Hunters here in Florida are fighting a losing battle with the growing wild hog population. Many guys hunt at night with thermo-scopes and do quite well with their .223 AR rifles. 60 grain Nosler Partitions are widely accepted as lethal pig medicine.
I live in Texas and have hunted them for quite a few years.
I hunt hogs nearly every day...they're all around me here.
I use 308, 257 Roberts, 300 Savage and 243Win.
Not every hog you see is a bruiser...Quite the opposite.
Many are in the 80-100lbs range.
223 will work fine in most cases. Lots of guys here use them
because they like an automatic, as they'll be running after the first shot
and sometimes before that.
I just like to shoot them further away if I can.
When I get one in a trap I shoot them in the head with a 22lr
40gr RN.
If you shoot them in the brain/neck bone, it really doesn’t matter what you shoot them with. If you are going for a body shot learn the anatomy of the pig. The heart and lungs are more forward and lower than a whitetail. Stay away from varmint bullets and you’ll do just fine. 65 gr Gameking, Nosler Partition, 77-75 gr bullets all work great.
You can indeed, I've put three hogs down with shots just below the ear. Barnes TSX or a heavy construction (fullBoar, Boar buster) is better than the "ballistic tip" type ammo that's more useful for varmints.
I am convinced that the best bullet for hogs is the Nosler 64 gr bonded bullet. They have a semi flat point and are awesome on penetration and expansion. They shoot very accurate in my AR. I would also use them if I was hunting for deer with the AR.
My cousin in law lives in Connecticut and lives near the shore. He won a 25-20 1894CL at a Ducks Unlimited about 27 years ago. It came with commemorative box of 50 rds. He takes a deer within an 1/8 of a mile from his home every year. One neck shot to each. Bang flop. It's all about shot placement.
Pigs shot in the ear drop real quick.
At this rate he will be almost 80 when he runs out of that commemorative box of ammo.
You may think it is overkill but I use a 450 Bushmaster AR or a 50 Beowulf upper for pig. If I could I would use a 44mag pistol but it is illegal here to hunt with a pistol unless you are on private land. When the pig is cornered by the dogs they become very viscious and when pumped up on adrenelin can be very dangerous and unpredictable. The big bore takes them out cleanly. Don't waste your time with a small 22 cal bore especially when close in. I've seen them turn and charge with no warning and can close the gap very fast when you are close. Plus with the big bore AR when the dogs are called off you have limited time to take your shot----having to take multiple shots endangers the dogs as you risk hitting a dog.
I personally prefer a little more but it works. Seen it a bunch. I have a Ruger American Ranch in 5.56 I have carried when there was a chance but I never did use it.
I'm a big advocate of Speer 62gr Gold Dot for hogs and deer.
We've been using it for past 3 seasons in our AR pistol, carbine and rifles with good success.
It gives good performance on game and very accurate.
I would like to try the 75gr verson in future.
A guy I know that was charged by a wounded boar was shooting a 7mm Remington Mag...it was a bad shot.
In reality he wasn't charged..boar was just trying to get the hell out of the pasture when it was shot and run back to the woods and the guy who shot shot it just happened to be in the way. The boar ran about 6 feet left of the shooter's leg and kept running. In 25+ years of hunting hogs I've never seen a hog actually charge anyone but I have seen them run away towards a direction where someone was standing.
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