My hunting buddy and myself have a hog hunt in september in southern texas. I am primarily a varmit hunter, so my guns for hog hunting are fairly limited. The two choices i see are my 30-30 or .243 win. The 30-30 is a short barreled lever action with open sights, great for packing. The .243 on the other hand is a ruger m77 target, with a 6-24x50 scope, not exactly a great pack gun, or close encounter gun. I am assuming the better gun would be the 30-30, but what do all you hog hunters think. And, for which ever gun i should go with, what would be the best choice of rounds to use. The .243 i do reload for, but the 30-30 i would prefer be factor loads.

thanks for all the help.

I love to use the 30-30 in close with hogs. The large capasity tube and fast handeling action are nice. Most of the South Texas hunters I know use long acton bolt rifles because the shots can be very long. I stopped using a short 7mm08 rifle because of Hogs that I could not drop due to poor shot placement. Your .243 is smaller than the 7mm and will need to make head or neck shots to drop hogs over 200 lbs. I was hunting near Uvalde and a person asked how to shoot a Hog. I told him to do a head shot. I forgot to tell him that one good shot would work. He emptied his gun into the hogs head as the hog lay on the ground. The first Shot did the job and the rest of the shots were because the hogs was still twitching. If you can shoot with confidence and will be over 50 yards from the feeders, use your scoped rifle.

Depends on where and how you're going to hunt.

A lot of my south Texas friends hunt from stands/blinds and swear by head shots. Shots are usually fairly short, but on our last two trips at least one hunter was offered opportunities in the 175-200 yard range. For such hunting, I would much rather have your .243 with a tough 100 gr. bullet, because of its greater degree of accuracy, and limit myself to head/upper neck shots. As a varmint hunter, you should be pretty comfortable with your ability to hit a small target, from the rest offered by the blind or stand, at any likely range.

On the other hand, if you're not going to be in a blind, but rather still-hunting the brush, I'd much rather have the 30-30 with a good 170 gr. bullet (at least one factory load--it may be Federal--features 170 gr. Noslers). I've used a .44 carbine in the same circumstances. Shots are short, the animal may be moving, and head shots can be problematic. The larger, heavier bullet would give me a lot more comfort in that situation. However, note that one of the problems with hogs--and the reason that so many hunters like head shots--is that they often leave negligible blood, even on a good hit. They may be dead on their feet, but able to get into the thick stuff before they keel over. Since hunting is often best in the fading light of evening, that can easily lead to a lost animal.

Good luck on the hunt.

Go with the .243 and head shots if you are hunting at any distance. I've tried once with the 30-30 and did not like the results.

Bob

If you predict any long shots I would definitely take the 243 on the hunt, or why not just take them both with you? Most areas that you be could be hunting in Texas have varied terrain where either rifle could be the best choice.

If just one I would take the scoped 243 and go for the neck.

Doug

I know that I will open up a can of worms; I would take the 30-30 for Texas.

Now that I have stepped in it I want to qualify my statement by saying that I have never had a shot on a hog that was over 150 yards. Thus the 30-30 is fine, also most of my hog hunting has been in swampy areas, or along creek bottoms, again the ranges I have experienced are for the most part short. And lastly I just don�t like the 243, for big game, I like a bigger bore, with lots of knockdown. Just MHO!

First of all, thanks for all of the comments, I will take them all into consideration.

I think that i am going to take both guns, and the only reason that i even hesitated about taking both is that i am already taking 2 other guns. You see, i also have a bobcat "tag" and can take unlimited coyotes while i'm there as well. So i am gonna take my 17 hmr for the cat, and i want to try my virgin 204 out on the dogs. So i guess what i'm trying to say is, four guns it is.

Good show! You can never take too many guns or have too much horsepower

Hauptjager, I agree with you 100% about the 30-30 and the 243, except for one small point. As a head/neck shot gun only the 243 is fine, but these shots should be taken only to about 100-150 yards. Beyond that the target is just too small and moving. I used to hunt with only a ML and if you want you can keep all shots to under 100yds and be sucessful. Normaly in Texas the hunting for pigs is still hunting/stalking or stand hunting. In the former your shots will be generaly under 50yds. In the latter your feeder will be 75yds or so away. Take 'em both and choose when you see the type of hunting. As for bullets: for the 243 any decent non varmint 100gn, for the 30-30 any 150-170. Most of these adult pigs will weigh 100-200lbs. Of course there are larger ones. If you'r shooting for meat try a 100-150lb non-lactating sow or boar. Good luck, capt david

Out of what you mention I would take the 30/30.....preferably trade it in on a marlin 45/70 & add a 2.5x compact leupold and you will have one of the best pig guns one could ever own. Tne other option is find a reproduction 1886 winchester extra lite in 45/70, they are very quick handling like your 30/30 and have a slick action. They are made by Miruko in Japan and they are made very well....you can find them quite cheap, I purchased mine from legendry arms in the states, it arrives this week and a mate of mine got one in a couple of months before I did and when I handled it I new I had made a good purchase, very slick and locks up good, with a peep site you will get the quick handling of your 30/30 with awsome amounts of punch.

I have used the 22 L.R., 30-30, 25-35, 222 and others, all of them worked well...I have never found feral hogs hard to kill, but under some conditions ranges can be long down a Sendero in which case a good flat shooting rifle like a 270 or 300 is certainly in order...javalina are very easy to kill with about anything...