I may go on a boar (not javelina) hunt this year in Texas. I've always wanted to shoot one with a handgun and I have a .44 Mag (Interarms Virginian Dragoon). Is this a good boar gun within 50 yards? If so what loads do you like?

My favorite load for boar is a 300 grain cast bullet on top of 21.5 gr. of W296 or H110. It will penetrate clear through. This load is safe in my gun, but should be worked up to in yours.

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"If it ain't a 45/70, it's just a passing fad"

[This message has been edited by Shark Bait (edited 04-23-2002).]

You want a heavy, over 260 gr, hard cast bullet with as wide a meplat (flat nose) as you can get. The flat spot on the nose does 99% of the work. Make it a big one.

Caliber will surely do the job, not sure about the gun. Is it one of those Italian clones? Is it as strong as a Ruger SBH? If it is you can buy ammo from Garret or CorBon that will kill any hog that walks the earth. If is is a cheap knock off use it as a club back up to a spear.

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Handgun Hunter
LOVE THOSE .41s'

The 3 most important things in killing a hog with any gun and nearly any caliber are:

1) Shot placement

2) Shot Plaeement

3) SHOT PLACEMENT

Given that, if you can put it in a 8 inch circle at 50 yards then the .44 mag is more than adequate, although I would prefer some kind of solid or semi-solid bullet to the rapidly expanding ones. Big boars are notorious for causing bullets to "blow up" and running off to die later.

Seamus O'Grady,

The 44 Mag is a fine hog round for the range you want to hunt at. I can not disagree with the comments made so far to your post but personally I am a jacketed bullet man. I know the hard cast bullets work but just prefer the jacketed bullets.

This does present a problem when one is hunting critters that can bit and scratch. Most jacketed handgun bullets are simply a joke when it comes to big game hunting, especially if driven over say 1100 fps. There is one company that has given handgun hunters a very tough jacketed bullet at a very good price.

The Speer Uni-Core line of handgun hunting bullets may be one of the best jacketed bullets for big game made for a handgun. They feature bonded-core technology(cannot shed their jackets) that allows them to penetrate very deep. The 300gr Uni-Core SP bullets in .429" and .452 are very well suited for hunting hogs, any size you wish to shoot.

I used the 300 gr Uni-Core out of a 4 5/8" 45 Colt Ruger blackhawk driven to 1200 fps with H-110 on a Russian Boar hunt last fall. At 30 yards, I smacked a near 300 pound boar square in the shoulders and the boar took off in a flash only to pile up within 20 yards. The 300 gr Speer had penetrated the 1" thick grissel shield, broke the onside shoulder, completely penetrated the chest cavity and exited the off side, just missing the other shoulder. I never found the bullet to see what type of expansion it got but from the 1" exit would, it was obvious that it was very controlled even after full penetration.

Now I know this was a 45 Colt and your using a 44 mag, but they will perform very much the same. The Colt has a slight edge in velocity, the 44 has an advantage in S.D.

The best part is that they cost about $9/50 bullets, compared to 5 times that for other so called premium handgun bullets.

These have worked great for me as have the Hard Cast bullets, gives you another option to try at least.

Good Hunting!!!

50

The large meplat bulles, LBT style are good if 300 gr or better. Loaded at maximum safe velocity they should kill swiftly. Wasn't it Elmer Keith that said two holes are best? Let the blood out and cold air in. He was right, in my experience.

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Member NRA, Life NMLRA, Life NAHC

He's right on.. placement is the key. I'm an expert on boar hunting having shot.... uh... 1? A hair over 200lbs sow. I made what would in a normal hunting situation be called a pretty good shot. Broadside just behind the shoulder. A 465gr .512" Keith style SWC @ 1350ps. Made a huge hole through both side and destroyed he lungs. She was unpressed and took off. As she ran away I hit her again, but up too high above the spine. (You could SEE the spine through the wound track) She was still unimpressed and ran about 225 yards more. There I hit her in between the skull and neck, where she did an 'end-o" and expired.
Conversely my hunting partner shot his with a T/C in 300 Whisper. A 150gr Noslar Balistic tip @ 1750fps, between the head and neck. It's legs simply folded and it rolled over dead. Nice and quiet like.
Placement over power. My advise would be shoot 'em in the neck and head, whatever you use.

Cas:

I don't care if you've shot one or a hundred, you've got it. Pigs are tough, and don't leave much of a blood trail, usually.

To anchor them, again, with practically any reasonably caliber, which is almost anything but a .22 LR, hit them from the heart forward. The heart in a pig is directly behind where the front leg crosses the body line. From there forward is your aiming point. A little back will still usually drop them, 3 or 4 inches behind the leg, still in the lungs will be a runner, most of the time.

[This message has been edited by Gatogordo (edited 05-01-2002).]