.357 for Wild Pig

[axeman_g]

hmmmm... Personally think your on the lower end of power for a good size hog (150+). I have seen a .357 glance off a hogs skull... it broke the bone but did not penetrate. It was more a happenstance then round issue. Hit the hog perfectly at the angle needed to slant off it's skull right above the eyes. I have also seen three hogs taken with well placed broadside shots.

I would be more confident with the slug gun just starting out. A good slug gun is accurate out to 100+ yards.

 

[DammitBoy]

I've hunted hogs for years in Alabama with just a pistol. I started with a .357 but my preferred sidearm is my Ruger Blackhawk in 45 Colt.

The hogs here range from 200-400lbs on average with some bigger ones showing up now and then. You really don't want the meat from a male over 100-150lbs.

I've killed them with everything from a .22 to .223 to shotgun slugs. They are not by any means invincible. I do carry my Para-Ordinance P14 as back up in case I get into a hairy situation.

The closest I've come to that is turning the corner in the woods and being 20 yards from 16 hogs at once. That will make yer butthole pucker!

Hunting hogs with a pistol is very doable.

 

[batmann]

I prefer my handguns in a bigger caliber, something like my .44M, but a .357 WITH a 180 to 200 gr HC solid from Double Tap might work IF the Hogs don't get to big.
My first choice is my .30-30 loaded with 170 gr solids with my Alaskan as a back up with 320 gr HC, but you can kill two Hogs with one stone (pun) by going with a .44M rifle w/same caliber handgun back up, if it is legal. Same could be said using a .357M in combo. Shot placement and type of bullet are critical on hogs, so use the best. Remember, it could be your mangled leg we see on Youtube.

 

[Maj Dad]

W.D.M. Bell killed a boat-load of elephants with his 280 Rigby (7x57 Mauser), but the gold standard nowadays is in the neighborhood of 416, or better, 460 Weatherby. If you shoot hogs with a 357, or even a 44, be sure of your shot placement, else be sure of the closest tree...

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I don't think I would suggest hunting hog from the ground with a single shot pistol, but some of y'all may be a lot better with a pistol than me. However, a .357 should be fine for hogs, but I would do so with a revolver. Heck, there are folks that hunt them just fine with 9mm semi autos.

People keep saying shot placement will matter. That goes without saying and isn't limited to pistol or .357 use. Even fatally heart/lung rifle shot hogs can travel considerable distances. Youtube has numerous such examples.

So long as the hogs don't know you are there, chances are they aren't going to charge you when you shoot them. If they don't drop when shot, they will bolt and if they don't know you are there, there is little chance for them to charge you. If you make yourself known to them and then shoot them, they very well may realize that you are the culprit of their pain.

 

[augustino]

So hogs with 12 gauge slugs is a good combo?

I have a Winchester 1300 long barrel with a screw in choke will this SG accept slugs W/O damaging the barrel?
Is it OK to run slugs through an Ithaca 37 Deerslayer?

 

[alienbogey]

I've taken dozens of CA hogs on a buddy's ranch. Over the years I've gotten them with a .30-30 (most common), .30-06, .270, 7MM-08, 54 caliber Hawken reproduction, 357 Mag, 45 Colt revolver and rifle, and one time went after them with an H&K G3 (it was probably best that we didn't find the pigs that day as we were all full auto).

Bullet points:

• They've been taken on that ranch (east of San Jose) up to 400 pounds.

• If you want to eat it don't bother with anything over 200 pounds. Young sows 150-180 pounds are best. We tried to eat barbecued ribs off a 250 boar one time and it was like trying to chew dinosaur - fossilized dinosaur. Tasted about as good, too.

• Winter pigs are best - the rains have caused a lot of food for them to grow, they've been feeding on acorns, and the rooting is easier. They're as fat as they're going to get.

• Have a sidearm no matter what your primary weapon is. You might jump a herd quite close, they'll scatter, and your 10X scoped Master Blaster rifle is going to be pretty useless before they get into the brush. You might also have a pig come for you and it will exciting enough without trying to find him getting larger and blurrier in that scope - drop the rifle and pull the handgun, I've done it before. If your rifle is something like an open sight lever action you're fine - just make the shot(s).

• If you're going into the brush after a wounded pig, forget the scoped Master Blaster and have your sidearm in your hand or, better yet, have a 12 gauge with slugs in both hands. Know where your partners are.

• .357 works fine on the small to medium sized pigs, just take reasonably close, well-placed shots. I haven't shot one bigger than 200# or so with 357, I've shot them up to about 250# with my Blackhawk and uploaded 45 Colt rounds. I agree with previous posters that hollow points would not be a good idea, especially if shot into a boar's gristle shield.

• I don't know what the policy is on your private land access, but the ranch owner on mine says, "Don't stop shooting until your out of targets or bullets, whichever comes first." The pigs are thick, do a lot of damage, and he has a depredation permit. We take him at his word and do a lot of shoot & release, and also occasionally take good ones down to food banks. The ranch record for one weekend is 19, and the record for most pigs out of one group is 13, by my buddy and I. (Makes a very good story)

• It's a ton of fun.

 

[gglass]

When S&W introduced the .357 Magnum in 1935, Major Wesson publicized it by literally taking all of the North American big game with it, including grizzly and Polar bear, IIRC. That's not to say that it would always one-shot-stop a dangerous animal, but with the right bullet, at the right velocity, in the right place, it will certainly kill them.

 

[oldfool]

I don't think there's really any difference in Texas an Georgia hogs except for those faked Hozilla pictures where the guy shot a farm raized 1000 lb pig and tried to palm it off on the net as wild.

I shoot meat hogs with a .357, works just fine. Much over 200 lbs and I don't want 'em, anyway. The caliber is under-rated in the hunting world. It will penetrate the shoulders of a big, gristled up 350-400 lber with the right bullet. I shoot either a 180 grain Hornady XTP at 1400 fps or a 165 grain hard cast gas checked Keith style SWC at 1470 fps. The hogs I've killed have been with the 165 grain bullet, though I shot one with my 3" carry not long ago, 140 grain Speer JHP to the head from about 15 yards. He was only about 80 lbs, but a head shot would do in his papa.



I prefer both.

good reply, McGunner !

me, ex-Yankee (Iowa), folks up there been known to shoot a big (pen) piggie square in the head up close w/ a 22 rimfire pistol up close and drop up 'em stone cold.. some also do that in south Georgia... (shot placement do count)

me, ex-Texan (north Texas, not south Texas)
big place, Texas, bigger than Georgia, but some things in common, including good folks, and hawg hunters, and...
there is a north Texas and a south Texas
there is a north Georgia and a south Georgia
ain't either south Texas nor south Georgia ever seen "Hogzilla", and never will
(ain't either one ever seen those anaconda size rattlers, either, not that there is any shortage of ones that will rattle, if cornered)
and both have seen 350# hawgs in heavy cover and swamplands

some folks use hawg dawgs to chase 'em down, but it's a pretty good idea to bring a good supply of dawgs, because you might finish the day with fewer than you started with, and mr. piggie might not be in a good mood when you do catch up
(which is not a real bad reason to tote a 30-30 along)

me, always have been a big fan of 357, for most things south of Iowa, and pert near anything south of north Texas or north Georgia, on two legs or four
would not hesitate (then or now) to shoot a piggie that don't weigh more than me with a 357, revolver or carbine (even if I be significantly heftier now than I was 30 years ago in Texas).. but not much inclined to shoot at bambi with either one beyond 75 yards
(south Georgia and north Texas bambi both being NOT Iowa Bambi, and nowhere close in weight nor disposition to mr. hawg)

if I was still Texas young, and you invited me on a north or south Texas hawg hunt, I woulda' brought a 357 carbine w/ a 357 S&W revolver on my hip

but I am older and slower now (and never was fond of chasin' after hawg dawgs anyhow, the damn rattlers get annoyed when you run over 'em); I would still be wearing same S&W 357 revolver, but I would be carrying a 30-30 carbine in hand "just because"
(dunno really know why, mebbe like why my casual wear includes a Colt IWB when not in the woods)

PS
yep, you guessed it, just kidding around (mostly)
EAT MORE PORK, "the other white meat" !
(best when BBQ'd, preferably south Georgia style, but Texas style will do if you don't know any better)

 

[DammitBoy]

Look, wild boar are not T-Rex in a pig suit.

Plenty of people hunt them with just knives. Hunt them with whatever you want, just be comfortable with what you're doing, but don't make them out to be mythic monsters.

That said, the males will charge you and once you fire - they will know you are there. The females and shoats generally run, most adult males will not.

 

[oldfool]

CAUTION !
me, I was mostly just kidding
DB is not
you can't live in both Texas and Georgia, without knowing some of them Mississippi folks
(don't mistake that soft spoken southern hospitality for "genteel".. they really do hunt wild boar with knives)

last of a dying breed, dunno why
(ain't like there are all that many Grizz in Mississippi, north or south)

PS
if you ever meet one of 'em in in the woods carrying a compound bow, forget whatever caliber you carry, and just mind your manners, no kidding

 

[snooperman]

I have killed many wild boar ...

with the 357 magnum. Too many to count over the past 45 years, with 180 gr bullets in my Ruger blackhawk and other Dan Wesson guns as well. I have also shot them with the 30-30 rifle too, even while on my mule in the Oak hammock area. My wife has killed quite a few with her Black powder 45 caliber revolver. Ranges vary between 25-45 yards, some longer. The 357 magnum will do fine.

 

[jackslayer]

Dammit Boy

Been to your town man. Shame what katrina did to it. Thanks for the input.

 

[DammitBoy]

Thanks jackslayer - we're 100% recovered from katrina. I just got back from New Orleans and it's a shame that so little recovery is evident there.

On topic - I do 100% of my hunting in Alabama, specifically Butler and Lavaca, Alabama.

The hawgs are thick in the river bottom in Lavaca, and my favorite thing to hunt for the last 18 years there.

 

[jackslayer]

I like the idea of getting a .357 rifle to match the handgun. Don't know beans about em though. Anyone with input on what my best bet would be? Just barely getting into reloading and so it would be great to focus all my efforts at one caliber. I figure I'd rather have the confidence that comes from knowing and trusting my reloads and knowing what they're capable of.

 

[DammitBoy]

I did that with my Ruger Alaskan revolver in .454 casull and my Puma legacy lever action in .454 casull (both in stainless).

So, not only did I get two guns that fire the same caliber - they also both shoot 45 colt as well.

I know Puma/Rossi still makes a .357 lever action that you could pair with any .357 revolver...

 

[oldgoat46]

Well here in Central Fl the hogs are small compared to the European wild boar imports in NC and Tenn but I like my Marlin lever action 44 mag with Buffalo Bore heavy ammo. I carry my Ruger 6" GP 100 357 as a back up. I have never had to use the 357 but I'm sure it would work just fine.