I started building my 450 Bushmaster bolt gun in 2008, and posted some photos of it on this forum and the calguns 450B thread in early 2009: Bolt Action Rifle Picture Thread
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My objective was always to use the rifle to shoot piggies. However, there are no pigs wandering around in the woods in the U.P. of Michigan, so I hauled it to Texas in 2010 and to Tennessee in 2013 without getting a shot. Finally, last week during the hog shoot organized by the 24hourcampfire in Tennessee, I killed a pig.
I really wanted to use the pig to test the load, which consisted of a 200-grain Barnes pointed XPB .451" with sufficient Lil'Gun to produce a muzzle velocity of at least 2750 fps from the 20" barrel. Barnes developed the bullet to work at a MV of about 2300 fps, which was considerably slower than from the rifle. I was not worried about the bullet coming apart, but I wasn't sure how much it might expand either.
The "hunt" took place at the Wilderness Hunting Lodge near Monterey. The event is no hunt; it's like grocery shopping with a rifle.
In mid-morning I wandered into the woods with three other guys, and we soon saw some pigs near a bale of hay about 70 yards away. There were a couple of black colored pigs, a brown, and one pinto (black & white). We eased to within 40 yards and I moved to where I could get a shot down the length of a pinto-pig's body.
The piggie dropped at the shot: bang-flop. Some guys hanging out at the lodge 300 yards away later said the shot was LOUD. My companions were surprised at how loud was the sound of the bullet hitting the pig. They moved off to search for their own pigs after taking a photo of me and my dead farm animal. I went after help to get the pig to the processing shed.
Unfortunately, the bullet was not recovered. I wasn't oriented as straight on as I had thought, and the bullet exited the neck. It wasn't recovered and for all I know it's still going.
--Bob
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