In about a month I am taking my girlfriend out hog hunting. We have tentativly chosen a 308 win. for her to shoot and we have two boxes of shells for her to use. We have a box of federal gold medal match hollow points and a box of winchester ballistic silvertips both in the 165/168 grain weights.What do you guys think about this set up? which bullets sould I use? This will be the first time she ever tried to kill anything so I am really hoping she is able to recover anything she shoots so I am looking for the bullet that will do best on a marginal hit since I am sure either will do fine on a hog if the placement is right.

.308 kills, regardless of hunting bullet used. Hogs are not tough. "THEY" might think so, but heck: what do THEY know?!!

right in the eye or 1/2 the way from shoulder to front foot ... a 308 will do it .. get her a set of the amplified/cutoff ear muffs -- remington or harbour freight, and let her wear them ALL the time.

why? 100% of the time, new shooters shoot better when not flinching from REPORT

If this is the first live game she has shot I would have her shoot the pig in the shoulder, or just behind it.

I have shot two pigs with the Federal 168gr Match, and it did kill them, but I would highly recommend you use the 168gr Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. I have shot a BUNCH of deer, and a BUNCH of pigs with the 168gr Winchester load and it works great. I use it quite a bit.

Also if she finds the recoil a bit too much get her some of the Remington 125gr 308 Managed Recoil ammo.

When I was going to take my 10 year old nephew deer and pig hunting I tried some of this ammo out od deer and pigs. It worked great.
Between the 2 of us we have killed 4 deer and 6 pigs with it.
It kills as good as full power 308 ammo, near as I can tell. The fartherst shot was a 225 lb pig I shot at 110 yards. He went right down.
We have shot deer and pigs as close as 20 yards with this bullet and it worked great giving complete penetration.

It kicks less than a 243.

The wife and I have also killed deer and pigs with Federal's 170gr Low Recoil ammo in our 30/36 Drilling. It too kicks very little and kills great.
They make this same 170gr load in the 308. It would be another good low recoil load for her.

If the rifle has a scope just make sure it does not hit her in the face/head.

These lower recoil loads are definately worth checking into.

I would have to second what N E 450 says.

The match round WILL Kill them but given that she's new to this, you may want a round that is designed to "kill" with more so than a round designed for "accuracy", if that makes any sense.

I have killed hogs with Match rounds as well as FMJ but those were head shots. I'd let her use the ballistic tips.

i was unaware of any rounds with bullets weighting less than 140 grains

Remington came out with their 125gr Low Recoil loads for the 308 and 30/06 a few years ago. They make them for other calibres as well. The Low Recoil loads for the 300 Mag use 150gr bullets and approximate the power and recoil level of standard 308 and 30/06 loads.

The 125 gr bullets were designed specifically for the velocities in the low recoil loads.

I shot a doe going away at about 30 yards and the 125gr bullet traveled from the rear ham into the chest cavity and knocked the doe right down. This is the only bullet I have recovered from the low recoil loads. It had expanded perfectly and it gave great penetration.

I have shot this round in several different 308's and it hits with in 2", usually less, of the standard loads the rifles were sighted in for, at 100 yards.

You would want to check this in your 308, and make what ever adjustments are necessary. You want her to get a clean kill and this Low Recoil ammo will be easy for her to shoot.

well that's some good information to have.thank you all.Still willing to hrar any other input anyone may have.....

quote:

i was unaware of any rounds with bullets weighting less than 140 grains

" IF " you handload ...?

There's been lots of testing with " Cutting Edge Bullets; .308 ".


http://forums.accuratereloadin...3/m/2861098911/p/194

PAPI

If you hand load get some 30-30 bullets and down-load some for her. I have done that with excellent results for a number of people. You can also load the Barnes 130gr TTSX(tipped version) and it works well. IF you do not handload then the managed or low recoil loads are the ticket. The 125gr load is good as is the load with the heavier bullets which uses a lower speed. Basicly it is a 30-30 bullet at a slower than 308win speed to give less recoil. Both will work fine since usually there is little need to shoot at 300+ yards and especially for a novice shooter/hunter.