Thread: Subsonic projectiles, where are we at these days?

Robert's cast lead 151gr hollow points in .308 work very well. I have found that they are much more effective on lightly built goat sized game than the heavier 280gr flat nose bullets in pistol calibres like 44 Magnum, because they are carrying less mass and slow down and open up more readily.

For body shots on small to medium pigs, the heavy .44 bullets have just gone straight through with minimal wounding, it knocks them over but they don't stay down unless you break the shoulders. You've got to get the placement well forward on the pig to drop it on the spot. I have only used it on captive pigs in a large pen so far, in one instance I actually thought I'd missed, the animal seemed like it hadn't even be hit. It bled out in the corner, took me a few moments to realise it was properly hit. For head shots on bailed pigs at close range, they work perfectly as you would expect. So I've concluded that I need a hollow point or something like the Hornady XTP for this cartridge, for use on goats etc. Working on that one this Xmas holiday, as its not accurate enough with Trail Boss.

Regarding poor performance and your expectations, I assume you meant the wounding was insufficient (small calibre sized wounds) and animals were running. I've found on large and small goats with the .308, the angle of the shot is pretty critical, the longer the path through the body the better. Front on, angled across the chest, and out around the liver, or from behind, in through the rear lung / liver and out through the top of the brisket. On a couple of good sized goats, the bullet hasn't exited which I think it a good outcome, as all the energy is captured where it counts.

A side on shot in the rear lung above the heart and the animal will take off for sure.

On deer, which I haven't shot with the .308 subsonic yet, I'll be going for CNS with a high shoulder / spine shot. I'm very happy with the accuracy of the .308 subs since I got the crimping right, they are giving 5 shot MOA groups at 100m, no question in my mind it will knock over deer cleanly judging by its goat performance.