Hog hunt calibers

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When we go after them, it's a 700 mile trip and I want meat, so I use something that will positively anchor the bigger ones. Used .308 initially, and it worked just fine, but .350 rem mag in a 673 is what I switched to. Really hard hitting short to moderate range round.

But .350 rem mag is not exactly easy to find ammo or components for, so I would recommend the .35 Whelen. It gives up very little ballistcally to the .350 mag, rifles and factory ammo are more available, and brass can be easily formed from common .30-06.
 
My favorite for comedic value is playing Great White Hunter, with my 20 ga H&R Tracker II rifled barrel and a 63 cal lead ball over 93 grs of FFg Olde Eynsford in Magtech brass while line hunting. The 353 grs ball striking pig flesh makes a most audible thwack, followed generally by a visible red must and/or chunks o'pig separating from said pig. Most satisfying. If you wear a Woleseley Pith Helmet and squint quite a bit, it's like an African safari @ 1899 at a fraction of the cost :rofl:
 
Shooting hogs out of a helicopter in Texas for a couple hours on a varmint cull is not the same as bagging a trophy hogzilla to hang a head above your fireplace. What kind of hog hunt are you planning on?

Hogs aren't particularly hard to kill. I have stuck a 22LR behind the top head bone to kill in a trap just fine. It wiggles for awhile then the nerves give out. But I have also done stalk hunting to kill hogs that rut and ruin crops on wide swaths of farm land. If your goal is an eradication of petulance on farming, a 308 or 458 SOCOM AR with some sort of night vision (Thermal, light amplification, or green visible light) with a suppressor is ideal. Hogs can wander in groups. And a semi automatic rifle, suppressed, where you can see in the dark will allow you to down a number of them easy before they scatter. Taking out a few stray hogs for meat or a trophy can be done with almost any 30 caliber or larger, lever or bolt action firearm you can pick up for cheap, sight in once, and go hunting.
 
D4B5D397-2F61-4F41-92A4-E095FAEEECC9.jpeg Really depends on the hunting. If it’s walk n stalk grab a 45-70 or 30-30 lever. If it’s from a blind with some open fields then a good bolt gun in 3006 or 300 win mag will do it up. Hogs can be extremely tough to anchor. This one ran 130 yards after being hit broadside with a 215 gr hybrid
 
The calibers I have shot them with most;

.308
45/70
.375 WSM

The .375 WSM is my favourite to date. Great hitting power like the 45/70 but improved trajectory.
 
I have shot a medium number of hogs in my life and most have been with 22 magnum. It works “most” of the time. I had to use it by statute in this state for a number of years otherwise I would have used most anything else.

If I were spot and stalking bigger ones, I would use a deer type cartridge on the medium/heavier side. 7mm, 30-30, 35 Rem, 30-06, 308, 35 Whelen, 358 Win, 444 Marlin, 45-70, 44 Magnum or similar.

Many choices. Most of which you probably already have.
 
A lot depends on where you are going to hunt, here in FL the average distance can be 30, not yards, feet. The hogs can be up to 600 pounds. But a riled hog is a lot different than an unaware hog. I normally carry a 358 MGP (necked up 6.8) with 200gr bullets at around 2,500 fps in an AR-15 when I am out on the farm. But I have shot them with a Mini 14 in 5.56, a 357 Mag, 6.5 Grendel, a 30-30 Merril, a TAC 30, a 6.8 SPC, a 44 Mag they were killed cleanly. But with a 357 one time I wished I had a 12 ga with slugs when I ran up on a previously wounded 550 pound hog in tall yellow grass, in a swampy area east of Pensacola.
Most pro hog hunters around these parts carry an AR in 308, it is reliable at both ends. My regular FedEx driver and electronic gate contractor are both pro hog hunters at night. I just shoot hogs, every one, when I see them on the place. No sport, just killing vermin. Most of our swamp hogs are not fit to eat. Just very destructive.
 
Something in the 308 family would do just fine
In Europe, driven shoots are the way it is done:
 
I got 3 cattle pastures and a deer lease so I hunt everyday. I have killed hogs with a .17hmr and any caliber up to .308 which I have several of. I have had them drop in their tracks with the .17 and had them run off from good hits with .308s. So many hogs so little time here in Central Texas. out of curiosity a few years ago I checked out the innards of a good sized boar I shot with the .17hmr and the heart was jello with a 20 grain hunting point.
 
Broccolis said:
The calibers I have shot them with most;

.308
45/70
.375 WSM

The .375 WSM is my favourite to date. Great hitting power like the 45/70 but improved trajectory.
Click to expand...

I’ve killed hundreds of feral hogs almost exclusively by spot and stalk and jump shooting. With the occasional stand hunt or “drive by” opportunity. For that style of hunting a .358 bore or .375 bore rifle with iron sights or a low power variable scope is a really good choice.

I’m not saying anything else mentioned in this thread won’t work. What I am saying is that on hogs, and especially big hogs that are probably not giving you the best shot presentation a .358 or .375 gives you a substantial penetration and knock down advantage.

I’ve also killed a number of hogs with heavy rifles such as the .458 Lott and .470 NE and .416 etc etc. not because you need that kind of horse power, I used those rifles on hogs because there simply isn’t any better practice available when getting ready for Africa and DG hunting. Hog hunting the way I like to do it is the best DG hunting simulator you can possibly have.

My .308, .30-06, .270 etc etc have accounted for numerous hogs with no issues. They are perfectly adequate for hog hunting.

I will tell you this though, I was shocked the first time I recovered a .375 H&H, 270gr X bullet on the offside hide of a gnarly old boar after a fairly close range broadside shot. I figured it was a fluke. About the tenth one I found in similar situations made me realize that on a big compact boar with a well developed cartilage “shield”, it doesn’t take all that much to punch through it into the vitals. But they are a bullet stopping critter when it comes to an exit wound.

When you step up to a medium (.40 or bigger) or a heavy I’ve never seen any hog stop the bullet. But they will definitely stop 270 or 300 Gr .375 on occasion.

I’d love to see a slow motion video of the off side hide when it does stop a bullet. I’ll bet the hide stretches out a foot or so before it snaps back. The hide on a big boar that’s well developed is just the right mixture of thickness and elasticity to be a great expanded bullet catcher.
 
A buddy of mine hunts feral hogs here in Texas pretty much every weekend using dogs and his 12ga pump loaded with '00' buckshot. He spends a lot of time on his hands and knees crawling through the brush to get to the hog that his dogs have bayed up. He's been hunting them like this for many years and luckily has had no close calls with a big porker. I told him I thought he was certifiable for hunting that way, but he just shruggs his shoulders while eating the pork/venison sausage he makes from them.
 
I have hunted them with 5.56mmAR with perfect success.
A guide recommended such for that particular hunt .

Anothet hunt had possible 200-300yd shots , so i took my .30-06 handi-rifle. Of course, i killed a 60lb javelina at 17yds.

Yet another hunt was sub-100yd shots from a blind, so i took my brand new ruger American ranch in 7.62x39. We army crawled 150yds through the Texas rocks before i missed a 300yd shot.

Its funny where your mind goes when choosing a rifle for a hunt. I have decided that since I only get a chance to hunt hogs once in a few years, I want enough gun to cover all the bases. Not only enough gun, but also enough scope for dusk or even dark-thirty

My neighbor just put together an AR10 in 6.5 Creedmoor under a Vortex hoghunter scope.
Pretty sweet rig!
 
7.62x39 is a ballistic twin of the 300 BLK and 300 BLK is probably the least impressive cartridge I’ve ever used on pigs. I’d take a 5.56 over a 300 BLK ten times out of ten. I’m not saying 300 BLK won’t kill pigs. I’m not even saying it’s ineffective. It has just never been impressive compared to the various other cartridges I’ve used to kill them.
 
Pretty good information contained here folks. I'm glad for it, having recently moved to a state where their are these things to hunt I was wondering what most folks use. I had it in my mind that my M1 with 150 corelocs would be fine, or a pretty soft paper patch 160 Flat nose cast from....gasp... a 30-30 might work too... humm.... hot load 300 flat nose .45 colt, dang ....150 rem from an M1A...gee. I guess I'm not too bad off.
 
marksman13 said:
7.62x39 is a ballistic twin of the 300 BLK and 300 BLK is probably the least impressive cartridge I’ve ever used on pigs. I’d take a 5.56 over a 300 BLK ten times out of ten. I’m not saying 300 BLK won’t kill pigs. I’m not even saying it’s ineffective. It has just never been impressive compared to the various other cartridges I’ve used to kill them.
Click to expand...
Ive never been able to come close to the X39 with the blackout, and thats comparing loads between a bolt gun in .300 and an SKS in x39.
There is at least one member here who has, but 125s at 2250 was about rhe best i could do. I wqnt to say 125s were hitting 2450-2500 from the sks.
 
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