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Night Vision NV and thermal kills...

New pig gun build is done. Will be a little while before I get it wet, but I'll start real basic load development for it in a week or two. I have a lot of 150 and 165gr soft points to try out in this.

Aero M5 kit with Aero parts. 18" WC barrel and BCG. Larue MBT-2S trigger.

20200919_190034.jpg
 
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diggler1833 said:
New pig gun build is done. Will be a little while before I get it wet, but I'll start real basic load development for it in a week or two. I have a lot of 150 and 165gr soft points to try out in this.

Aero M5 kit with Aero parts. 18" WC barrel and BCG. Larue MBT-2S trigger.

View attachment 7427929
Click to expand...
Nice! That was quick. The 20” WC barrel I put on a 308 build earlier this year is super accurate with little development out of the 3 bullets I tried in it (all using Varget). I would expect yours to work well too. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying another WC barrel, maybe 16”.
 
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Burning sensation said:
Nice! That was quick. The 20” WC barrel I put on a 308 build earlier this year is super accurate with little development out of the 3 bullets I tried in it (all using Varget). I would expect yours to work well too. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying another WC barrel, maybe 16”.
Click to expand...

The 16 vs. 18 inch internal debate took a bit in my head. In the end 18 inches won, but I may have gone a bit too heavy with the barrel...it was what they had in stock though.

I'll stick with the Grendel for a bit still. I just loaded my only box of 120gr Barnes TSX for the Grendel, and have another (100) of the 120gr Gold Dots for it as well...although I'm starting to think that bullets that fragment some do a better job at dropping hogs quickly.

I took my 6.8 out two nights ago to test some factory 115gr Federal Fusions, and the results were not good. I busted one big sow three times, the first shot was probably mortal as I could see a good hot spot on the opposite side low and just behind the front leg when I re-watched the video in slow motion...however she initially plowed it up after about 25-30 yards in heavy brush...but I never found her and I had her position marked well. *if she didn't go down there she left so much blood on the brush that it glowed like a body was there for a minute. I think she got up and ran off to die somewhere. Sow #2 came back to see what was going on and I put one right behind her front leg in a perfect broadside. She squealed and ran off property too. So two busted hogs and no recovered ones. That video will probably never be uploaded.

I'll give the 120 TSX a go, and would like to try the light Maker bullets and perhaps the copper Controlled Chaos for the Grendel, but who knows when they'll be back in stock.

One of the main reasons why I put another .308 together so quickly though is that I'm not a fan of spending 60-75 cents per bullet, and being stuck with no good options in a crunch period like now.
 
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diggler1833 said:
The 16 vs. 18 inch internal debate took a bit in my head. In the end 18 inches won, but I may have gone a bit too heavy with the barrel...it was what they had in stock though.

I'll stick with the Grendel for a bit still. I just loaded my only box of 120gr Barnes TSX for the Grendel, and have another (100) of the 120gr Gold Dots for it as well...although I'm starting to think that bullets that fragment some do a better job at dropping hogs quickly.

I took my 6.8 out two nights ago to test some factory 115gr Federal Fusions, and the results were not good. I busted one big sow three times, the first shot was probably mortal as I could see a good hot spot on the opposite side low and just behind the front leg when I re-watched the video in slow motion...however she initially plowed it up after about 25-30 yards in heavy brush...but I never found her and I had her position marked well. *if she didn't go down there she left so much blood on the brush that it glowed like a body was there for a minute. I think she got up and ran off to die somewhere. Sow #2 came back to see what was going on and I put one right behind her front leg in a perfect broadside. She squealed and ran off property too. So two busted hogs and no recovered ones. That video will probably never be uploaded.

I'll give the 120 TSX a go, and would like to try the light Maker bullets and perhaps the copper Controlled Chaos for the Grendel, but who knows when they'll be back in stock.

One of the main reasons why I put another .308 together so quickly though is that I'm not a fan of spending 60-75 cents per bullet, and being stuck with no good options in a crunch period like now.
Click to expand...
The component shortage is quite frustrating. Hopefully it all comes together for you soon.
My limited experience with the Barnes bullets (all TTSX) has been light & fast for caliber is best. I had good results with a 95 grain out of my 6.8 and a 110 out of my 30 wssm. The 90 grain Speer TNT did fairly well in the 6.8 on hogs too.
The next build at the top of my list is a bolt action shooting 400-500 grain bullets subsonic. I’m thinking the sounders may not run as far and I can catch up with them & pick off more before they get off the property. We’ll see.
 
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Caught this big boy out in the middle of about 500 acres...which was good because I had to walk through some swampy-assed terrain to get to him. That took a while.

Been wanting to try out the 6.5G/120gr Barnes TSX on a hog. I was a bit leery of non-fragmenting bullets after such a huge failure on my 6.8/115gr Fusion last week (I'm sure both hogs died...but didn't recover either as they ran off property). Plus, it's not like you get a ton of velocity out of the Grendel, so I wasn't expecting full expansion.

I put the TSX through the top-front of the shoulder and into the spine. It's a high-percentage DRT shot, but not one you would probably want to try with a varmint bullet. It dropped and kicked...I gave it another round through the bottom of the chest a few seconds later just to make sure it wouldn't get up.

Shitty video will be up later as always.

20200925_223506.jpg

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Barnes TSX are the cats ass for deer. I'm interested to see what your results are on hogs.
 
diggler1833 said:
Caught this big boy out in the middle of about 500 acres...which was good because I had to walk through some swampy-assed terrain to get to him. That took a while.

Been wanting to try out the 6.5G/120gr Barnes TSX on a hog. I was a bit leery of non-fragmenting bullets after such a huge failure on my 6.8/115gr Fusion last week (I'm sure both hogs died...but didn't recover either as they ran off property). Plus, it's not like you get a ton of velocity out of the Grendel, so I wasn't expecting full expansion.

I put the TSX through the top-front of the shoulder and into the spine. It's a high-percentage DRT shot, but not one you would probably want to try with a varmint bullet. It dropped and kicked...I gave it another round through the bottom of the chest a few seconds later just to make sure it wouldn't get up.

Shitty video will be up later as always.

View attachment 7432852
View attachment 7432853
Click to expand...
That is a beast of a hog and good test subject for a new bullet. I developed a load for a 160 TTSX that I’ll try out at some point soon, and I have some 200 SST I need develop. Deer season is a week away, so my priorities will shift here pretty soon.
 
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Burning sensation said:
I didn’t make it out to go after hogs tonight, but I have a number of these guys coming around the house. I was wondering why all the raccoons and opossums ran up into the trees, then this pup came up the hill. That’s my first coyote with a .22.
View attachment 7434212
Click to expand...

Need more foot in that photo for size reference. Looks about like a Texas coon if ya ask me.
 
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He’s definitely smaller than some of the coastal coons I’ve seen, and went down easier than the coons I’ve shot with the same subsonic hp.
I gotta work on hiding my feet.
 
Burning sensation said:
He’s definitely smaller than some of the coastal coons I’ve seen, and went down easier than the coons I’ve shot with the same subsonic hp.
I gotta work on hiding my feet.
Click to expand...
Nah, man. They real purdy.
 
Got lucky on two big boars last night. Started after the first one, and had number two race out onto the pasture ahead of me.

So far I'm liking the initial results with the Barnes 120gr TSX/TAC-X in the Grendel...BUT...I need to do a few boiler room shots to see how quickly they expire. CNS shots don't always require a lot of cartridge, however these shots weren't perfect CNS shots either.

Time will tell.
 
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My first dog of 2020 with the 20 practical, 34 grn HP going 4,100 fps.75 yards.
I built a 20 cal rifle because NY state doesn't allow coyote hunting with the use of any rifle over .22 caliber during deer Bow season, which starts the same day coyote season starts, Oct 1st.
Two came in, but one high tailed it across the field from the get go and never stopped.
The way it was running, it may be in Canada now.
Had another one howling 30 yards away, but I couldn't get a shot at it with all of the leaves blocking my view.
And that is a dead pixel that happened after sighting in my 35 gunner.
I can't seem to fix it.
The scope is still dead on and like diggler, I'll deal with it after the season ends next year.

Dog down
 
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shoots100 said:
My first dog of 2020 with the 20 practical, 34 grn HP going 4,100 fps.75 yards.
I built a 20 cal rifle because NY state doesn't allow coyote hunting with the use of any rifle over .22 caliber during deer Bow season, which starts the same day coyote season starts, Oct 1st.
Two came in, but one high tailed it across the field from the get go and never stopped.
The way it was running, it may be in Canada now.
Had another one howling 30 yards away, but I couldn't get a shot at it with all of the leaves blocking my view.
And that is a dead pixel that happened after sighting in my 35 gunner.
I can't seem to fix it.
The scope is still dead on and like diggler, I'll deal with it after the season ends next year.

Dog down
Click to expand...
Been wanting a dedicated varmint cartridge but decided to try a 40 gr in my .223 which is a 1/8 twist mid length 12.5”. Just looking for flat shooting to 300~, but this looks interesting as well. Im a short barrel guy, so that makes it way harder.
 
Jgunner said:
Been wanting a dedicated varmint cartridge but decided to try a 40 gr in my .223 which is a 1/8 twist mid length 12.5”. Just looking for flat shooting to 300~, but this looks interesting as well. Im a short barrel guy, so that makes it way harder.
Click to expand...
I was going to cut the barrel down to 18-20", as the 24" oal is barrel heavy and is a pain in the ass when hunting from a blind, but I never get around to doing it, as the bow season is only a month long.
I think I'd rather spend the money on an 18" 20 practical AR upper or barrel and have a semi instead of a bolt.
I've hunted with a 22 hornet for decades, but it's a single shot ruger #1 light weight hunter and wanted a repeater.
Luckily, Coyote aren't as tough to take down as a hog and the 20 cal does a great job, with no recoil.
 
shoots100 said:
My first dog of 2020 with the 20 practical, 34 grn HP going 4,100 fps.75 yards.
I built a 20 cal rifle because NY state doesn't allow coyote hunting with the use of any rifle over .22 caliber during deer Bow season, which starts the same day coyote season starts, Oct 1st.
Two came in, but one high tailed it across the field from the get go and never stopped.
The way it was running, it may be in Canada now.
Had another one howling 30 yards away, but I couldn't get a shot at it with all of the leaves blocking my view.
And that is a dead pixel that happened after sighting in my 35 gunner.
I can't seem to fix it.
The scope is still dead on and like diggler, I'll deal with it after the season ends next year.

Dog down
Click to expand...

Great job!
 
This guy ran off several young bucks I had at a bait site at the tail end of my whitetail hunt this evening. Couldn’t see my sights well enough to put an arrow in him, and he left when I climbed out of my tree. Walked back to the truck, changed out of my boots, traded the bow for a rifle, and caught up with him at a feeder about 1/4 mile from where I first spotted him.
9C6DC515-82E7-46A4-9370-48B272D7F481.jpeg

 
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Some Recent Coyote Videos with the Bering Optics Super Hogster





 
Now that archery season is over, watching these is firing me up to head south this winter.
 
Out last night, wind blowing cold but got off my lazy ass before the Moon started to get any bigger. Went out drove and hiked into a hill pasture and setup on the Moon shade-side of a big scrub patch .
Started calling with Chicken Distress, because I been getting pretty good return on that sound lately in a few different farm spots . Worked the spot for little over an Hour and absolutely nothing . A lot of wind noise but overall was a really quiet. Scanned for another 20 minutes and nothing was popping on the scan except for Mice.

So decided and went to the old foxpro, challenge howl/bark #4 . and did a few short cuts of that call ( Loud ) off and on for half Hour, waited and scanned. And Nothing but hearing a few farm dogs barking . My hands were getting pretty cold and stiff, So I decided to pack it in .
Walked out about 50 yards to grab my call, Grabbed Call to turn off, and then WTF, Coyote pops up on the Scan about 100 yrd. out working down my R-side . I set call back down and back tracked quick to the Rifle/tripod . Looked on the Scan and then seen 2 Coyote off spooked/standing and staring looking in my direction .
Pulled cover off pvs-9 , turned volume down softer to about 3-level and did a couple short cuts of howl/bark#4 and one turned and works trotting down my L-side to circle in and get a look or smell . So I mouthed a bark to stop him and he froze standing for a straight head chest profile, and I pumped a 87 grn, Speer TNT in.
For this area was Nice thick heavy Male .
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10-24-2020 Jpeg.jpg

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Got a female and male over the weekend, at two different stands.
If your hunting in thick wood's and semi open fields, like I do, the 640 res, low base magnification and big FOV of the pulsar XP38 is the reason I chose that model over all other scopes.

In the video, I took the shot at 15 feet.
If I had it mounted on a semi auto, I might have been able to take a shot at the dog that ran from left to right at the 2 second mark.
NY state requires that you can only carry a rifle in the field that's not larger than a .22 caliber during deer bow season.
I built a .20 practical bolt rifle because of that.
The bow season only lasts a month, so I figured I could get away with using a bolt rifle.
Now I'm looking at building a semi auto 20 practical.
This dog I shot at 100 yards.

I should've had the PIP on with this shot, but I had to move positions with it clamped in the hog saddle/trigger stick tripod a couple of times and took the snap shot as soon as it stopped moving after I whistled.
It knew something was up and after that point it was open field, so I knew it was going to bolt and I didn't want to take a running shot.

IMG_1263.JPG
IMG_1264.JPG
 
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^ Success! Good job getting rid of those nuisances man.

I'm all of a sudden surrounded by coyotes again. Watched a pair chase after a doe and two fawns the other day a bit out of range of my muzzle loader. I'll have to get special permission from the warden, but it is looking like I've got about 6-8 to get rid of here quickly. There was also a standoff between two pairs just below the house two nights ago.
 
diggler1833 said:
Shot six last night, recovered five...

Judging by the blood trail the lost one left, I bet it didn't make it more than five yards into the trees, and I just overlooked it.

Click to expand...

diggler,

I'm curious; why don't you hunt suppressed?
 
MarinePMI said:
diggler,

I'm curious; why don't you hunt suppressed?
Click to expand...

Great question. I actually have a two part answer to that. 1) I refuse to pay the king $200 and go on an additional registry. 2) While I have a few great neighbors, I also have a few legitimate meth heads and poachers around...I want people to hear me shoot at 0200...and I've yet to ever have anyone complain about the noise (I'm on 700 acres).
 
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diggler1833 said:
Great question. I actually have a two part answer to that. 1) I refuse to pay the king $200 and go on an additional registry. 2) While I have a few great neighbors, I also have a few legitimate meth heads and poachers around...I want people to hear me shoot at 0200...and I've yet to ever have anyone complain about the noise (I'm on 700 acres).
Click to expand...


Fair enough, I just figured suppressed might up the kill ratio on multiples....
 
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MarinePMI said:
Fair enough, I just figured suppressed might up the kill ratio on multiples....
Click to expand...

After watching Todd Huey explain it, I was convinced that I was never going to get more than one or two since I wasn't shooting suppressed either...

...Turns out that from what I've personally experienced/seen (and documented on video) there is no real advantage to shooting suppressed. Hogs that have been shot at before take off like lightning whether suppressed or not. Hogs that haven't been shot at (like last night) still have a few that look around to see what's going on. If you see the last killed hog in the most recent video, you'll see that he came within 20 yards of me and stood there for at least a few seconds when I was unloading on his litter mates. The two big boars about two weeks ago had the second one stick his head up at the sound of the first being shot. Three videos ago I had a boar come quartering towards me at less than 50 yards after I'd shot three times already.

Suppressed may help drive hogs in one direction or another with a selective shot, but I think 75 percent of the time or better they run in the direction they came from regardless...it was their last safe haven. The other 25 percent would be directly away from the noise, or in any direction out of confusion regardless of where the noise is coming from.

I buy into the benefits of suppressed videos a whole lot less now than I used to. Maybe I'm ignorant and doing it wrong, but I have literally cut every sounder I've came across in half over the last four months or so on the initial engagement...*(maybe I failed to do that once in August now that I think about it). You could be right, and I might be doing better if I were suppressed.

However...I definitely think that the decibel reduction of suppressed shooting is definitely much more 'polite' when hunting an area near where homeowners are sleeping.
 
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Out tonight with the old 6.8 and new Nomad 30. In the woods watching a feeder at about 40 yards. Got a sow, another gave me the slip thru the trees out into the marsh. It’s been tough the past few weeks with not much activity but then they started showing up a week or so ago. One large sounder and a few singles and a batchelor group of boars. Our night permits end 11/1 for deer season. May have to bring the trap up as they are only going to get worse with the acorns on the ground and feeders running corn for the deer.
24E99AF9-7D7C-4FFF-A3BA-7962274D2554.jpeg
 
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I've noticed that when the acorns hit the ground here, rooting activity drops off dramatically...not completely, but quite a bit. The last two times I've got into hogs was when they were both under oak trees, vacuuming up acorns. Other than that, I've been skunked abnormally more in the past two weeks than in previous months.

It'll pick up around Christmas, always does.

Nice kill!
 
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diggler1833 said:
After watching Todd Huey explain it, I was convinced that I was never going to get more than one or two since I wasn't shooting suppressed either...

...Turns out that from what I've personally experienced/seen (and documented on video) there is no real advantage to shooting suppressed. Hogs that have been shot at before take off like lightning whether suppressed or not. Hogs that haven't been shot at (like last night) still have a few that look around to see what's going on. If you see the last killed hog in the most recent video, you'll see that he came within 20 yards of me and stood there for at least a few seconds when I was unloading on his litter mates. The two big boars about two weeks ago had the second one stick his head up at the sound of the first being shot. Three videos ago I had a boar come quartering towards me at less than 50 yards after I'd shot three times already.

Suppressed may help drive hogs in one direction or another with a selective shot, but I think 75 percent of the time or better they run in the direction they came from regardless...it was their last safe haven. The other 25 percent would be directly away from the noise, or in any direction out of confusion regardless of where the noise is coming from.

I buy into the benefits of suppressed videos a whole lot less now than I used to. Maybe I'm ignorant and doing it wrong, but I have literally cut every sounder I've came across in half over the last four months or so on the initial engagement...*(maybe I failed to do that once in August now that I think about it). You could be right, and I might be doing better if I were suppressed.

However...I definitely think that the decibel reduction of suppressed shooting is definitely much more 'polite' when hunting an area near where homeowners are sleeping.
Click to expand...
You’re definitely right about hogs scattering just as quickly when shot suppressed. Bullet impact noise and sonic crack are both more than enough to scare any wild animal, at least that has been my experience. Subsonic rounds get rid of the crack, but they all still run.
I think it’s likely hogs are spooked from from a further distance when un-suppressed fire occurs, especially in my situation where brush and trees are thick, but I can’t even be certain about that. To me the real benefit is in recoil reduction and noise reduction at my ear. I hate having to worry about ear plugs/muffs when hunting, and I like the stability. My 338 LM and 300WM are both pleasant to shoot suppressed. For that, I have begrudgingly paid the king his $200 many times over.
 
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