Hog hunting

Welcome! The cool thing with hog hunting as well as coyote hunting is that you can pretty much use what youve got as long as its within reason. Ive always wanted to hunt with a milsurp rifle, but here in illinois, we cant use rifles. Sept for coyote. Anything 243 win and up will ethically take a medium hog with good shot placement. Id stick with easy to get ammo, though you do reload so thats not super critical. Just make your shots count and choose a good expanding, deep penitrating hunting bullet and i think youll do just fine. Ass to witch rifle, i love my savages, so ill vote savage in your flavor. good luck!

I know the bolt gun is cool and all but a 30-30 is a hog killer! My deer/hog is a 336. Fast handling, accurate to 150, nostalgia, and light weight!

I've got a .270 WSM for hogs and deer, and occasionally use an AR in 5.56 for hogs. Shot placement is key, if you are wanting to shoot the heart/lung area on a hog, I would definitely recommend something chambered in .270 or higher with a well constructed bullet.

And just because you are a lefty doesn't mean that you can't use a right-handed bolt rifle. You might actually prefer a right handed bolt rifle because you can manipulate the bolt with your right hand while keeping your left hand in a firing grip and your trigger finger indexed.

Either an '06 or a .308 will make for a fine hog rifle, just pick which you'd prefer and go with it

If it is hogs you seek, then the recoil from a .30/06 is not needed. My suggestion is go for a Savage chambered in 7mm.08. I've killed a pretty good number of hogs with this cartridge and it is a hog buster out to 300+ yards. Minimal recoil, maximum damage! Perfect combination! Ammo is getting very common to find as this cartridge is finally gaining the popularity that it deserves. I handload but I still keep an eye out at the stores for 7mm.08 ammo just in case. With the 7mm.08, because of it's inherent low recoil, you can go for a lighter weight rifle without getting the horse crap kicked out of you for it!

In the WMA areas here in AL, the game laws determine what to use for hogs, not caliber etc..

During squirrel season, you can use squirrel guns - max id .22 rimfire including .22 WMR. This is what I use since squirrel season is from Oct. 1 through Feb.

During turkey season, you can use turkey guns (i.e. shotguns with specific shot size - which I don't know).

During deer and hog season you can use deer guns, centerfire guns and ammo with mushrooming bullets, pretty much anything you want, max rounds are under 11.

A lot of people in TX use .223 AR-15's to hunt and kill hogs, it will do the job. I like to use my 45-70 during deer and hog season.

Good luck.

Really any centerfire rifle cartridge will work for hogs, so long as its in a rifle that you shoot accurately and well. I shoot most of mine with my .223. I reload, and use 55 gr. Sierra Gamekings and have had very good luck with them. They penetrate and kill reliably.

Hogs have a great sense of smell and hear well. But they don't see so good. So they prefer to stay in cover as much as possible during daylight hours. Hunting them is generally good in the late evenings and great at night. I prefer a lower power scope or red dot and a gun with a little shorter stock so as to shoulder just a little quicker and get on target just a little quicker.

Hogs take no more caliber than deer, but might go up in bullet weight a tad on big boar or use a controlled expansion bullet. Many milsurp calibers are just fine. 8x57, 7x57, 7.62x39, 7.65 Argentine, 7.62x54R, .303 Brit, .308 (my choice), etc. Anything from .243 up can be used in comercial rifles and, of course, the venerable .30-30, .35 Remington, .45 70.....oh, hell, I ain't got enough space. You get the picture, right?

My son took a big one out with a 22lr at 65 yards with a shot behind the ear.
Get a light gun with any popular caliber. Savage is super accurate so it is hard to go wrong.
A .223 with TSX or GMX bullets will do just fine specially at the average ranges you kill pigs but if you want something more get the popular .308win or any of its offspring. 260rem, 243win, 7mm.08, 338 federal. Keep it simple and affordable.

Is the 7-08 especially difficult to reload for?

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Nope. Lots of good loads from moderate speed to cooking your dinner!

Another great one is the 6x45 that is very effective and affordable but too bad we cannot find factory models in it so you have to order the barrel aside.
The good thing the savage in 223 barrel swap is in a breeze. Almost like changing uppers in an AR! LOL!

I've got 3 leased cattle pastures ana a 900 acre deer lease,all are infested with hogs (south central Texas) I kill em with .17hmrs to .308s (includiing AR10s and M14), no matter what caliber, with a good shot they drop in their tracks, then I drag em to the gut pile. worthless, fleas/tick infested vermin.

Yes. They drop with the good shots no matter what caliber. Some folks believe you need a bazooka or something. ...you guys have a big problem down there with these pests. They are coming up so here the conservation officer told me the other day you guys go out with the ARs and pop as many as you can.
Those hardy mother fookers.

I use a 16" AR-10 for hogs. Handy, and much quicker when there are multipes.

.308 definitely gets the job done.

TexasPatriot.308. I agree 100% put a good shot on them and kill em. I have a cattle ranch in Fl and North Carolina and we are infested with em. I personally use a 243. just because thats what I have in the truck as my universal gun, I can shoot anything from hogs, yotes, deer, groundhogs ect. But I have never had a problem dropping a hog with the 243.

Freedom_fighter_in_IL is right about the 08 its a great round and would be my second choice " if I had one it would be my first for hogs"

Good luck Zombiekid.

It is a bit too much but I agree if one gets 308 x1 fired brass from of all the offspring from the venerable .308win the easiests ones to work with from that parent brass are probably the .338 federal (up) and the 7mm.08 down. Amazing good choices along with the parent 308win.

I Have to agree with others I use my Marlin 30-30 for wildboars here in florida, never lost one yet in 40 years of hunting.

Zombiekid-- I have an old Savage 340 30-30 (almost the exact same gun) I love it I've hunted deer with it for over 20 years now. I took a big doe with it just last weekend at 125 yards. One of my boys offered to buy me a new rifle if he could have my old one and I told him when I'm too old to hunt he can have it until then he needed to hit the gun shows and find his own

One of my boys offered to buy me a new rifle if he could have my old one and I told him when I'm too old to hunt he can have it until then he needed to hit the gun shows and find his own

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At least your boy offered to buy you a new one!! Mine just "adopted" my 30/30's with a "thank you Dad!" (damn kids)

It depends...

To me the choice of gun depends on three things: 1) what terrain are you hunting, 2) how good of a shot are you (be honest), and 3) pure personal preference.

Terrain can detemine if you can reliably use an open sighted 30-30 vs a scoped rifle. Where I hunt I seldom have a shot on a hog that's more than 75 yards and there's often a lot of brushy areas. Very different from others who may take 200 yard shots across open areas. I thus love my Win 94 30-30 for hogs, but use a scoped gun for deer.

As others have said, a well-placed shot of any caliber can kill a hog, but IMHO most hunters over-rate their ability. I've taken hogs with .223 bullets stuck in their shields from poor shots that would have killed them if either placed right or in a bigger caliber. If you KNOW you can put the bullet in the brain, go ahead and use a .223 or whatever, but if you're at all unsure I think you're obligated to use a round that will put an animal down humanely even if not perfectly placed.

With 1 & 2 above taken into consideration, there are tons of guns that will work just fine - why limit yourself to only getting one? Get a big safe and fill it up!