Looking for some wild boar hunting loads for my 44 mag. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help, Jay

Havent taken a wild boar but have a javelina and a warthog. One shot and thier chest was like jello. I used winchester supers 230 grains. Also took 3 other african animals with this ammo. All dropped at the shots.


[ 07-17-2002, 16:00: Message edited by: tonto ]

I have not hunted boar, but most people recommend a hard cast bullet or jacketed softpoint weighing at least 240 grains. The idea is to get good penetration. Boars have tough skins and heavy bones, rapid expansion would limit penetration severely.

I took a 250 pound boar with a 240 gr. Sierra JHC, but in retrospect, a Hornady 240 XTP would have been better if they had made them then. The reason I say that is when using the 240 JHC on deer, I never got an exit wound, but after switching over to the XTP, I always got an exit wound, ergo, better penetration.

The load that works very well in my Ruger SRH .44 Magnum is a 300 grain Cast Bullet on top of 21.5 Grains of W296 or H110. It shoots a .5" group at 25 yards, goes out at 1300 FPS, and will go clean through any hog. I use the 300 grain cast bullet from Cast Performance - http://www.carttonic.com/catalog/index.php?file=catalog&action=catalog_productinfo&uid=170&pi_id=4086&clist=

We have recently been blessed with an infestation of hogs. Mostly imported and released. These are generaly domestic hogs but they still develop the notorious "plate". This is a cartilage type of "body armor" that protects the fron half of the body from other hogs. On an old hog this can go 1 to 1.5 inches thick. Because of this physical construction of the hog, it is imperative that the bullet achieves full penetration to have any hope of a blood trail.
Most people hunting here have gone to heavy hard bullets in rifles (deer loads don't work).
We have heard stories of jacketed bullets "blowing up" on the plate and never penetrating the rib cage.
I shoot a 44 mag and I have my hog loads set up with a 300 gr Bull-X over 17.8 grs of W296 for about 1100 -1200 fps. I have every confidence it will work.
Locals have found that full penetration by a good broadheaded arrow is better than a 130 gr 270 or a 150 gr 30-06.

Tough animals, hard to kill and there is always the possibility of real danger with a wounded one.

On my first wild hog hunt, about 15 years ago, I watched my hunting buddy shoot a big boar 5 times with his Super Blackhawk .44 mag. Four of those were good hits, but only one penetrated to the vitals. We chased this hog about a half mile after the first shot, were charged, and eventually it was killed with a rear-quartering shot that slipped up into the heart and lungs. After that sobering lesson I quietly put my little .357 mag away and got out the .300 Win mag rifle. One shot, one hog later that day. Lesson we learned was that the 210 grain JHC Sierra isn't enough bullet for a big hog. It seems obvious now, but 15 years ago those same bullets worked like dynamite on whitetail, so my buddy thought they'd be great on hogs too. Wrong answer and we've both changed loads! Guy

Need to look no farther than shark bait's answer.

Good post.

Brian

Hard cast definitely. We are starting to have a hog problem up here in Washington over on the Olympic pennisula. Slim