What cartridge/bullet for hog hunting?

[MagnumManiac]

I shoot until I run out of bullets! Big ones, little ones, boars and sows makes no difference to me.
I mostly hunts mountain pigs, they are quite big, up to 150lbs (75kg) and are wooly! There are the odd 100kg+ pigs taken, but they are not common.
Most of our southern state mountainous hogs are European blood, while the tropical northern hogs are Asian blood with longer snouts. Both are pests and I have seen 100's of acres of farm land turned into mush from pigs overturning young crops to eat it.
The last time I was out I shot a solitary sow, upon inspection, it had been caught in a snare and had chewed through it to escape. It went 70lbs (35kg) on my scales and made for some delicious leg and shoulder roasts with plenty of crackle!
The mob it was in was around 30 sows, suckers and adolescent hogs, she was the biggest so I dropped her where she stood, the 180g Accubond outta my 300WM absolutely smashed her, but she got up and ran 15 odd yards and fell over dead in the creek with a loud death bellow.
The 300 is a bit big for such small pigs, but dead is dead, right!?
As Rut Daniels says, 'she didn't go 20!'

Cheers.

 

[CBH Australia]

25-06 ...................... The most underrated cartridge of all time

Wow, I know an accomplished shooter here that is a .25-06 fan. I bought a shop soiled Tikka .25-06 to build my .280ai but I'm now wondering what I am missing
Everything has is place and with a flat trajectory I had considered the .25-06 could be a good Dingo/Coyote/ Predator rifle, simply just taking longer shots with enough clout to flatten them.

Actually on my only international trip I done a cull hunt and the outfitters wife had 2 impressive Kudu mounted both taken with a .25-06.

Impressive results on your chronograph by the way. I just got a deal secondhand Caldwell but it's interesting to see what my loads are doing, es is crap but I'm looking at neck tension.

Your data/results is great, I have a lead on a Hammer source in Australia but I have heard it can be hard to get them to find the happy load for your rifle but performance is on another level.

 

[CBH Australia]

Sounds like @MagnumManiac has some good country. It's dry and sparse in my area so we have to cover some ground and mobs exceeding 10 in number are scarce. Up to ten or 12 I've often seen and take as many as I can with the vehicle or terrain being the limitation.
I've shot them with a .35agnum lebergun, .223 bolt gun, and bolt actions up to .458wm, it's what I was carrying ok and I don't have any big pests close by.

I've had great success with a 7mm-08 10 Shot Tikka CTR,

I'm itching to smack one with my .280ai to claim a kill for it.

I'd like to Hunt those ugly hairy ones from the mountains.

 

[MagnumManiac]

CBH, I hunt the Victorian high country close to Melbourne, within 1 1/2 hrs from my SE Suburb home. The area is dry, wet and in between, with lots of pine plantation interspersed with the natural bush.
Where I hunt Fallow deer, it just happens to be teeming with feral pigs which boarders onto vast sheep and cattle properties. The hog problem is huge there. I do my part, but feel I am not really contributing a lot on the whole scheme of things as the numbers are huge.
If there are deer about, I leave the pigs alone, just have to have my venison!

Cheers.

 

[BPollard]

I've only shot a few large boars with my rifles so my experience is limited. Using a 458 SOCOM and the 300gr TTSX Barnes bullet, a shot in the crease would drop them fairly quick. I would imagine that a head shot with that bullet would be pretty ugly. LOL

458 Socom rules!!!!!!

 

[CBH Australia]

CBH, I hunt the Victorian high country close to Melbourne, within 1 1/2 hrs from my SE Suburb home. The area is dry, wet and in between, with lots of pine plantation interspersed with the natural bush.
Where I hunt Fallow deer, it just happens to be teeming with feral pigs which boarders onto vast sheep and cattle properties. The hog problem is huge there. I do my part, but feel I am not really contributing a lot on the whole scheme of things as the numbers are huge.
If there are deer about, I leave the pigs alone, just have to have my venison!

Cheers.

I have a mate down there in outer Melbourne somewhere. I only to Melbourne once as a kid bit my mate worked up here for a bit.he has a pest control service now.
If you are hunting for Venison that fair, if you are culling pigs with your own resources that's great, probably helps you access land and helps farmers.
In Western NSW we get the occasional big pig, well I haven't taken a Big Pig but I've seen photos of pigs around 100kg but I'm guessing 60 kg are what I consider decent size anything bigger is old and smart.

 

[Northkill]

It really depends on how you are going to be hunting them if you are hunting from a blind over bait just about anything will get the job done especially if you are able to take head shots, I've been extremely lucky and fortunate when it comes to hog hunting opportunities here in California, I shot a total of 66 my first hog came in 95, it was a smallish sow weighing 86 or 88 pounds at the locker, my rifle of choice was a 257 AI loaded with 115 gr partitions, the shot was broadside at about 90 yards, I recovered the bullet under hide, I shot 5 more with that rifle with only 1 being of any real size that 1 being a true 300lb boar, 2 dropped at the shot, the 3 that didnt drop while hit good required a short tracking job with very litte or no blood at all, at that time I had shot several dozen deer that rifle many being western whitetail and mule deer I had only recovered I bullet, I like a animal to hoped from 2 holes rather than 1 so I switched to a 338, I've used 185 to 225 gr grain bullets either Barnes or nosler with 100 percent success, however what I find when it come to hogs at least the ones here in California a 300 lb pig even a sow will stop a slug that goes thru a bull elk not every time but I've taken a lot more deer and elk than I have pigs, but I've recovered a lot more bullets from the pigs, so I suggest if you are looking for one for the wall use the biggest caliber you are comfortable with, better to use to much gun than not enough

Try some Hammers in your 257AI and see if you can catch one of them. Not sure what your twist is, but the 90 gr Absolutes or the 98 gr Shock Hammers will give some pleasant surprises. They'll fly out of that AI. Don't be fooled by the weight. And don't tell the pig. It'll think it got hit by a North Korean cruise missle and decide it ain't worth the fight.

 

[mindcrime]

Seriously? A peashooter like that'll almost certainly bounce off the 5th leg. Boy, I'd say 500 Nitro minimum - just keep it light enough to handle (8 lbs) and go with a 10 shot clip and soft eyecups on the eyepiece. Minimal recoil with that setup. You'll be able to shoot as fast as you can stand back up. Bazooka the best bet when you got a sounder to deal with.

How about a 4.62" 1857 Napoleon???

 

[Northkill]

How about a 4.62" 1857 Napoleon???

Might about do it - if you got explosive rounds.

 

[Northkill]

Did you ever see the one where the guys stuck a whack of tannerite at a feeding spot?

Sounder of Feral Hogs vs Seven Pounds of Tannerite

Feral hogs are vicious and destructive. How can one keep up with the ever-increasing population? How about some explosive tannerite?

www.wideopenspaces.com

 

[2ndson]

I like something moving at moderate speed with good penetration and expansion. Any of the WW-II bolt action battle rifles with 150~180 gr soft round nosed bullets will go in and do it to them. 303 Brit, 7.7mm Jap, or 06 or 308 (not WW-II) will break bone and go through shoulders on big hogs.

It's more about what you have on hand than what's absolutely the best. Remington Cor-Lokts for medium game will do fine, if that's all you can get locally.

 

[Montanan]

I recently got an open invite to go hog hunting in Texas. I'm from Washington and don't have a clue. I suspect the guy that invited me doesn't really either, he's a big shot for a multi billion dollar co. and recently transferred down there and out of the blue called me all excited saying he recently went and gave me an open invite. Seriously thinking about it. I've got varmint barrel chassis 22 creedmoor,25-06, 6.5 creedmoor 6.5-300 270 wsm 300wsm and bigger but I'm gathering smaller is better?? I'm leaning towards winter time to get out of the rain. Any suggestions would be appreciated

There are a lot of opinions on this topic, so I'll just contribute mine with a little back information, as I moved to TX from WA, and grew up in the MT rockies. I've noticed the "wisdom" and preferences relating to hunting rounds differ between those three states. Foremost, be sure that you have a true hunting round, designed for a good balance of penetration and expansion. I shot a 300 lb boar with a .308 HPBT (or BTHP if you're dyslexic?), right where you're supposed to and saw the round exit and impact the mud behind the boar. I ended up tracking it and dragging it for 200 yards or so out of brush. Examining the organs showed that the bullet had hit both lungs and the heart. These hogs just don't always quit like other game does. I also shot one that only weighed around 60lbs in the back of the skull with a .460 rowland. As you would expect it went down right away, but didn't die for 5 minutes plus. I was with a very experienced hunter with hundreds of kills and he said that is not unusual. I wanted to shoot it again to ensure it wasn't suffering and he basically said "where are you going to shoot it? You already severed it's brain stem." I still prefer .308, but with a bullet that does more damage. I also use Russian 7.62 on an AR platform, again with hunting bullets designed to do more damage vs. accuracy. One thing I've learned about the hogs is they can be very aggressive, (often times just false charges, but who wants to find out if they mean it or not?), so you need some knock down/stopping power if possible. On a night hunt my brother-in-law shot one 5 times with an AK47 as it charged him. He's a former European military officer trained extensively with the AK, so this wasn't a spray and pray situation. The last shot basically severed one of it's front legs so it couldn't advance any further. It still wasn't dead and wanted to fight. I'm acquainted with an operator of a large private hunting area where I live that hunts and shoots hundreds of hogs per year - he has gone through a variety of set-ups over the years I've known him and now uses lever action rifles in .454 casull. I carry a revolver in the same caliber, (it is also my back country carry gun for the rockies, so I didn't specifically buy it for hog hunting) and am researching what rifles are available that can provide something similar in terms of stopping power, but with longer range. IMO (based on my research so far) the lever action rifles chambered in .460 S&W may be the ideal set up, once a person is ready to invest. By ideal I mean for brush hunting environments, rarely shooting beyond 200 yards. I hope this is helpful, and that others add their opinions and experiences to this thread. I'm sure there is plenty that I haven't learned yet.

 

[Montanan]

There are a lot of opinions on this topic, so I'll just contribute mine with a little back information, as I moved to TX from WA, and grew up in the MT rockies. I've noticed the "wisdom" and preferences relating to hunting rounds differ between those three states. Foremost, be sure that you have a true hunting round, designed for a good balance of penetration and expansion. I shot a 300 lb boar with a .308 HPBT (or BTHP if you're dyslexic?), right where you're supposed to and saw the round exit and impact the mud behind the boar. I ended up tracking it and dragging it for 200 yards or so out of brush. Examining the organs showed that the bullet had hit both lungs and the heart. These hogs just don't always quit like other game does. I also shot one that only weighed around 60lbs in the back of the skull with a .460 rowland. As you would expect it went down right away, but didn't die for 5 minutes plus. I was with a very experienced hunter with hundreds of kills and he said that is not unusual. I wanted to shoot it again to ensure it wasn't suffering and he basically said "where are you going to shoot it? You already severed it's brain stem." I still prefer .308, but with a bullet that does more damage. I also use Russian 7.62 on an AR platform, again with hunting bullets designed to do more damage vs. accuracy. One thing I've learned about the hogs is they can be very aggressive, (often times just false charges, but who wants to find out if they mean it or not?), so you need some knock down/stopping power if possible. On a night hunt my brother-in-law shot one 5 times with an AK47 as it charged him. He's a former European military officer trained extensively with the AK, so this wasn't a spray and pray situation. The last shot basically severed one of it's front legs so it couldn't advance any further. It still wasn't dead and wanted to fight. I'm acquainted with an operator of a large private hunting area where I live that hunts and shoots hundreds of hogs per year - he has gone through a variety of set-ups over the years I've known him and now uses lever action rifles in .454 casull. I carry a revolver in the same caliber, (it is also my back country carry gun for the rockies, so I didn't specifically buy it for hog hunting) and am researching what rifles are available that can provide something similar in terms of stopping power, but with longer range. IMO (based on my research so far) the lever action rifles chambered in .460 S&W may be the ideal set up, once a person is ready to invest. By ideal I mean for brush hunting environments, rarely shooting beyond 200 yards. I hope this is helpful, and that others add their opinions and experiences to this thread. I'm sure there is plenty that I haven't learned yet.

 

[Buck1970]

Lots of great information has been given.
We don't care what you kill them with, just shoot all you see.
I just want to make a couple of suggestions.

1) Bring plenty of shells, especially if using hand loads only. Im not sure about the rest of the world, but we are still low on ammo. You won't find any in Walmart or academy. The few gun stores that are staying stocked are very proud of what they have. I did see shells on the shelf in academy last week but it was mainly steel case fmj 556 and 7.62 only. They also usually are limited to two boxes. I hope we get back to normal before fall hunting seasons open.

2) It's been stated several times. Hogs are tough, and they are mean. They don't see as well as other animals, but have good sense of smell and hearing. Wounded, they have a fight mentality. There is no flight mindset to them. You won't hardly walk up on a wounded deer of coyote that will charge you, but a wounded hog, Large or small will do so in an instant. Just remember that when in a thicket. Keeping a good sidearm strapped to your hip isn't a bad idea if you have to do any tracking.
Good luck and have fun. Shoot at least 2 for me.