Does anyone use a suppressor on an AR-15 to hunt hogs? My problem is hogs are tearing up my fields and destroying crops. I have a AR-15 equiped with night vision. I am just trying to get more shots off without the hogs scattering so quick.

Thanks
Robert

It depends on how your state feels about shooting Hogs with a silencer. It is very effective especially if you are somewhat close and can handload to heavier bullets to subsonic velocities. Some rifles have problems cycling with lighter loads, you will have to mess with yours and decide. In Texas it is perfectly legal to shoot hogs with a silencer and lots of people do it for population control.

Thank you sir.

There is a guy in Lincoln Missouri at Ozark Armory
Don Wagenknecht (660) 547-3068‎. He built a couple of my AR15's and I have been extremely impressed with all of his stuff. He builds custom silencers that I have shot and they perform extremely well. He has a very good reputation in the silencer business and his prices are very reasonable. If you haven't gotten a silencer yet give him a call and let him tell you about his stuff. AB

Again thanks. No I have not gotten a suppressor yet. Just trying to think how I can get more shots off before they hit the woods.


Robert

With a good suppressor it is very interesting to hear the "cough" from your gun and the the sold smack of the bullet hitting. You can her the impact so well with out the muzzle blast. Many times the hogs don't reach much since they make so much noise anyways. They just look over at cousin Bob and think, "Bob, why the hell are you laying on the ground...Hey, who keeps coughing..looks like it is nap time for everyone esls.." My favorite way to do it was to take a post-hole digger and dig a hole to bury some soured corn in three or 4 holes about 5 feet apart. That gives a lot of distraction for a fairly big group of hogs to work on. With that many sites going you get fights over territory around the holes and they make a heck of a lot of noise. Let them feed for a while and get really worked up than start picking them off from the outside of the bunch.. the side that is the farthest away from the holes. Have fun! It will put a lot of bacon on the ground and if you are doing population control it is very effective. Oh yeah, if you will let them come in to your holes and feed a time of 2 before you start they will still keep coming back even after you have ambushed them a time or 2. In my experience if you hit them the 1st time they come in you don't let them build that really strong attraction to the food source you have put out. Other people may have had different experiences than I have, this is just what I have experienced. One thing about hogs that I have been told, and seen no reason to dispute, is that when they are eating a food that smells good that they roll in, or that effects the way that they smell, it makes them search out a similar smell constantly. So if you let them get into your soured corn they will smell that way and keep searching out that pit every night. Hell, if your property is big enough build several complexes of holes and take lots of ammo out with you and hit them all up. Hope this helps.. AB

I think the simpler thing to do is just handload a subsonic round. As has been said, pigs are rather noisy, and once at a bait site their attention is diverted from safety. Even if you are shooting a bolt action rifle and it takes a bit more time, there is no real hurry so long as there is enough food to keep the pigs in sight. It takes $200 plus the transfer fee in TX for a silencer, and that is a pretty good chunk of change for something you can accomplish a different way.

Just my $.02...

Thanks all. Went out last night to shoot. Me and my brother dropped four in the field and put rounds in about three more. All in all a good night. Still more to go though before we plant corn. Again thanks to all.

Robert

If you've ever heard of Tannerite, you could try that. Do a google search. Might be fun. I'm thinking of trying it.
GWB

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
I think the simpler thing to do is just handload a subsonic round. As has been said, pigs are rather noisy, and once at a bait site their attention is diverted from safety. Even if you are shooting a bolt action rifle and it takes a bit more time, there is no real hurry so long as there is enough food to keep the pigs in sight. It takes $200 plus the transfer fee in TX for a silencer, and that is a pretty good chunk of change for something you can accomplish a different way.

Just my $.02...

There is something missing in my understanding of the above quote. As I'm trying to make sense of it for me, I remember back when I shot 44 mag in a rifle, and loaded some light loads. They weren't really all that quite as I remember. Anyway I was thinking subsonic loads without a suppressor would still be too loud for the hogs to hang around for more.

I suppose it's one way to rid the gene pool of the really stupid ones.

Would someone please clear this up for me?

KB

The noise of the rifles action will scare the hogs away. It is actually quite loud.

If you want subsonic ammo in a suppressed gun, use a bolt or single shot.

Trapping may be the best bet. That is the most effective way to reduce the population ... of course it is not nearly as fun as a fully suppressed AR!

I was thinking the same thing Wendell. I have no experience with suppressors, but would like to. Certainly it would be fun to shoot a simi auto, but I have little experience with them either. I just figured that no matter how quiet you got the muzzel blast down, the sound of the action working would still be too much.

So, since I am familiar with bolt actions, and already have the basis for a suppressed rifle project, I may save myself some money too.

Still, I like the idea of the 458 Socom, with heavy cast bullets going subsonic. But I read in a related discussion that they aren't really quiet.

Of course the heavy cast bullet could be shot just as well (just not as fast) from a short 458 WM set up with mild subsonic handloads in mind. I have a .458 #5 barrel with a 20" twist, and a Mauser and a Ruger action - either would work. I might as well try it an see.

I talked to a fellow a few days ago who makes suppressors, and he said he could do it. But I dunno.

KB

In my experience it can go both ways on the noise. Sometimes the hogs don't even react to the sound of the gun, sometimes they disappeared like smoke. When they were really hungry and seemed to be in a fit to root up the bait it worked like a charm...unless you swatted one in the middle of the pack where they were feeding. That seemed to spook them every time and they would get really nervous and move off. If you just stuck to smacking the ones that were on the edges and as far away from the middle action as possible they would hang around and not react too much.. Normally
A good windy night always helped but it was not a sure thing.
I am not a steadfast expert on this, I am sure that there are lots of people that have much more experience than I do. I have been out and shot hogs with a suppressor maybe 7 or 10 times so please don't take my observation as steadfast rules! This stuff is all just what I have personally witnessed, and sometimes I was so excited that I was having trouble thinking straight! Thanks AB.