I live in Florida and try to go hog hunting at least twice a year. My normal weapon of choice is a 45/70 as most shots present at ~50yrds. A friend is going to with me in a few weeks and will be using a 30/06. My question is how do these high velocity calibers perform at ranges under or around 50yrds. Does anyone have a suggestion for what kind of factory ammunition would be best suited for this kind of short range hunting? Thanks.

Lance

If you do not want damage,

I would load up some heavy 220 gr RN woodleigh's if you can, or buy the heaviest factory offering a 220 gr bullet will be going slower than the 150 gr variety and it is the speed that produces blooshot meat. Either that or stick with the 45/70 and 400 gr bullets.

PC got it right. Big, heavy bullets in a 30-06 work wonders at short range. They also work awesome at medium range if you know how to shoot.

Guide Guy
My wife and I have shot several animals at pretty close range, including several pigs at @20yards and 2 Bobcats at less than 50 yards, one at about 20-25yds without extensive meat and in the case of the bobcats no pelt damage. [Well there was an entrance and exit hole but the hide was not "blown open"] The secret...we used Federal Factory Trophy Bonded Bearclaw loads, 165gr in the 308, the 30-06 are 180gr. Because the bearclaw is a bonded core bullet and the lead is soft and not brittle the lead/jacket does not fragment like non bonded core bullets do. Thus you have a big mushroom for good killing power but since the bullet does not fragment you do not have a lot of bloodshot meat or ripped open hide on smaller animals. Also because the bullet stays together if you hit big bones up close you still get good penetration. They have worked very well for us.

if you have to do factory ammo, a 220 grain or 180 grain Round Nose.

If you hand load, it will do anything a premium bullet will do at those ranges.

If you have to be " cool" and " trendy" then a 220 grain Nosler SemiPointed Partition.

Hey Hot Core, it strikes me as ironic that so many of these "bad bullets" get recovered from the animal.

bullet construction
bullet construction
bullet construction

If you have time for reloading, sighting etc do so with heavy bullets of good construction. We're not talking moonshots so b/c etc isn't as important. Speer Grand Slam for example, Nosler Partition and Barnes X. Or buy factory ammo with same. Or go the 220 gr. soundnose.

I agree on heavy and/or premium bullets in the 30-06. I've used Remington 220 CoreLokt and Federal 180 Trophy Bonded on big animals from 30 to 120m. Both worked fine. I also agree with iron sights, if your buddy checks his zero up close before you go.

Hope this helps, Okie John.

Hogs @ 50 yds from an 06, Hmm! Sounds to me like your friend needs to discover the joys of making your own cast bullets.

In my opinnion the 30-06 with about any 180 to 220 gr. bullet kills better than the 45-70 on big game...at least thats been my experience.

The 220gr round nose bullet in the .30-06 works. Is it perfect for everything or every situation? Of course, not. But, I think too many people overlook it as an option.

Here's my Warthog from South Africa last year.
Rifle: Ruger 77 MkII in .30-06.
Load: 220gr Woodleigh round nose at 2460 fps (52.0gr IMR-4350, W-W case, WLR primer).
Range: Shot taken at about 25 yards.



And here's the Warthog's heart (at the skinning shed):



It worked for me.

For a factory load you might want to look at the Federal Classic ammo line with the 220gr bullet in .30-06.

-Bob F.

[ 10-09-2003, 02:54: Message edited by: BFaucett ]

I here people talk of having good success with 220 grain bullets from the 30-06 but I have never met anyone who had a 30-06 that would shoot the 220 grains bullets with what I consider to be acceptable accuracy. Most any 180 grain bullet will do the job on pigs for sure though.

In the '06, use a Nosler Partition 220 at around 2200 FPS MV. In the .45/70, use a hard cast lead slug with a big flat nose of at least 400 grains... velocity does not matter so much with the .45/70 at your ranges.....

Any good 1/10" twist .308" barrel will stabilize the 220 grain bullet. What is "acceptable accuracy" for shooting large animals at less than 50 yards??

[ 10-10-2003, 16:50: Message edited by: eldeguello ]

Thanks for all of the good information. I loaded some Hornady 220g RN over 53g of IMR4350 for the '06. I took my 45/70 with some 550gr hardcast over 37g of IMR 3031(I just had to try these cannonballs). All shot great at the range, but unfortunately the only hogs I saw were two 30 pount piglets that were running around with the cattle.

Lance

I have never had any problems with 220 gr. RN bullets shooting well in my 30-06 or 300 H&H, they cut a 1 inch group...even my .308 shoots them but not very fast...I like the Woodleigh and the Noslers. The Corelokts don't shoot very well at 1-3/4" and 2" in both guns, but thats good enough for bush hunting...I like the old corelokts because they are a great game bullet but they never were famous for accuracy...

The 30-06 is by no means a high velocity round and does not need specialty ammunition for close range shooting.Shooting the 30-06 at 50 yards is the same velocity wise as one of the 300 magnums at 200 yards.Use a partition or failsafe or one of the other premium bullets from 165 to 180 grains and you will have no problems at all.

Or just a good old Core-Lokt, Interlock, Hot Core...

They've been getting the job done for a long time, and they'll continue doing so. The critters aren't getting any tougher.

I guess people recomend what worked best for them. We had a serious hog control program at a lease that required much culling. It was best done over feeders at night. Twice in 4 years I killed 5 hogs with one shot...all lined up in a row, about 40 yds. The first time it happened we recovered the bullet in the off foreleg of the fifth hog; didn't find the second one. The bullet was a hand-loaded Grand Slam in .270 and I believe they can be had reasonably in Speer Nitrex factory ammo. Hogs aren't that hard to kill but it takes a pretty good bullet to penetrate through 5.

I have to agree with those advocating heavier bullets or premium bullets in the 30-06 for short range. I shot a small buck deer at short range with the Federal 150 grain factory load many years ago. The bullet hit him in the shoulder blade and blew up. The empty jacket was in the shoulder and the deer's neck was full of shot sized lead particles. I did have to shoot again and the second bullet killed him. Conventional bullets do work most of the time but I like them to work all the time. I now use Barnes X.

Guide Guy,

Use Nosler Partition bullets in your 30-06, either 180s at 2700 fps or 165s at about 2850. Use spitzer bullets, not round nose. That way you'll be able to take a long range shot too, if one presents itself.

With the 180 Nosler Partition, I have shot a caribou at 30 yards and an elk at 50 yards. Velocity ws probably 3100 at impact. The bullets held together just find and exited with large exit holes.

Indy

I agree with all the posts, but a hog is a relitively easy animal to kill...I have shot many hogs with the 25-35, 30-30 and even with the 222 and 22 Hornet without any problems what so ever...The 45-70 will work just fine, but the 30-06 is a better killer of game..