Buckshot on hogs

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MCgunner

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I don't trust 00 on hogs, first off, let's get that out of the way. But, there's a WMA near me that has opened for hog hunting in Feb/March and is buckshot only. Now, don't tell me about that 63 caliber, or whatever it is, 3 shot load out of Alabama or Georgia or somewhere. I've contacted Texas Parks and Wildlife and it's illegal, not considered buckshot.

I had hunted, 3 years back, with my 10 gauge and 18 pellet 00 loads. I didn't shoot anything, only hunted a couple of days. Did jump a hog in heavy cover, never laid eyes on him, but he was no more'n 15 yards and I figure even number 6 shot woulda put a hurt on him with a head shot at that range. What concerns me is slappin' one at 30 yards and just pi$$in' him off. The 10 is a single shot H&R turkey gun I bought to hunt snow geese with. I've got this old Spanish double choked mod/full that I don't use since steel shot got mandated. Too tight a choke for doves and I won't put steel through it. It's an old Sarasqueta bought in 1971 and has been on many a duck hunt and shows it. While pretty beat up from the use and years, it still shoots slugs like a double rifle. So, I'm figurin' I'll take along slugs, stuff one in the full barrel (back trigger, don't wanna shoot it first) and try not to have to use it unless I get attacked and have no choice. No wardens out there. Heck, when I've been out there mid week, I've been the only one in the area. I can pull the slug out for hunting, put it back in a pocket when not needed. I'd rather get a fine (at max, not a state law, just a reg on this area) than get bit by an angry hog.

Anyway, I've fired 2 3/4" slugs in this gun before and they kick like hell. What I bought for this hunting is 3" 1 ounce slugs. DAMN, that might leave a mark.:what: I ain't gonna wanna lower the hammer on THAT unless it's life or death, LOL. The gun is light, something a little over 6 lbs. BUT, it ain't like dove hunting where you burn through several boxes in a day. Only have to endure the punishment to avoid worse. :D

Anyone ever shot a decent size, say 200 lb boar, with buckshot and lived to tell the tale? I'm just guessing I need to be inside 30 yards to really be effective on one and I'll shoot for the head area and say a little prayer.:D Sure wish they'd allow black powder out there. I'd love to use my Hawken, back it up with my ROA, out there. But, such is not the case. At least I have an actual use for this old shotgun. It's quite a bit lighter than my 10, so the hiking will be less a pain, at least. I have an internal frame day pack for this and will carry the gun in a military scabbard strapped over my shoulder on the pack.
 
The key weakness of buckshot is penatration, lead shot tends to deform on contact making them uselss agains the thick sheild/skull of larger hogs, however they do make tungston and plated shot that does not deform and penatrates much better. I still would not try it on hogzilla but it should work on 99% of the hogs in your area.
 
Okay, not bad, 10 rounds for 20 bucks, made the order. Not sure if it'll get here in time for the first hunting trip, but that's okay, I'll make do with double naught.

Thanks for the link, Gordon! I think I'll have more faith in this stuff than 12 guage 12 shot double naught.
 
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Watching those little eater sized pigs take 2 and 3 shots does not inspire much confidence. I venture a guess that most of them were in the 100-200 lbs range. We get them alot larger around here. Not often mind you, but they do get up to 1100 lbs.
 
I've shot hundreds of feral hogs, but prefer a rifle. The attached photo is one I shot with an Ithica 12g using OOSG - 9 pellets. The pig was solidly hit(at least I thought so) from about 15 yards in the head. We loaded this pig on the bullbar of the Toyota for the photo & shortly afterwards it came to life & was dispatched with a knife. The OOSG load had just knocked it out. That said, I have used a 12g with OOSG successfully on pigs on numerous other occassions & would not feel undergunned if that was all that was allowed by law.View attachment IMG_NEW.pdf
 
We have the hogzillas, too, but I just leave those nasty things alone. I'll shoot anything under 200 lbs for the freezer. :D I still have a BUNCH of meat, but I'm going for the fun, really. Not many places in Texas, public areas, where one can stillhunt hogs on large acreage for 48 bucks a year. Thing is, there are hogs there. They're tough to hunt, though. Best be there at sun up and sun down and hope you get lucky. :D This place is high ground, sits next to a marsh where I've hunted ducks/geese a lot. The hogs get out in the marsh and come back to cover at daybreak. I've found the highways, just go sit on one and watch the sun go down and hope. If I don't get one, I did have fun. :D I have a hog trap on my place just for the meat.

I do wish this place would allow black powder, though. For me, that would be WAY cool. But, you gotta follow the rules.
 
Hey MC,

I have shot a few with buck shot over the years, and have found that a modified choke seems to work best, the full choke seems to disperse the bigger pellets more than concentrate them like it does with the smaller bird shot.

I have used several sizes from 00 to #4 and the last couple of have been with the #4. My old shot gun has one of those screw type chokes on it. Couldn't even tell you what brand either of them are, but it works and works pretty well out to 25-30yds. I haven't used it much further as I have other things better, but within these ranges it worked fine for 150'ish pound sows and a couple of boars in this range.

Like you I am not wild about using it, but it does have it's place, and usually if I settle the bead between just below their belly and midways up on them I get what I am aiming for. Do yourself a favor, not sure how many rounds you ordered but give them a paper test before heading out. Put up some freezer paper with a 3-4" aiming spot on it and see where they hit. From mine they usually pattern about 3" higher than my aiming point at 25yds which is why I usually hold low, with my friends they hit about that much lower than his POA. This is with standard 2 3/4" loads.

I usually use mine at night when they are up in the back yard under the fruit trees, or if the weather and mosquitoes aren't too terrible, I might sit under one of my feeders. I wished I had been there the evneing I got this pic,
PICT0066.jpg

To be honest I have used the Remington Reduced Recoil the last couple of times with no issues. You will find however that when you have several in a bunch, your going to hit and possibly loose one or more simply due to secondary penetration or only one or two pellets hitting in a non vital area. My advice would be to pick out one good one and concentrate on it rather than trying for a multiple drop shot. The ones in the pic above would be a great shot with the #4 since they are below my bow stand which is only 20yds up and to the right of them. It would be at about a 45 degree angle and mostly hitting the spine areas first. Not too much to worry about with the shields from that angle, and multiple hits would be pretty easy to finish up on a follow up shot.

Good luck on your hunt, have a great time and put some pork on the ground.
 
Well, I figure to put the buck in the right barrel, modified, front trigger, and the slug in the full barrel, rear trigger. I've patterned the gun and, yeah, mod works best with 00. Not sure about that 4 naught, but I have little choice as the chokes are fixed in this gun. I could use one of my other 12s, just want that slug for back up just in case and this old war horse shoots slugs like a double rifle, spot on at 50 yards. The Spaniards know how to regulate a SxS shotgun, I'll say that! :D I'll slap him with the buck and if he gets POed and comes after me, I'll put the 1 ounce on him. I'll probably be so amped on adrenalin I won't even notice the recoil, LOL.
 
I don't trust 00 on hogs, first off, let's get that out of the way. But, there's a WMA near me that has opened for hog hunting in Feb/March and is buckshot only. Now, don't tell me about that 63 caliber, or whatever it is, 3 shot load out of Alabama or Georgia or somewhere. I've contacted Texas Parks and Wildlife and it's illegal, not considered buckshot.

Doesn't that make the slug in one of your barrels a non-legal choice on this property?
 
I didn't realize anyone used buckshot on anything anymore. In LE we use it as it's a pretty strong deterrent against bad guys, but I don't know any hunters that use buckshot.
 
00 buck has worked for me on hog, but I've had several misses on coyotes, they seem to "matrix" the pellets:scrutiny::cool:

I much prefer #4 buck for hunting. I never fail to put the animal down using it.
 
While I fully understand your concern for using buckshot on hogs, (just saw one last weekend with 4 holes in him left for dead) I sincerely doubt any hog out there will charge you because you hit it with buckshot.
 
Vaguely relevant: An Austin PD gunfight showed that double-ought wouldn't penetrate a plate-glass show case when fired at an angle. Testing determined that triple-ought would.

So, me not knowing anything about hogs and buckshot, I'd go with triple-ought.
 
An Austin PD gunfight showed that double-ought wouldn't penetrate a plate-glass show case when fired at an angle. Testing determined that triple-ought would.

So, me not knowing anything about hogs and buckshot, I'd go with triple-ought.
Click to expand...

000 should be great for show case hogs.:D
 
I sincerely doubt any hog out there will charge you because you hit it with buckshot.
Click to expand...

I've had 'em charge me when I was blood trailing and caught up with 'em. It's an experience, let me tell ya. At any rate, I'm hopeful of putting at least one on his skull and I'd druther be using a rifle, tried and true if you know where to place the bullet. :D
 
3" 00 Buckshot will do the job on a hog,as long as the range is under say 60 to 70 yards max.I prefer to let the air out of them with my bow but I have seen alot of them killed with the shotgun with buckshot.Its all about range and shot placement.
 
Wanna stay legal but still pack a heck of a wallop at close range?

This YouTube video gives some ideas. He's using "cut shells" and wax-filled shells in a 12 Gauge. It seems to do about as well as a slug at close range, and may resolve any potential legal issues (don't really know about that, but it's still an interesting video). He has some other videos on related topics as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uWwbO5F18k
 
Hey MC,

Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball (The three pellet .60 caliber buckshot load you mentioned) is not considered buckshot in The State of Texas?

I did not see it mentioned anywhere in the TPWD 2011-2012 Outdoor Handbook that it was not buckshot or expressly forbidden.

It happens to be the ONLY buckshot load I would consider to be a reliable stopper for hogs.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
Dixie Slugs Tri-Ball (The three pellet .60 caliber buckshot load you mentioned) is not considered buckshot in The State of Texas?

I did not see it mentioned anywhere in the TPWD 2011-2012 Outdoor Handbook that it was not buckshot or expressly forbidden.
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It's not mentioned, but I e-mailed P&W and was told in no uncertain terms they did not consider the load "buckshot" for the purposes of hog hunting at GDWMA. SO, I didn't buy any.

As to cut shells, I did that when I was a dumb kid....gun still in one piece, amazingly. I'd do that only if it were and emergency and I needed a slug and didn't have one on me and I'd not do it with buckshot, only lead bird shot. Well, perhaps number 4 buck or something.
 
Quote:
He has some other videos on related topics as well.


Yeah, like firing a .454 Casull in a single shot .410 with full choke! And no apparent damage to the gun.
Click to expand...

Wow, multi million dollar lawsuits have been won for less reason. :rolleyes: I can just see the kid that sees this vid and runs out with his Rossi .410 and...well...granny spilling hot McDonald's coffee on her lap ain't got nothin' on that!
 
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