Rifle build for wild boar

What are your ranges? From what I have seen, if it works good on deer it works good on pigs.

The 458 socom, 450 BM, work well, I felt the .300 blk was marginal at best until I tried the Barnes TAC Tx. Bullet ~ 2000 fps @ 50 yards and it’s works well too. I haven’t used a 350 leg but it’s probably ok because the 357 max works well.

Do you reload??

Are you stuck in a straight walled cartridge state?

IF yes to the 1st question, and no to the 2nd, I'd look at the .358 Yeti. It's an impressive cartridge basically a shortened .358 Win that's performance falls between the .35Rem and .358 Winchester. It's what I'd choose for a dedicated carbine for hogs and deer drives IF I was sticking with the AR15 platform. It would be fine for hogs, deer, and black bears (over bait at least).

It would require brass forming, but I already make .350RM from other belted mags, and it's really not that big of a deal.

.358 Yeti Info:

https://mdws.forumchitchat.com/post/introducing-the-358-yeti-7416019

Don't want the hassle, don't need the extra oomph? Then I'd just get a .350 legend and call it good.

Most hog hunting is at night making it a somewhat shorter range event (there aren't too many affordable NV optics options for 1000 yard shooting). Sticking with a standard AR format seems like 6.5 grendel, 300 BLK, and 7.62x39 are good. I haven't had any issues dropping hogs out to 200 yards with 7.62x39. If you are looking at BCA cost levels, this may be a good option:

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/76....html&utm_campaign=$349.99+Complete+Rifle!!+😱

Good point. A club member reported that .30-30 was equal or better to anything from AR to Lap on feral pigs at the old home place.
And 7.62x39 is nearly as good as .30-30.

The legend is the easy answer it's a modern 30/30 '94 Winchester carbine.
I built my own upper using a Faxon barrel
From what I've seen Bear Creek is mostly good stuff and they'll fix it if it isn't

lucky bear said:

friend recommended .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster. In my research I saw that Bear Creek Arsenal seems to have affordable prices. Any recommendations?

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By get into wild boar, you mean feral hogs, or do you mean you plan to travel to Europe/Asia for actual wild boar hunting? I am going to assume the former since you are talking about taking an AR15.

You can hunt feral hogs with just about anything you want (some state laws may apply, here). You don't need something like a .350 Legend or .450 Bushmaster, although they are perfectly good for hunting feral hogs. What I am saying is that you can take feral hogs just fine with lesser calibers.

Will you be hunting at night with NV or thermal? If so, some/many calibers are apt to produce too much recoil and may shorten the life of your optics and/or void warranty.

Will you be sniping/meat hunting hogs or attempting to do feral hog control. If the latter, you may not want the higher recoiling calibers as they will tend to be comparatively slow on followup shots unless you are a super shooter or super powerful stud. For example, I have a buddy that shoots his AR10 in .308 the way that I shoot my 6.5 Grendel. The dude is a fireman and built like the kind of guy that could carry you, your wife, and your family St. Bernard out of a house fire in one trip.

I have hunted with a .50 Beowulf and while it was great, followup shots were not timely, although the caliber and ammo I was using did do impressively damaging things to hogs.

I would suggest going with a smaller caliber for less recoil and then going with a quality expanding bullet that will reliably expand fully or nearly fully in the distances that you will be shooting.

If you are just meat hunting, I would go with a decent bolt gun in whatever caliber you want and save a bunch of money on the rifle. I would still suggest going with a good expanding bullet.

My favorite cartridge is 450 Bushmaster so I am biased.

However, as has been stated, if it works for deer, it works for feral hogs. I wouldn’t want to use 223 myself as I also don’t want to use it for deer.

243/6mm and up will work….and so does 223 for that matter.

I think wild pigs are the most over-rated critter there is when it comes to caliber discussions. I have killed or assisted in killing lots of them with large knives (with the help of some well trained dogs). In my experience, these things are not that hard to kill. We have an ample supply of pigs here. Lots of them tend to get killed during deer season, using whatever gun the deer hunter happens to have on him. If I am turkey hunting with a shotgun or deer hunting with my crossbow I carry a 40 caliber Glock to deal with pigs- not that my crossbow can't do it, I just don't want to waste/lose/damage $20 worth of arrow and broadhead on a pig. When I hunt pigs (on purpose) I just use 5.56, with a 75 grain Hornady BTHP match round. Whatever is used to shoot a pig, that pig needs to be hit in something important (just like everything else) so shot placement is king (just like everything else). They aren't main battle tanks with armor, so these magnum or big bore or dangerous game calibers aren't really needed unless you just want to do it. As far as them being "dangerous", what I have observed is that they can definitely be dangerous when cornered (just like any scared animal). Otherwise, all I have seen them do is scatter at the sound of a shot or any other sign of humans.

FL-NC said:

I think wild pigs are the most over-rated critter there is when it comes to caliber discussions. I have killed or assisted in killing lots of them with large knives (with the help of some well trained dogs). In my experience, these things are not that hard to kill. We have an ample supply of pigs here. Lots of them tend to get killed during deer season, using whatever gun the deer hunter happens to have on him.
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I tend to agree and have to admit this is one of the more sensible threads on boar you see. Usually by now there are fellas calling hog thick skinned dangerous game and recommending nothing less than 45-70 and 338 win mag. Maybe the ''boarzilla' fellas have yet to comment....

I did most my shooting with 357 levers and 158-180 jacketed bullets. Upgraded to 44 mag recently just as I also shoot subsonics and 44 is better for it. Also shot some with 22WMR, broadside shots only over night baits under 40 yards. They usually ran a short distance and would be found dead in the morning. The farmer required nothing larger than 22WMR we made it work as best we could.

Get a muzzleloader.

Shot many a hog with my 30-30 when stationed in Georgia. Same gun I used for deer. Good old Marlin lever action.

If your only interested in an AR then I’d say .450 Bushmaster since ammo is readily available, unless you reload.

FL-NC said:

Whatever is used to shoot a pig, that pig needs to be hit in something important (just like everything else) so shot placement is king…

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As a kid, I remember the two guys behind the B&B grocery store dropping bovine with a single .22 short from an old Winchester pump before they butchered it and I have killed more pigs with the .22 long rifle than any other caliber (hundreds a year), so I agree with the shot placement 100%. In the right spot everything is great, more energy can help if placement is less than ideal.

I really like 350 legend here's my Ruger MPR with a Sig Sauer whiskey 3 2.5-7×32 scope on it, for pigs Winchester/federal 160 grain loads or the Hornady American White Tail loaded with the 170 grain interlock bullets.
Light recoiling quick handling rifle without the bipod on it

I've used a 357-magnum lever action for pigs and for around walk around rifle here in Florida

trekker73 said:

I tend to agree and have to admit this is one of the more sensible threads on boar you see. Usually by now there are fellas calling hog thick skinned dangerous game and recommending nothing less than 45-70 and 338 win mag. Maybe the ''boarzilla' fellas have yet to comment

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Well, they are thick skinned and if you get close enough to them, they can be dangerous, though they usually just run away or ignore you. There are numerous videos where hunters, hog doggers, etc. are having to deal with them up close. There are a few where non-huntering types have had issues as well. Taken as a whole, these incidents happen mostly AFTER somebody had injured a hog or gone hands-with a hog. Only rarely are attacks seemingly unprovoked. All wildlife is dangerous on some level.

That they are thick skinned and boars can have a heavy shield, I never had problems getting any centerfire rifle round to penetrate properly, even on big old boars. I think the thickest shield I have seen on a hog was 2-2.5" thick. My bullet had absolutely no problem penetrating it and the thicker skin on top of it (6.5 Grendel). All the thick skin and shield may do is throw off the point in the vitals that your bullet opens (assuming you have one of those that has controlled opening) and maybe for the better. Come to think of it, I never had a problem with penetration useing .223/5.56, .308, or .45-70 either.

Heavy calibers are just fine. You don't need them, you don't need a 12 ga. slug to bring down a deer, either, not unless you are in a shotgun only state, maybe, and then you can still use buckshot. Still, some people hunt with 12 ga.

Double Naught Spy said:

though they usually just run away or ignore you.

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I think that’s almost always the case, there was one in this group that was trying to get shot though. Seems like yesterday it was charging me as I wired up the board so they couldn’t run under the trailer. It’s actions made a number of them more confident. They generally do what the near ones are doing as far as bunching up at the opposite end of the trap.

Are you sure you "need" another caliber?

I'd rock a 5.56 for normal sized hogs, and I have in the past (didn't get to shoot though).

If you want a new caliber, which I'll never talk someone out of getting something new, be weary of Bear Creek.

They are the cheapest AR company that I will buy from, but accept that you are buying the cheapest and might not get 100% reliability out of the box

I have a 450 that I got from BCA cheap. Took half a dozen boxes of ammo to get running right, as well as buying every kind of buffer and spring known to man. Ended up having to redrill and resize the gas port because it wasn't to spec. I could have sent it back, but I read too many reviews that said they don't always fix the problem and I don't trust their budgets smith's.

I got it running now, but the cost of ammo and parts and trial and error could have allowed me to buy a Tromix or build my own premium upper.

But as far as rounds, 350 legend looks cool for medium game. I'd go with that if you wanted something new.

Here in Florida, I've shot hogs with everything from a .357 wheelgun to a custom .450 Marlin bolt gun.
I never found them hard to put down, but I almost always shoot them in the neck, breaking the spine.
If you place your shot right, pretty much any caliber will do.
TRANSLATION: If hunting hogs is an excuse to buy a new rifle, that's good enough.!

illinoisburt said:

Most hog hunting is at night making it a somewhat shorter range event (there aren't too many affordable NV optics options for 1000 yard shooting). Sticking with a standard AR format seems like 6.5 grendel, 300 BLK, and 7.62x39 are good. I haven't had any issues dropping hogs out to 200 yards with 7.62x39. If you are looking at BCA cost levels, this may be a good option:

https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/762x39-16-parkerized-heavy-1-10-twist-carbine-15-mlok-scg2-forged-lower-rifle.html?trk_msg=AK26RR7NM294DC5SMA61HEUK2O&trk_contact=VOB84UBTRGQF6PLAEGO254TOPO&trk_sid=4CVR6HNO9UJ0T23M69TBIMPURS&trk_link=B75F6826GU1K37C55OPLHA2VAG&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/762x39-16-parkerized-heavy-1-10-twist-carbine-15-mlok-scg2-forged-lower-rifle.html&utm_campaign=$349.99+Complete+Rifle!!+

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The feral hog population problem here in the USA is not appreciated outside of states having ecological disasters going-on due to these mean damaging creatures. This is where semi-automatic rifles come into their own. These hogs must be destroyed en masse.

Some game official in Texas said that, "We're not going to be able to BBQ our way out of this." What he meant was that common hunting practices are massively beneath the need to annihilate this plague.

It is my hope, living in another state, that Texans and citizens of other states with the swine overpopulation issue kill these pigs to the max, plus use them for meat. If you need not the meat, this meat can be donated to aid agencies to be distributed to the impoverished.
.

Jim Watson said:

Good point. A club member reported that .30-30 was equal or better to anything from AR to Lap on feral pigs at the old home place.
And 7.62x39 is nearly as good as .30-30.

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That is true. Leverevolution powder will push 185 cast to mid 1900s with accuracy. I haven't tried heavy jacketed with it.
Several of the guys in here started using CFE-BLACK for the lighter bullets and had excellent results.
I've found heavy for caliber 5.56 works well. Heavy for caliber 357 mag in a carbine works well. So there are options that are AR compatible that have more power than I used with good results.

The friend mentioned on the handguns for hogs thread took his daughter hunting. She shot one with an AR .223 and no drama. But then she shot it right between the eyes.

Jim Watson said:

The friend mentioned on the handguns for hogs thread took his daughter hunting. She shot one with an AR .223 and no drama. But then she shot it right between the eyes.

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If you get the bullet in the right spot, it doesn’t take much.

I’ll start by saying I don’t “hunt” hogs with .22 caliber but I have killed hundreds of them in traps with .22’s. One day, all I happened to have was a .22 and came across this one.



88 yards with a standard velocity 40 grain solid, not a step.

Old Hobo said:

This is where semi-automatic rifles come into their own. These hogs must be destroyed en masse.

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I’m not a guy to get in the way of a new rifle, however, if you want to destroy the largest number of them, a trap is a better piece of equipment to fund. Wait until you get them all in there and drop the gate.



After that you can shoot them with your new rifle, pistol, old one testing different loads. Take all the time you want, you don’t even have to get out of bed until the morning. They will still be there.

jmorris said:

I’m not a guy to get in the way of a new rifle, however, if you want to destroy the largest number of them, a trap is a better piece of equipment to fund. Wait until you get them all in there and drop the gate.

After that you can shoot them with your new rifle, pistol, old one testing different loads. Take all the time you want, you don’t even have to get out of bed until the morning. They will still be there.

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Is this private or is this Wildlife Management? I hope that state Game and Fish or Wildlife Management agencies are doing this. Wild hogs are damaging crops and wilderness areas. They need to be eradicated.