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| One of Us |
30-30 or .44 Mag for shooting hogs in Texas? BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | ||
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Just an armchair hog hunter to date, although I hope to change that soon. I'd pick the good old .30 WCF with a nice, heavy cast bullet with big meplat over a case full of LeveRevolution. Eager to hear from those with some real swine jihad experience ...  There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author | |||
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Yes!!! Many folks use a .223 and any larger bore will do. Up close a .357 mag pistol will do. My .357 rifle is plenty for short to medium range hogs. Many of us use hogs for target practice, fun, and some good eating. Any rifle capable for deer will do. For fun, I also use my large bore levers and doubles. The last hog I shot was hunted with chase dogs and taken at a range of about 3 yards with my .45-70 double - it can be tricky to shoot only the hog and miss the dogs fighting the hog!  NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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depends. if you are HUNTING them, or shooting them under the lights, the 30-30. if ur just gonna pop em in a trap almost anything will do, preferrably 223 and up, but i've got friends that shoot em with a 22 in the trap. | |||
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I use a pair of 308's for my CA hogs. Pre 64 Winchester 88 lever action and a Pre 64 100. Both shoot Barnes 168 gr. TTSX very well and they slam the hogs. | |||
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Bigger is always better. I say. Sure, guys plink them with 223s, but I don't even if I was one foot away. I would still use something starting with a 4, just because I like them. Go with something un common. Shooting a captive hog is not hunting; sure I killed lots of them with a 22 back on the farm. 375 at least. In a double rifle. Or anything. | |||
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Either would work great, .44 mag is what I'd choose just to be something different. I was bitten by the BLR bug after reading about Mike Detorre shooting the moose with his. I have my 1895 .45/70 along with a BLR .308....I'm still searching for a takedown model in .30/06 "Let me start off with two words: Made in America" | |||
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either would be fine. | |||
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Hogs are not magical. They die from a single shot of a myriad of calibers. They may run a bit. They may not. The best gun I have used to consistently drop them in their tracks is 12 gauge buckshot. Back to your OP, either caliber I have used .30 WCF, 44 mag, .45 Colt, .444 Marlin, .35 Whelen, .30-'06, 45-70, .357, .44 WCF and several other leverguns. The only problem with traditional leverguns is low light situations. _______________ DSC NRA Benefactor | |||
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I’ve used both .44 Mag & 30/30 and didn’t see a difference. I find it ironic how folks will argue about how one cartridge is superior to another strikingly similar cartridge when it comes to hunting every other species of big game, then say use whatever when it comes to hogs. All We Know Is All We Are | |||
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3030 or maybe 30 Winchester , depending on how old you are. | |||
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The claimed "shield" on hogs is an old wives tail, its just a tad thicker skin. A 222 will penetrate a hog just fine with a 60 gr. Hornady. Ive killed more hog with a 25-35 win. than anything else..Of the two I prefer a 30-30 but a 44 will work fine, but the 30-30 will probably give you an extra 100 yards in trajectory. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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 Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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This seems to make the most sense to me. But thanks for all the responses. BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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Mike, a picture is worth 1,000 words, eh? There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. – John Green, author | |||
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My friend uses a 95 in 405 on hogs and bear; that is the best lever action for them. Forget about trajectory; you aren't shooting them that far with an open sighted lever action anyway. Hunting hogs is an expensive proposition for us up here; not like Texas where they seem to be free targets. So you want to kill them and not let them run away. Sure, I killed dozens of hogs back on the farm with a 22 rifle. But they weren't running through the woods either. They just wanted food. And yes, like Mike and Bill point out, they do indeed, have armored shields. Some thicker than others. | |||
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How about a Winchester or Browning model 71 - in .348 Winchester? Nice guns and lots of power. | |||
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Old wives tale my azz. I have seen the shield on a hog that was well over an inch thick. | |||
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I killed an old boar 20 plus years ago that had some pretty thick skin on it’s chest and shoulders. Wouldn’t stop most CF bullets but would certainly knock down the velocity. BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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My blr browning custom in 375 ruger  Mike | |||
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The big boar I shot in Austria certainly had a shield. You could pick it up with your fingers off the muscular. It was over an inch thick. A small centerfire with not too much velocity and at least a corlocket would get through. The problem would be lack of blood. Most of those Texas 223 kills are over bait, close, and in the head/base of skull. | |||
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I've killed a number of hogs and seen a number killed, so recognize that these examples aren't happening each hunt, but still I think they show that a bigger caliber isn't bad. Sometimes we'll see hogs while in a blind or during the day, but mostly we walk up on them at night. .223 or .300 Whispers work mostly, but I've seen several hogs shot well who ran off and we didn't find until next day. Heard a number hit that we lost. One was shot 1/2 inch under the eye quartering towards us; Barnes TSX 30 cal bullet turned down through the mouth. Would have been slow death for that pig. Luckily, we got a second round in and anchored him. One pig we waded into the thick stuff after was laying at the base of a bush. Guy with me shot it in the head 4 times with a .45acp trying to finish it. I thought he was missing the pig at 10 yds. I went back to get a rifle and crawled back into the bushes to kill the pig. Once we got it out and got a flashlight on it, there were marks where the 45 hit the thing in the head, but no penetration. Saw one shot under the shoulder. The leg bone was broken. It still ran off. We were able to follow it and kill it luckily. I think 30-30 or 44 mag are both good. I usually use a 308 or 30-06 now. I think the .223's are too light, even sometimes with decent hits, particularly if you're shooting off-hand and/or the pigs are running. They're tough. | |||
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Hogs always seem to attract the most stories of bad shooting as examples of their toughness to run off. They are thin skinned game, not buffalo. In Australia three of the most popular lever action cartridges would be 30-30, 357 and 44 probably in that order. Regular JSP at 1600-2000fps is fine, and at the higher velocity the effective range is past 100 yards. You can also take them at pistol velocities, aka 900-1100fps as long as you dont mind longer kill times and runs from hardcast bullets... Regards 223's they have killed a lot but I personally would consider the 223's a bit light for normal 'point and click' centrefire hunting. Aka you are more careful with shot angles , particularly on big hogs. | |||
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Yeah, gotta call BS on this, Ray.... On a mature boar it's clearly more than a "tad thicker skin."  "Ignorance you can correct, you can't fix stupid." JWP If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming. Semper Fidelis "Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time" | |||
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Shot placement rules! NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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I reckon one might say, there are hogs, and then there are HOGS!  Im pretty sure the 358 Win was created with hogs in mind. AK-47 The only Communist Idea that Liberals don't like. | |||
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Do you guys actually think thick skin as pictured will stop any decent bullet? Ive shot too many Hippo to believe that..killed too many hogs with a small caliber rifle..More than a few with a 22 Hornet and a 5mm Remington.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Comparing hippo to feral hogs in the United States is a real stretch, Ray. "Ignorance you can correct, you can't fix stupid." JWP If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming. Semper Fidelis "Building Carpal Tunnel one round at a time" | |||
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I don't think so, those pictures are about what Ive seen on Hippo, and inch and a half to perhaps two inchs and neither are bullet proof, Im just comparing skin thickness not animal size. A 222 will completely penetrate a feral hog from Texas at times, A 30-30 will almost everytime all things equal. It takes a hell of a hog to go over 200 lbs. and like coyotes, bobcats and Javalina folks don't weigh them they just guess.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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The "shield" evolved to protect a boars shoulder from the tusks of other boars when they fight. I once shot a boar with my .50 caliber muzzleloader with a soft lead bullet.It penetrated the skin, but flattened on the shield and didn't penetrate. My partner killed it with his 45-70. Later that day I shot a sow with the same gun, and the bullet went through the heart and out the other side. | |||
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I love shooting hogs, and they are the perfect test media to try out different calibers and bullets "Let me start off with two words: Made in America" | |||
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Yes | |||
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Buglemintoday X 2. I shot some with 308 Steyr Scout and one with the 45 ACP 3" S&W Performance Center. It was a simple center of the head from the front shot with a 230 gr jacketed FP. He decided to stop right there and go to sleep. We dragged him out to the road. Be Well. Packy | |||
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Have killed big ones with all kinds of guns including the old Marlin mod 60 22lr they are overrated | |||
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A winchester model 71 in .348 would be fun. | |||
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I want one "Let me start off with two words: Made in America" | |||
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