Last Wednesday, I went hog hunting west of Lake Okeechobee here in Florida. I got a fair-size boar, maybe 160 lbs with two shots out of my S&W 625JM. I was using handloads, because the Smith is set up for competition and won’t set off a lot of the factory loads I’ve tried. My load was the Hornady 230 gr XTP at 860 fps. This is a lower velocity than the Hornady +P factory load which they list at 950 fps.
I took both shots from 30-40 feet. The hog was in dense brush, but I had a reasonably clear shot each time and the shots went where I called them.
First shot was through the upper part of the front leg and into the body. The bullet broke the leg bone and was found under the skin on the opposite side, having passed through the torso. The pig ran amazingly fast on three legs and into another patch of brush.
Second shot hit low on the neck and went through the torso. It was also found just under the skin on the off side. The pig ran another 60 yds or so and fell.
Here’s a pic of the ammo and both bullets:
As you can see, the bullet that hit the leg bone deformed quite a bit. The one that missed bone hardly expanded at all. I could easily reload it and shoot it again.
While I’ll admit my load was about 90 fps lower than Hornady’s claimed +P velocity, I was very unimpressed with the XTP’s performance. Hornady claims the XTP delivers, ”controlled expansion to 1.5x its original diameter over a wide range of velocities”. They also state that the, “heavier jacket stands up to the high pressures and velocities of the highest performance handgun cartridges”. I believe that second part.
OK, so I loaded the ammo too light for the bullet I was using. Lesson learned.
I took both shots from 30-40 feet. The hog was in dense brush, but I had a reasonably clear shot each time and the shots went where I called them.
First shot was through the upper part of the front leg and into the body. The bullet broke the leg bone and was found under the skin on the opposite side, having passed through the torso. The pig ran amazingly fast on three legs and into another patch of brush.
Second shot hit low on the neck and went through the torso. It was also found just under the skin on the off side. The pig ran another 60 yds or so and fell.
Here’s a pic of the ammo and both bullets:
As you can see, the bullet that hit the leg bone deformed quite a bit. The one that missed bone hardly expanded at all. I could easily reload it and shoot it again.
While I’ll admit my load was about 90 fps lower than Hornady’s claimed +P velocity, I was very unimpressed with the XTP’s performance. Hornady claims the XTP delivers, ”controlled expansion to 1.5x its original diameter over a wide range of velocities”. They also state that the, “heavier jacket stands up to the high pressures and velocities of the highest performance handgun cartridges”. I believe that second part.
OK, so I loaded the ammo too light for the bullet I was using. Lesson learned.
It's all I need. I bought the Blackhawk because I didn't trust the .45ACP loaded hot as I could to be enough if a large pig got away from the dogs while I was trying to slit its throat. I don't hunt that way anymore. I've used the .45ACP to put down pigs in the trap, but they can't get at me to bite back. 
