Hi guys,
I am going on a driven boar hunt in January and have been advised by the outfitter to get barnes x/trophy bonded bullets for my .270 Winchester in order to ensure the bullet exits and leaves a good blood trail.

My rifle is already sighted in with Nosler partition bullets, of which I have a good supply.

Now I don't want to spark a debate on the merits of a .270 for driven shooting but if anyone can give me some input on this I would appreciate it. On one hand I can't see noslers failing to penetrate on a boar, and can see the benefit of additional expansion. BUT with 80% of shots poorly placed on driven hunts, would a super-tough bullet help?
Cheers

Gabriel

Boggy

I wouldn't hesitate to go with the tried and tested partitions. I have never used Barnes bullets but I would say the partition is as good as you are going to get.

Some people may be more experienced with Barnes but the partition in my opinion is an excellent performance bullet.

Just my opinion

Hi Gabriel, how's things?

The Partitions will be fine. I am also a fan of the Barnes, especially at the higher velocities you of the .270 at close range.

But don't fret, you'll be fine...

In my opinion, the problem is not the bullet but the cartridge; here the 270W is commonly considered scarce for driven hunts of boars, and only 2-3% of hunters use it. The "minimum" is the 7x64 with 160/175 gr bullets. but the majority uses 7RM, 308W, 30-06 or 300WM. My rifle for this purpose, is a BAR cal 300 WM loaded with 200 gr. Norma Oryx bullets. Somebody will say that it's not true, that I exaggerate, but it's the reality, here. As you pointed out, the problem is the poorly placed bullets. A bigger cartridge and heavier bullet are MUCH more forgiving. Anyway, I belive that a .270 150 gr. Nosler Partition is a better choice than a monometal bullet for boar hunting.

P.S. I would suggest you to consider RN bullets like Hornady 150 gr., Lapua Mega 160 gr. or Nosler SSP 160 gr. that are, IMO, more effective than spitzers for close and medium range shots.

hi gabriel

stick with the partitons, they kill boar just fine also IMHO you should not use monometal bullets on drives since they travel longer after the exit being abel to hit and hurt something or somebody.
you seem from your writings to be a nice guy and a good hunter, so i already count on you to know the field behind the animal, but every now and then Shit happens. and a bullet bounce on out into the free world, the danish army made a study some years ago where in a worst case senario the bullet can angel 45 degrees. this study was with soft and solids and of course the solids were the worst but the difference between soft and solid was huge. thats why i, when on a driven hunt only use soft nose bullets like woodleigh softs.

just my 2 cents

peter

You will be shooting at adrenalin hyped boars at full run. All bullets kill (in time) but not all will drop boars close by. A .270 is definityely on the light side if the bullet is not placed prefectly (expect it will not). Drive hunting is the most popular hunting mode in this country and the most reputed calibers ane .300 Win and especially the 9,3's (9,3x74R, 9,3x62). Last sunday, I shot 2 driven boars of 80-90 kg with my 9,3x74R :

1st : 20-25 m. High shoulder shot, spine busted, rolled like a rabbit; dead on the spot.

2nd. : hit twice but too far back in liver area. Stumbled, recovered and still made 100 m through the woods before the dogs caught up. Boar was finished off with knife.

Apart from caliber considerations, which were already pointed out, the 150gr Partition should work OK. With the correct Bullet Placement, which is not always the case.

Like Wildboar suggested, I would also consider a 150-160 gr round nose bullet for the close and medium shots, Remington had a 150 gr Round Nose Core Lockt which worked great in the .270 W for driven Hunts, the Lapua Mega also seems to be a good choice.

Hope you enjoy your hunt,
Cheers

I am sure that a member of AR shot some boar with a 270 and 150gr partitions last year.

Stick with your Noslers and .270. They will be absolutely adequate.
Just remember 3 things: shot placement, shot placement and shot placement.
There is little difference if you shoot a boar in the guts with a .243w or a 9,3X74r.

quote:

Originally posted by Pric65:
There is little difference if you shoot a boar in the guts with a .243w or a 9,3X74r.

I don't think so. Maybe with solid bullet but with softs there is a major difference - IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by 1894mk2:
I am sure that a member of AR shot some boar with a 270 and 150gr partitions last year.

Yes 1894, that was me, over the past two years. They worked very well. I saw boar shot with various "lightish" rounds - 7x57R, 6.5x55 and even a (shock, horror) 243win. They all killed pigs nicely.

Placement as always is the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Pric65:
......There is little difference if you shoot a boar in the guts with a .243w or a 9,3X74r.

As Mouse93 said, this is a questionable statement.

The 150 Partition out of my 30/06 which is I would say only marginally more powerful than the .270 has served me just fine.

The front part is soft and whacks 'em good, the hard rear part always penetrates.

The most common rounds I saw in use out there were the 308win in bolt guns and 7x65R in break action guns. Ammunition seemed to be whatever was to hand.

Neither of these rounds present a significant step up from a 270win with 150gr NP's.

Also the vast majority of pigs shot were under 100kg's, most were in the 40-60kg range.

quote:

Originally posted by wildboar:

quote:

Originally posted by Pric65:
......There is little difference if you shoot a boar in the guts with a .243w or a 9,3X74r.

As Mouse93 said, this is a questionable statement.

Don't take it so literally, what I meant to say was, that in the end bullet placement overshadows the differences in caliber choice. I have seen boars hit with 6.5 swede drop faster (and several times, due to the shooter in question being a good consistent marksman) than ones shot with a 8X57, .30-06 or even .300WM and .338s.
Another issue is the safety. On that point I agree, large diameter, low(ish) velocity round-noses are considerably safer in driven hunts than a lets say .270WSM.

I'll second Mouse and Wildboar 100%. Having (unwillingly) done it before and redone it (as unwillingly) a few days ago, I can tell you there's a big difference in hitting a boar in the guts with a large or a small caliber. While such a hit with a small caliber may go unnoticed on a running animal, the same hit with a large caliber is definitely perceived by an onlooker and the victim will react to the impact. Also, fleeing distance will be shorter with the big bullet and bleeding much more profuse..

Thanks for the input gentlemen.

There is only one way to settle this....I will go and gutshoot a big boar!

I will let you know how it all pans out, fingers crossed I don't shoot another hunter or unnecessarily wound any piglets.

G

It would seem to me there are two discussions rolled into one here. The first is whether Gabriel, given that a .270 Win is the rifle at hand, should hunt for driven boar? The answer to this is naturally, "yes, if that is the rifle available, go for it". And yes, under those circumstances, a 150 grs Partition will probably be a most sensible choice of bullet.

Now that we have that part of the discussion behind us, the second part is really about what tools are best for hunting driven boar - small or larger bores??

We all have our experience, and have very likely all seen pigs killed with small bore rifles, .264 cal, .277 cal, .284 cal are all very popular and kill a bunch of pigs every year. But that does not necessarily make them ideal tools for the job. Pigs vary a LOT in size, whereas it is pretty easy to kill a "piggie" with almost any centerfire, big pigs are a different matter all together. In addition, the discussion here was about DRIVEN pigs, so we can wax lyrically about shot placement as long as we will, reality often looks rather different on running shots. This is not shooting off a bench, and sometimes it even involves taking shots we should not have taken.... (Man gets weak after 2 days in the woods without a shot fired, and a war going on all around - believe me, I've been there...).

Given that, it makes a lot of sense to listen to the people who get to clean up the mess often left behind from driven hunts. People like mouse93, who have to have trail wounded pigs for miles, over hours and sometimes days, and sometimes have to dig wounded pigs out of thickets of thorn. After you have seen enough, you develop a feel for what works.

It really is pretty easy, you can kill pigs with a lot of calibers, but a bigger bore is better if you can shoot it well. No need for all small caliber owners to stay at home, but when we are talking about the "ideal tool for the job", bigger is better!

- mike

Allright, looks like I'm outnumbered. I admit my defeat
To stop the bloodshed i'm going to have to agree with the majority.

And it was probably me who started the thread hijack. Sorry about that.

PS: Most pigs around here are actually killed with shotgun slugs. Decades have shown it to be ideal in all aspects (safety, knockdown power etc.). So if you can bring a good slug-shooter, you would be ready for anything.

quote:

Originally posted by mho:
.... (Man gets weak after 2 days in the woods without a shot fired, and a war going on all around - believe me, I've been there...)
- mike

No worries Pric65 .

Mike put it nicely - just some additional thoughts on driven boar hunts:

One can expect that boars wont be coming in slow pace – boars are very inteligent so expect unexpected - they usually know the area quite well and they are pretty sure where the danger lies – not with beater and his dog but over there where silence lies – so usually they wait till last moment and try to jump back between beaters, but if they cant they just shoot out of the cover with starting jumps measuring up to 8m (I haven’t see an animal with such a good acceleration as boar) – so at the end you will probably be shooting at a black bristled ball passing, jumping, zigzagging, falling, crawling – you name it…between trees, down the trenches, over the ridges, behind rocks, in the fern, high grass… with 40+ km/h and your aiming point would be more like a circle with 20 cm in diameter, with usually only 2-3 opportunities for a clear shot in 4-5 seconds – pick them wisely – don’t rush the shots. So snap shooting with appropriate lead is the name of the game – but there is a lot of time and pace around your target and you will get your misses and wounding no doubt (waiting for a boar to slow down or even stop wont get you far) – statistically on average there are ~ 5 shots/killed boar – and a wide spectrum of actual hits.

P.S. Just a tip based on my own experience - If you see a fox approaching on a driven boar hunt - hold the shot, let her pass – there is a good chance boars will pick the exact route the fox did (they may not be far – waiting and listening how she would pass).

That is an option (shotguns) that several guys in the group who only own .243s are taking. I can always switch halfway through the 5 day hunt.

Having said that, I have probably jinxed myself to a blank trip now!

Slugs can be very effective on (driven) pigs. But on some hunts, you may be assigned a stand in an open field, in which case a scoped rifle will give you the range needed. Compromises, compromises....

- mike

quote:

Originally posted by mouse93:

......P.S. Just a tip based on my own experience - If you see a fox approaching on a driven boar hunt - hold the shot, let her pass – there is a good chance boars will pick the exact route the fox did (they may not be far – waiting and listening how she would pass).

Absolutely true! I heard the very same warning from an aged and experienced hunter almost 20 years ago; once I couldn't resist and I shot a fox believing that dogs, that were approaching fastly, were chasing it. 1 minute later I realized that the boar was just behind the fox, since dogs made a 90 degrees detour 50m. far from the dead fox and went away, still barking. Needless to say that I've never shot a fox since then.

quote:

Originally posted by mouse93:]One can expect that boars wont be coming in slow pace – boars are very inteligent so expect unexpected - they usually know the area quite well and they are pretty sure where the danger lies – not with beater and his dog but over there where silence lies – so usually they wait till last moment and try to jump back between beaters, but if they cant they just shoot out of the cover with starting jumps measuring up to 8m (I haven’t see an animal with such a good acceleration as boar) – so at the end you will probably be shooting at a black bristled ball passing, jumping, zigzagging, falling, crawling – you name it…between trees, down the trenches, over the ridges, behind rocks, in the fern, high grass… with 40+ km/h and your aiming point would be more like a circle with 20 cm in diameter, with usually only 2-3 opportunities for a clear shot in 4-5 seconds – pick them wisely – don’t rush the shots. So snap shooting with appropriate lead is the name of the game – but there is a lot of time and pace around your target and you will get your misses and wounding no doubt (waiting for a boar to slow down or even stop wont get you far) – statistically on average there are ~ 5 shots/killed boar – and a wide spectrum of actual hits.

P.S. Just a tip based on my own experience - If you see a fox approaching on a driven boar hunt - hold the shot, let her pass – there is a good chance boars will pick the exact route the fox did (they may not be far – waiting and listening how she would pass).

Well, this is a post to put in picture frame. Driven boars are a real challenge!

I have always been bewildered as to why Europeans feel comfortable using 6.5 on elk but not on pigs.

Down here we find the .243 to be plenty enough for pigs and the .270 is certainly adequate for the biggest of the creatures. One of the most preferred rifles for busting pigs at close range would be the 30/30 Winchester in a Mod 94, lighting fast and plenty powerful - it is common in fact to get a small mob of pigs before your mag is empty. I am currently using a 308 Win with a 150g flat point doing 2300-2400 fps – devastating!.

Have no doubt about your 270 Win and the Nosler.
Aim straight – Enjoy your trip!!

quote:

Originally posted by zzWop:
I have always been bewildered as to why Europeans feel comfortable using 6.5 on elk but not on pigs.

Down here we find the .243 to be plenty enough for pigs and the .270 is certainly adequate for the biggest of the creatures....

...it is common in fact to get a small mob of pigs before your mag is empty...

There are lots of pigs killed with 6.5 and .277 caliber rifles in Europe every year, no doubt about it. But that does not necessarily make them ideal for the job. In fact, many countries (Germany included) specify 6.5mm as the legal minimum for pigs (as well as reds etc). I.e. legal, but minimal. I guess it is always an individual choice exactly what tools you choose to use (or have at hand for the job).

The 6.5x55 is pretty much the legal minimum in the Scandinavian countries for elk (elg=moose, as opposed to elk=North American Wapiti). So a lot of people still use the 6.5x55 on elg, it is legal after all and lots of guns are available in that caliber. But there are also a lot of people who tend to believe in the use of larger calibers. So .308 and larger bores are commonly seen on Swedish elg hunts.

With regards to perceptions of calibers suitable in Aussie vs in Europe, perhaps this is part of the background?? It seems to be quite common in Australia to shoot (what is conceived as) feral animals, and simply leave the carcass in the field. I know that some people recover their game, but I also know it is common not to. So, if an animal is hit and gets away (in particular in a shooting frenzy trying to bust a whole bunch), who is counting?? That is not the case in Europe. Not that every animal is retrieved, but in most countries great emphasis is placed on locating animals wounded - using specially trained hounds etc. In my neck of the woods, you'd be subject to INTENSE psychological pressure, if you happened to wound animals on a (semi-)regular basis, in fact you may find yourself in the shits for just wounding a single one.

No, I'm not trying pass judgement about who is right and who is wrong. Nor am I trying to paint all Aussie hunters as slobs as opposed to the "holier-than-thou" Europeans. I'm sure you have some great hunting in Australia. But in certain aspects of hunting there do seem to be differences in the attitude taken. Either that, or perhaps Aussies are simply better shots and always kill pigs with perfect headshots...

- mike

quote:

With regards to perceptions of calibers suitable in Aussie vs in Europe, perhaps this is part of the background?? It seems to be quite common in Australia to shoot (what is conceived as) feral animals, and simply leave the carcass in the field. I know that some people recover their game, but I also know it is common not to. So, if an animal is hit and gets away (in particular in a shooting frenzy trying to bust a whole bunch), who is counting??

mike
Sir, you are absolutely right, in this statement. But dodn’t for one minute think it’s the hunters fault. We live in the most “Green†place on earth. It is not sporting to kill anything. The only reason you kill is through necessity. To protect crops, the native plants and animals. In some states, bird hunting of any sort is prohibited but they have come to understand that ducks affect the rice industry so they have rice “seasonsâ€. In some states DEER is considered vermin and the government is doing everything it can to eradicate it. As far as pigs, goats, rabbits, hares, foxes, and buffalo, all are classed as vermin. To my knowledge only two states regard deer as game and protect it through a licensing system.
Yes you are right!
However, a 270 Winchester with a good bullet polax’s a pig at any distance.

It seems there are few absolute truths in the world of hunting, and I for one, do not for a minute believe that anybody has a monopoly on right and wrong.

Hunting ethics seem to be a result of many factors, including but probably not limited to: history, legal environment, availability of game, commercial value of hunting and its results, ecology, hunting tradition etc etc. In most parts of the World, all those factors seem to differ, and consequently the resulting mix (including the ethics surrounding hunting) differs.

As products of the system in which we grow up, we sometimes accept our specific environment as "right". This is not necessarily bad, as hunting ethics is an integral part of how hunters act towards game and towards the world around us. But it would be wrong to believe that gives us a monopoly on right and wrong.

- mike

Another point is the land; here it's very steep and bushy, with lot of bramble-bushes. A good shot placement is sometimes aleatory and it's often very painful to find and recover a 60-80 kg. dead boar that could run even only for 40-50 m after being shot. That's the main reason why we prefer bigger cartridges, that have more knock down power.