Iam getting ready to do some pig huntin.
What are your thoughts on a rifle and load.
Ian thinking about a 35 remington pump.
A30/06 pump maybe a 270 semi auto.
Or even a 30/30 lever.
Iam sure they are all good pig getter?
Dave

Pick the one you are most comfortable shooting, and go get some pork! Any one of the rifles you listed will do the job. Shoot them in one ear if standing sideways, and if looking at you, draw a line between eyes and opposite ear, then shoot where the "X" is.

Pretty darned simple!

Yup, works everytime I done it. Bang flop!

I shoot 220's in my 06 140s in my 270.

200s in your 35 rem or 170s in your 30-30 will work just fine.

I used a 44 mag this morning on 2 pigs. It did the job, but not quickly.

25.06 with 115 grain Ballistic Tips charged with Reloader 22. Killed the pigs dead!

223 with 60gr Sierra hollow points.

308 with 165 SSTs at about 2600 -- nailed 5 of them saturday night

Been useing a 6 Ackely. 100 grains spitzers behind the ear or in the ear or in front of the ear. Shot a big boar with it 3 weekss ago, he had his right leg forward and by the time i squeezed, he moved his leg back and caught him smack dab where I did want to hit him. He only went about 40 yds. Was impressed with the results on a bigger pig.

They don't seem to appreciate it when you hit then right behind the ear w/ a .44 Mag. Drops dead right there , 30'06 does the same. The only place they have run from me is straight down , no movin'.

if using a bolt gun 243 or bigger.
i use 243,303, 308, 3006, 44mag, 444 marlin,458 win mag

I've used a lot of different calibers, but believe that the 30/06 is as good or better than most.

Just because it's lightweight and shots are 15-30yds...... Ruger 77/22Mag ... Federal 50gr Game Shok HP ... Head shots ... But I put one behind the shoulder of a bug Sow at about 30yds and her heart was Jello.
T/C Encore 45-70 when I want to make more NOISE

Depends on the type of hog hunting/shooting you are in. One is the type where you can get up close to feeding pigs and plink them in the ear with a small bore. Seems to be popular some places. Or even closer and just use a .22.
But if you are hunting them European style in the woods where they might be running past you at 35 MPH, and you need to drive a bullet into the vitals from any angle, then you need a caliber that will do just that, and have energy left over. Which is why I like to use calibers 35 and up; velocity is not as important. I shot one once with a 30-06 broadside once, and the bullet did not go all the way across. 180 grain Speer. I did that just to use a new double rifle I got.
I prefer 9.3s, 35s, 375, even shot them with 450-400 and 450 Nitro; those work well from any angle and any range; will punch into the vitals and keep on going.
35 Rem you mentioned; should be good.
Of course if they are standing still and broadside, then anything will work, sort of.

Story, true; some friends were gong to Texas last spring. Wanted to take their 30-06s and 243. I told them how to do it; be careful and use heavy bullets; do not shoot them in the shoulder, and make sure they were broadside.
You can already see what happened. one guy put 5 rounds into both shoulders with 150 grain bullets, and each time the pig ran 50 to 100 yards and stopped. No shot penetrated into the lungs. Other guy showed up with his 243 and shot it in the head.
Both of them now want 350 Rem mags.
I know everyone uses small bores, but they have lots of pigs to choose from and take only perfect shots. We, here, have no pigs and getting to hunt them is a big deal.

My wife uses a Husky 640 in 30/06 with 220 gr Core Lokts, works great.

I like my 9.3x62 with 286 gr bullets and I'm currently working out a 300 H&H Model 70 that dpcd put together for me.

I've used 30/06, 6.5x55, 9.3x62 257 Roberts but mostly a .223.
My personal thoughts are that pigs are not that hard to kill. If I recall correctly they all were shot with cup and core bullets. If hit right they die pretty quick, they may run when heart shot but don't get far.
Most people tend to shoot hogs too high and too far back from what I've seen.
CNS shots drop them like lightning bolts.
Many different ways to hunt hogs, close shots at feeders, spot and stalk, culling. Different rifles for different styles.
Next time I go I will take 2 AR15's one in .223 the other 7.62x39 and a bolt action for longer spot and stalk shots like a 257 Roberts or(??) 6.5x55, 22/250, .243...

I have been on several pig hunts since 2012.
I settled on the 35 rem 180gr Hornady round nose bullet. also used the 30/06 168gr sierra bullet.
The pigs were pretty small about 120 to 150 pounds.
we could walk right on the pigs about 70 to 80 yards, pick out one and shoot.
if you were too close some of the pigs would come right at you.
No one got cut or chomped but it sure got exciting for a minute or two.

Some advice I got from an old hunter when I was a youngster, "it ain't what you hit 'em with.... it's where you hit 'em".

What ever is in my truck (22 short to 458 Lott) Just shoot them. Nothing but destructive Pests!!

EZ

Just keep in mind if you shoot for a heart /lung shot keep it forward. Easy to be a little too far back on hogs, hence the reputation for being hard to kill. also, often hogs don't bleed well, can be hard to track and find 25 yards into the thick brush after dark some times, so if not doing head/neck shots, the bigger the hole the better.

A few years ago when we hunting hogs down in Gonzales (corn capital) I used my 7x57 bolt + it worked just fine but for large groups,its hard to beat an M1A for quantity results.Since I'm no Bell,I rely on a more instantanious knockdown power for herd shooting. Also those helicopter shoots look like a world of fun.

Just about any rifle from .357 to .45-90.
They are not hard to kill if shot in the right place.
My son does well with a .223 and his .308 and 458 Socom.

Onions , garlic and clove.

I use a .300 WM, usually with generic Federal 165s, but since I'm running out of that selection, I am moving up to 180s. Pigs are easy to kill with decent shots.

Of the ones mentioned in your opening post, I'd go with the .35 Rem. It has done very good work on some pigs in the past for me.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Onions , garlic and clove.

What? You've got Dracula in your area?

I can't picture cloves on pig, but to each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Story, true; some friends were gong to Texas last spring. Wanted to take their 30-06s and 243. I told them how to do it; be careful and use heavy bullets; do not shoot them in the shoulder, and make sure they were broadside.
You can already see what happened. one guy put 5 rounds into both shoulders with 150 grain bullets, and each time the pig ran 50 to 100 yards and stopped. No shot penetrated into the lungs. Other guy showed up with his 243 and shot it in the head.
Both of them now want 350 Rem mags.
I know everyone uses small bores, but they have lots of pigs to choose from and take only perfect shots. We, here, have no pigs and getting to hunt them is a big deal.

I can't imagine what kind of crappy 150 gr bullets wouldn't penetrate the shoulder of even a real big boar with shield. People used to tell me for years that Ballistic Tips were too "explosive" for hogs, while I kept on dropping them everyday with them. Pigs didn't know they weren't supposed to die. All that said, I think the .35 Rem is a damn good pig round.

If you get down into the NE Texas area, give me a holler. I've got plenty of pigs and they aren't bullet proof. I REALLY hate to invite someone to come a long ways to shoot pigs, because they just don't cooperate some of the time.

all we can use up here is a knife and fork

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Story, true; some friends were gong to Texas last spring. Wanted to take their 30-06s and 243. I told them how to do it; be careful and use heavy bullets; do not shoot them in the shoulder, and make sure they were broadside.
You can already see what happened. one guy put 5 rounds into both shoulders with 150 grain bullets, and each time the pig ran 50 to 100 yards and stopped. No shot penetrated into the lungs. Other guy showed up with his 243 and shot it in the head.
Both of them now want 350 Rem mags.
I know everyone uses small bores, but they have lots of pigs to choose from and take only perfect shots. We, here, have no pigs and getting to hunt them is a big deal.

I can't imagine what kind of crappy 150 gr bullets wouldn't penetrate the shoulder of even a real big boar with shield. People used to tell me for years that Ballistic Tips were too "explosive" for hogs, while I kept on dropping them everyday with them. Pigs didn't know they weren't supposed to die. All that said, I think the .35 Rem is a damn good pig round.

If you get down into the NE Texas area, give me a holler. I've got plenty of pigs and they aren't bullet proof. I REALLY hate to invite someone to come a long ways to shoot pigs, because they just don't cooperate some of the time.

I did find a 150 gr. bullet that was too soft for anything but varmints. A long time ago the Barnes line called "Burners" had bullets in most diameters. They were cheap so I bought 500 and used them for a season in Wyoming. Nastiest wounds I have ever seen, even had a surface blow up on an antelope. You could have stuck a football in that hole. Never got an exit with a broadside ribcage hit but the deer just hit the ground. Before elk season I loaded up some Speer 180 gr. Hotcor spitzers which worked perfectly. The rest of the Burners were used on prairie dogs and coyotes or shooting rocks at long range.

I have killed most of mine with a 300wby, 180 grain Nosler, 270 second and a 6mm in that order. All but 10 or so was from a deer blind while deer hunting.

To the best of my recollection, the last one I shot was with a .22, the one before that was a .300 Blackout, and the one(s) before that were .404 Jeffrey. Variety is the spice of life...

My youngest boy killed a 200 pound hog this spring turkey season with a 12 guage 2-3/4" and #4 shot.

I hunt with dogs and what I want is a light compact carbine. Distances are short, the target moving and often brush and trees make for challenging shooting. I hunt with a Marlin Guide Gun in .45/70. A 340 grn. .458 cal. Bullet at 1800 fps gets it done. A 30/30 might do as well but I like big holes.

Guys,

Shot a very big pig in OZ last month. 375 H&H 300 TSX through the left shoulder with broadside presentation. DRT but no exit. I would not have wanted to take that shot with a "deer" rifle with a cup and core bullet.

Mark

On my sisters and our deer lease near Leander, Texas Ive seen more pigs shot with 222, 223s and 22-250 than anything else, they kill them fast..I hear this BS about pigs having an armour shield over their shoulders?? Ive skinned a hell of a lot of pigs and have yet to see anything more than skin and any caliber will penetrate that area..They are not bullet proof, quite the opposite...My idea of a perfect pig gun is a 25-35 for blind to feeder pigs, and a 25-35 or 30-30 to walk them up, and any deer rifle will work on pigs...Ive used most calibers just for observation on them.

What Mark said. On large male pigs (USA and Europe) mostly inside of 50 yards, I have recovered 30-06 200 partitions and 220 hornady round nose and one 180 sierra as well as 9.3 250 accubond and 286 partition.These were broad side lung shots, bullets were not to the skin on opposite side.

a 250 lb pig is a big pig. The largest I have seen in person is 320lbs shot by my son 10-12 yrs ago.
I use what ever I have in my truck. 22LR or 458.
I am not a fan of the vermin. They just tear up your pastures. Shoot on sight
243 with a TSX or NP is fine. Use what you have.

EZ