RiverRider
Handloader
- Dec 9, 2008
- 1,427
- 59
Because I found myself at a distinct disadvantage in terms of firepower during a recent hog hunt, I decided to see if I could get my AR to shoot 60-grain Partitions. I bought my AR with no intent to reload its ammo, the rifle was just to stand guard duty so to speak. I had quite a bit of some factory FMJ fodder and the rifle never seemed to like it. I eventually broke down and tried to cook up a handload with 55-grain FMJs, but nothing was ever better than about 2 MOA (and I was shooting the rifle scoped).
Anyway, I figured a well-placed 60-grain Partition would be good medicine for a hog so I loaded up some trial ammo using Benchmark. The combination shot much better than any FMJs ever did right off the bat and I had the rifle dead-on at 200 in no-time-point-zero.
We went hog hunting last night. Unfortunately, we saw not a single hog. We did not see any of the coyotes that hang out near the dairy barns with near fearlessness. We didn't see anything but one yearling buck that stupidly stood out in the middle of a wheat field and would have been easy pickins for an unscrupulous hunter, and one very unfortunate skunk. When the skunk appeared, our host said "someone shoot that skunk, would ya?" No one else made a move to leave the heated comfort of my Suburban so I bailed out and illuminated the skunk using my new Elusive Wildlife Technologies XLR250 kill light (the green LED light works well and you really can see out to around 250 yards!) mounted on the rifle. The skunk was moving as fast as a skunk normally does toward the brush. Now that I think about it, I do not recall ever having seen a skunk really run. Anyway I was shooting off hand at about 70 yards and my first two shots were misses, but the third shot was not.
I didn't really have any expectations at all other than a dead skunk, so I was surprised to see that the Partition had essentially eviscerated the skunk.
I still haven't proved the bullet on a hog, but based on my opinion of the Partition in general I might just have to adopt the 60-grain Partition as my general purpose bullet for my AR. I am confident that it will drop a hog when properly placed, I am pleased with the accuracy, and I now have no questions as to how it will perform on smaller critters.
"You shouldn't be so surprised," the voice in my head tells me. Don't we tend to get all wrapped up in the smallest of details and overlook the obvious?
Anyway, I figured a well-placed 60-grain Partition would be good medicine for a hog so I loaded up some trial ammo using Benchmark. The combination shot much better than any FMJs ever did right off the bat and I had the rifle dead-on at 200 in no-time-point-zero.
We went hog hunting last night. Unfortunately, we saw not a single hog. We did not see any of the coyotes that hang out near the dairy barns with near fearlessness. We didn't see anything but one yearling buck that stupidly stood out in the middle of a wheat field and would have been easy pickins for an unscrupulous hunter, and one very unfortunate skunk. When the skunk appeared, our host said "someone shoot that skunk, would ya?" No one else made a move to leave the heated comfort of my Suburban so I bailed out and illuminated the skunk using my new Elusive Wildlife Technologies XLR250 kill light (the green LED light works well and you really can see out to around 250 yards!) mounted on the rifle. The skunk was moving as fast as a skunk normally does toward the brush. Now that I think about it, I do not recall ever having seen a skunk really run. Anyway I was shooting off hand at about 70 yards and my first two shots were misses, but the third shot was not.
I didn't really have any expectations at all other than a dead skunk, so I was surprised to see that the Partition had essentially eviscerated the skunk.
I still haven't proved the bullet on a hog, but based on my opinion of the Partition in general I might just have to adopt the 60-grain Partition as my general purpose bullet for my AR. I am confident that it will drop a hog when properly placed, I am pleased with the accuracy, and I now have no questions as to how it will perform on smaller critters.
"You shouldn't be so surprised," the voice in my head tells me. Don't we tend to get all wrapped up in the smallest of details and overlook the obvious?
