animal besides Cape buff was cleanly taken with the same gun, bullet and velocity as the Texas sika.. hartebeest, nyala, warthog, bushbuck...all bigger...all dead...Florida.. water buff (bovine).. one shot with same gun and bullet...dead...bullet placement...Remember shooting fallow buck at 40 yards with factory 260gr partition by Winchester from 454... neck shot... dead... no one was more surprised then me when expanded partition was sSTOPPED against neck bone...bullet failure??? maybe...depends how you look at it...is the glass half full or half empty?? for me it worked The original post could have a hundred different answers and all would be correct but my choice of bullet has nothing to do with it.....

The first shot acted like a cast bullet then?
Second bullet didn't seem to open either, with the exception of small fragments.

What happened to my blackbuck was bad shooting on my part...

When i say translate to a bigger animal im talking about that exact same bullet used and that exact bullet doing that on a bigger animal. Obviously it worked well many times for ya and thats not the issue. The bullet the gentleman above speaks of worked well for me many many times in the past then had some failures. Its just a discussion about ratio of good to bad and its no different than wvhitmans observations in the aframe thread. No harm no foul.

Neck and spine shots, to me, are different animals and the spine is a tough bone and i have no clue how much a 260 partition weighs after it shed the lead forward of the partition but yeah, i would be super impressed by that. It would make me take note for sure.

Ernie, its been my experience that hollow points that dont open do a poor imitation of cast bullets especially wfns. Illustrated by my sons wt deer last year shot several times thru the vitals with one that clearly didnt open. Didnt do near the damage of a flat nosed cast. Your experiences may vary from mime

It would be interesting to see what had happened since it died and the way it reacted. Guess we will never know exactly where it was hit though those instances make my mind work like the kennedy assasination.

Never shot a hog. First whitetail I shot with 44 we tracked 400-600 yards. My cousin got out a ziplock bag cause he wanted the heart. We couldn?t find it. Only small pieces of what was left. Was shocked animal could go that with heart blown apart. Only shoot double lung now and all have been recovered within 50 yards.