First time hog hunting advice

[J.R.@A&M]

I plan on shooting whatever comes in but if I do have the choice I’ll pick whichever looks tastier

Tastier being the opposite of Nastier. I have shot a few hogs that were so nasty and gnarly that we pitched them over the cliff as a contribution to the Blanco County Coyote Women, Infants and Children Program.

[spectre]

If you can smell them from the blind.........

[The Annoyed Man]

Can you make barbacoa out of those things? I love barbacoa tacos with onions, lime, cilantro and hot sauce.

Barbacoa, al pastor, carnitas, why not?

[wil]

I’ll be shooting them with a 223. Federal 77 grain seirra match tip hollow point.


I plan on carrying a big knife and a large pistol as well. You never know. Just tying to decide between the 1911 or the 357 mag

match will work good 'IF' it penetrates. hogs are built stout and I've seen instances of that round hit the hog, break up and not penetrate deeply enough. If it does penetrate then break up they're effective.
If you're using your own handloads, in .223 I use the speer 70 gr spitzer softpoint. It is very reliable & tends to 'save' a lot of meat.

[PriestTheRunner]

I’ll be shooting them with a 223. Federal 77 grain seirra match tip hollow point.

I plan on carrying a big knife and a large pistol as well. You never know. Just tying to decide between the 1911 or the 357 mag

match will work good 'IF' it penetrates. hogs are built stout and I've seen instances of that round hit the hog, break up and not penetrate deeply enough. If it does penetrate then break up they're effective.
If you're using your own handloads, in .223 I use the speer 70 gr spitzer softpoint. It is very reliable & tends to 'save' a lot of meat.

Sig 716 patrol.... MMMmmmmmm piggies are going to taste good. Now to score a thermal and explain the price tag to the wife. lol

Any specific round selection advice for .308? Or just anything hunting (IE-non lead) rated? I assumed the .308 hits hard enough that you don't have as many problems with under-penetration?

cmgee67 - If you are in the East Texas area and want another gun, I wouldn't mind joining / helping. Pigs are a huge problem around here. The more can be wiped out, the better for everything else in the woods.

[mrvmax]

I’ll be shooting them with a 223. Federal 77 grain seirra match tip hollow point.

I plan on carrying a big knife and a large pistol as well. You never know. Just tying to decide between the 1911 or the 357 mag

match will work good 'IF' it penetrates. hogs are built stout and I've seen instances of that round hit the hog, break up and not penetrate deeply enough. If it does penetrate then break up they're effective.
If you're using your own handloads, in .223 I use the speer 70 gr spitzer softpoint. It is very reliable & tends to 'save' a lot of meat.

Sig 716 patrol.... MMMmmmmmm piggies are going to taste good. Now to score a thermal and explain the price tag to the wife. lol

Any specific round selection advice for .308? Or just anything hunting (IE-non lead) rated? I assumed the .308 hits hard enough that you don't have as many problems with under-penetration?

cmgee67 - If you are in the East Texas area and want another gun, I wouldn't mind joining / helping. Pigs are a huge problem around here. The more can be wiped out, the better for everything else in the woods.

I hand load Barnes TTSX for my Sig 716 and they work well but shot placement is still key. With my larger rounds like 458 SOCOM, 45/70 (using 500 grain hard cast) and 375 H&H I don’t worry as much about placement since those will get through the tough areas of the hogs. With 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 Grendel and .308 I try and use good placement since I hate losing one that I’ve hit.

[wil]

I’ll be shooting them with a 223. Federal 77 grain seirra match tip hollow point.

I plan on carrying a big knife and a large pistol as well. You never know. Just tying to decide between the 1911 or the 357 mag

match will work good 'IF' it penetrates. hogs are built stout and I've seen instances of that round hit the hog, break up and not penetrate deeply enough. If it does penetrate then break up they're effective.
If you're using your own handloads, in .223 I use the speer 70 gr spitzer softpoint. It is very reliable & tends to 'save' a lot of meat.

Sig 716 patrol.... MMMmmmmmm piggies are going to taste good. Now to score a thermal and explain the price tag to the wife. lol

Any specific round selection advice for .308? Or just anything hunting (IE-non lead) rated? I assumed the .308 hits hard enough that you don't have as many problems with under-penetration?

cmgee67 - If you are in the East Texas area and want another gun, I wouldn't mind joining / helping. Pigs are a huge problem around here. The more can be wiped out, the better for everything else in the woods.

anything in 308 nato, 30.06, etc, will do the job. When it comes to .30 cal, From ball ammo up to most any hunting round will get the job done reliably.

I dont use the match HP in .223 because it's not a dedicated hunting round, and the mfg have stated so. It's not designed for the impact it will take in hunting due to it's intended purpose. It will break or shatter on impact due to it's inability to handle the impact and consequently not penetrate like a dedicated hunting round.
True, we use it in the military (MK2 mod 0 I think is the designation if memory serves me correctly) and use it for long range however that is a different situation than hunting. Bad guys anatomy is not nearly as stout as a hog, and the match rounds tendency to shatter carries the same killing ability or effect as did the original 55 gr ball ammo at a much longer range.
It being a match round it is built differently than a dedicated HP hunting round, the jacket is much thinner and so forth.
It being a HP is due to the mfg process involved to make it capable of match accuracy.

the result being it hits a hog, shatters on impact and makes a nasty surface wound but does not incapacitate the animal and now you have wounded animal running around out there, which we as hunters try to avoid entirely.

Hogs I use either the speer 70 gr soft point or 62gr green tip ball with a government profile flat top 20" upper on both rounds.

[Iunnrais]

I hand load Barnes TTSX for my Sig 716 and they work well but shot placement is still key. With my larger rounds like 458 SOCOM, 45/70 (using 500 grain hard cast) and 375 H&H I don’t worry as much about placement since those will get through the tough areas of the hogs. With 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 Grendel and .308 I try and use good placement since I hate losing one that I’ve hit.

45/70 does goood. The 405gr rounds out of my Marlin 1895 seem to have no issue going lengthwise through a hog. Really anchors em. Biggest issue with that rifle is magazine capacity vs number of pigs in field.

[cmgee67]

Well first time out I was able to get rid of a four legged stinky pig. Only one that came in and I left him for my hunting partner to clean and keep.I am hooked on pig huntin. He wasn’t the size I wanted to keep but my partner liked him. That’s one down about a million to go

[rotor]

Well first time out I was able to get rid of a four legged stinky pig. Only one that came in and I left him for my hunting partner to clean and keep.I am hooked on pig huntin. He wasn’t the size I wanted to keep but my partner liked him. That’s one down about a million to go

Next comes a thermal scope.

[TreyHouston]

Well first time out I was able to get rid of a four legged stinky pig. Only one that came in and I left him for my hunting partner to clean and keep.I am hooked on pig huntin. He wasn’t the size I wanted to keep but my partner liked him. That’s one down about a million to go

[cmgee67]

My dad actually just bought one and mounted it to his 308. I would have taken it but we haven’t sighted it in yet

[Lynyrd]

Well first time out I was able to get rid of a four legged stinky pig. Only one that came in and I left him for my hunting partner to clean and keep.I am hooked on pig huntin. He wasn’t the size I wanted to keep but my partner liked him. That’s one down about a million to go

Good job! Killemall!

[Lynyrd]

Biggest issue ... is magazine capacity vs number of pigs in field.

That is always the trade off. When you see 30 at a time, and they all need to die, it changes your perspective.

[cmgee67]

I had my 10 round mag in the gun so it was easy to hunt out of the blind but I discovered that my 30 rounder will work as well. I may buy a magpul 60 round drum and use that to go to town on em