BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[moosehuntinkid]

My first question is there such thing? well i wanted every one to give me an opinion on this. My grandfather says a ruger .280 is the best and my uncles say a remington semi auto .308 is. I belive for an all around hog gun i would go with a .340 weatherby mag because i have one and it would always work. I cant wait to get the mercury filled stock for my mark v im only 15 so recoil is kind heavy on me :o

[147 Grain]

While any of those calibers will do the job, shot placement and type of bullet construction that's heavy for caliber should come first.

[nick63660]

I use a Ruger .44 mag carbine with 240 grain lead tipped copper jacketed shells. It's brushy where I hunt and it has plenty of knock down.



moosehuntinkid wrote: My first question is there such thing? well i wanted every one to give me an opinion on this. My grandfather says a ruger .280 is the best and my uncles say a remington semi auto .308 is. I belive for an all around hog gun i would go with a .340 weatherby mag because i have one and it would always work. I cant wait to get the mercury filled stock for my mark v im only 15 so recoil is kind heavy on me :o

[Whitworth]

Moosehuntinkid -- my favorite hog rifle is an old Ruger M77 in .338 win mag. My favorite load slings a 250 grain Partition Gold at 2,750 fps. Some say it's overkill, but it shoots flat and it drops hogs on the spot as long as I am doing my job. You can take them with a .22-250 behind the ear, but that shot doesn't always present itself. So, I prefer heavier artillery.

[JackHamr']

338 aint much gun there WW :sad:

Need at least a 45 ... :yes:

Lott or Ackley , yur pick ::-k

[Whitworth]

Hello Jack. You would be amazed at how many people freak out when they hear that I use a "big ole" .338 on hogs. The rifle has a scope so it's better than my thumpers in low-light situations -- which is the reality more often that not where I hunt piggies........

[haiku_rodney]

Wow! You guys shoot some hefty calibers. On the other hand, maybe the hogs that I hunt are just smaller. In the area that I hunt, you rarely get one over 200 lbs. I personally like my 7mm-08. My hunting area is hilly and high - about 6500 feet so I like the lighter weight of the rifle. So far I have not had to use more than one round on any of the goats or pigs I have hit with it.

[JackHamr']

Well I have a 458 Lott and WhitWorth is having a 450 Ackley built as we speak .. We never feel undergunned in the states .. But the neat thing is you can load from a 45/70 level to full throttle .. Most people dont think about that , they just say " oh you have a _________ " ..

My 458 is used for everything from whitetail on up ..

Whitworth does the same ..

[Whitworth]

I know what most people think -- you don't need that much gun for hogs, but need has nothing to do with it at all. It's just more fun, and if I have a good time doing it, that's good enough for me! I shot a button buck this last season with my .338, and no I didn't need that much gun either, but it kills so well that I use it for nearly everything!

[haiku_rodney]

I apologize if my comments came across as critical. I guess I am just jealous. I wish I could shoot a bore well. I can be recoil shy and when I first started hunting, it took a lot of work to correct my flinching.

[Whitworth]

Rodney -- no need to apologize! I didn't read your reply as being critical! It is difficult getting used to shooting big-bores well -- it takes loads of practice (expensive practice!). I do a lot of handgun hunting and like with the big-bore iron sighted rifles, you need to stalk up as close as possible -- it's about as much fun as a person can have with their clothes on! It's not difficult to develop a flinch, but it can take a long time to correct.

[wwcoutdoors]

I must disagree with most here. I shoot a couple hundred hogs a year and never have to use a big gun. Most of mine are killed with small calibers like a .22 hornet, .204, or a .223. Hogs can be tuff, but that depends on where you shoot them and what type of bullets you use. I load all my stuff and these small calibers with the right bullets will drop. Alot of mine are hit on the run, so shot placement is out, it is pretty much just hit them.....but I choose bullets like a v-max moly coated round that will fragment like crazy and does so much damage that you break something vital. If the hog is standing and you get a good shot, just shoot it in the neck and they will fold as well. None experienced people that are going to try and take them like a deer behind the shoulder, ya use a big gun, but that is not a good place to take them. I live in texas where our hogs are a little different, they are almost 100% Russian where I live and they are tuff but do not be fooled on how tuff they are. Choose a good gun and make sure you can shoot it well and practice on all sorts of angels and you will be fine

[fuzzybear]

I hunted a few hogs when I was in California. There were a few hunters that had specialized weapons but the great majority simple used their deer rifle. I had a Marlin lever in 375win that I always took as a backup but my 30-06 with 180gr CoreLoks was the one I carried.
To this day I don't know what kind they were but, at that time, there were some huge hogs that came out of the Hunter Liggett area.

[Whitworth]

wwcoutdoors -- go back and read what we wrote. No one said that we use our big-bores because they are necessary. We hunt with them because we can -- no other reason. It's more fun taking 'em with a .458 Lott than a .30-06 in my humble opinion. I've got to be perfectly honest, I have seen small hyper-velocity rounds do more meat damage than the big thumpers. They just plow threw and leave two big bleeding holes!! Angles offered dictate shot placement. Any pipsqueak round behind the ear will drop 'em cold in their tracks, but I wouldn't want a .22-250 for a Texas heart shot, and I wouldn't probably take a behind the shoulder shot with a .204........... I will typically shoot a meat hog and then a trophy (if I find one!) whenever I go out (depending of course on how much space is left in the spare freezer!) . I will not head shoot a trophy hog and there is nothing wrong with behind the shoulder if they are quartering away from you -- just gotta shoot low and nail the heart! Where else are you going to shoot them if behind the shoulder is all that's avalable? Not trying to be contrary, but we weren't advocating using big-bores out of necessity, it's just for the fun factor!! Open sights, heavy recoil, and a bang-flop is my idea of a good time!! That's why I hardly take out the scoped rifles any more as it's just too damn easy.........okay, I'll get off of my soap box now! :lol:

[Spart]

Uhh well i have always used just the good old SKS assualt rifle, Because its not really the caliber that bothers me (7.62x39mm) (for more info and pic go [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKS [/url])But i can put out 45 rounds with a drum mag in like 15 seconds or less.
So in that case the hog is usually dead within the 7th or 8th shot.
-------Normally i dont empty out i just fire like 15 or 16 rounds
-------If you say "man he wast's money firing that many rounds" well the truth is is i buy my ammo whole sale like 100,000 rounds for 60 or 70 dollars plus i usually get like a free combo thing and i end up with like 200,000 rounds for 60 bucks.(nice i know)
Oh yeah and the SKS is extreamly cheap you can pick up one used for like anything from $75-$300 new about $250 :thumbsup1: [/url]