Hog/boar/pig gun

[ILCAPO]

I hunt warthog and bush pig in the maize fields and bush. I used to use a shot gun with slugs and a 357 Mag revolver as back up. The problem is the the shotgun has 2 slugs only. When the bush pig comes for you , 2 is not a lot. Second is that the shotgun is too long to swing in the maize fields.
I now use a Marlin 336 Y in 30-30 Win with an Aimpoint red dot sight. Short and compact and 5+1 bullets.

View attachment 311606

The Marlin is a fine gun. Don't own one, but I'd like to have one. However, while the .30-30 Winchester is sufficient, the same gun in .35 Remington has more punch, especially if you hand load or go with custom loaded ammo. We have some custom loaders in the U.S. which put out far more potent rounds than are typically available in gun shops from the major manufacturers. But even with the standard loads, after coming out it soon picked up the nickname, "deer anchor" for how it put down white tails.

 

[bruce moulds]

I come back to my own experience with pigs.
44 mag win 94, followed by 44 mag ruger semi auto.
the ruger proved more reliable and not prone to falling to bits like the 94.
a good cartridge in its point blank range, which was not much.
45/70 marlin.
loaded above factory spec, deadly with cast bullets, but again challenged on point blank range.
the gun had a peep sight with the smaller aperture screwed out like what is now called a ghost ring.
358 win miroku lever.
bullet choice was more critical than at first thought.
in those days bullets for 35 rem were common, and at 358 velocities tended to self destruct, and heavier harder bullets were too much for even big pigs.
point blank range better, but still a limiting factor.
in lignum swamps sometimes large open areas exist, and the pig(s) always happened to be on the other side.
308 semi auto rem woody, and b.a.r.
the woody was one of the best pointing guns I ever owned and the 3x weaver was mounted very low.
but it was unreliable, sometimes failing to feed.
the b.a.r. never missed a beat, and although not the pointer of the woody was not bad.
the 308 handled pigs from muzzle to 250+ yds and covered all sized pigs well with relatively soft cup and core bullets.
2 calibres that have only ever been 1 shot kills on pigs were the above 308 and the 270 with 130 gn sierras.
the 17 mach iv needed extreme shot placement.
this was long before there was the 17 rem, and 17s had a lot of unknown mystique.
I never found the 25/06 the be the pig gun that the 270 was, although it shot flatter and suited hunting crop paddocks quite well.
I never had a 7mm in those days, but am sure that being between 270 and 30 it would be good.
the 30/06 was a good pig killer with the 165 sierra.
338 win mag to my surprise failed me on a big pig once, but I put this down to the 210 gn partition, as the calibre should without doubt be deadly.
the shot was a deadly proven shot with other calibres, and luckily in this case it at least turned the pig which was coming at me.
bruce.

 

[Dr Ray]

bruce moulds
Using Riverbrand is giving our age away mate. I used to use them in my old 303/25 until I started reloading and then used 87 grain Tipans or the 150s in my three O.
Cheers mate Bob

I remember Riverbrand. Didn’t have any satisfaction with Taipan Bullets. In my 22/250 they just came apart in flight.
Maybe I drive them too hard??

 

[bruce moulds]

ray,
they were good bullets.
it is just that they evolved for slower cartridges than the 22/250.
bruce.

 

[Scrumbag]

My pig gun: 9.3x62 in a bolt action FN Commercial

Have you thought about revisiting red dots? They really are the thing in my view for shooting up close and fast moving targets.

Scrummy

 

[Scrumbag]

What about a compromise and get a BLR in .308W?

 

[Dr Ray]

ray,
they were good bullets.
it is just that they evolved for slower cartridges than the 22/250.
bruce.

I really stoked them up - would produce good groups at 100
But

Not one would ever make the 200.
They seemed to have the hollow points offset fractionally ??

 

[Dr Ray]

As a bit of an experiment I got 22 rimfire Bullets (40 grain) and loaded them up in my 222.
You could see smoke coming off them when fired especially after dark.
I might add I also used 40 grain Bullets powered by R7 - ballistically inefficient but in my younger days I experimented a mighty lot.
I can remember shooting crows with the 40 grain Bullets - 2 completely different results / drilled right through or exploded the crow.
Oh my, those were the days.

 

[Dr Ray]

What about a compromise and get a BLR in .308W?

Funny bit I was just reading about the Browning lever action in 308. Good idea i feel.

 

[Fastrig]

Funny bit I was just reading about the Browning lever action in 308. Good idea i feel.

Lever action in 45 Colt works pretty well inside 75-100 yards.

 

[Major Khan]

There is only 1 contender for this position -
The Winchester Model 1894 lever rifle...
chambered in .30-30 Winchester calibre .

Nothing surpasses a lever rifle for needing to dispatch multiple wild boars at close range ... extremely swiftly.

I used to have an American client who took down 16 Wild Boars ( with most weighing in excess of 300 pounds ) with 20 shots... during a culling program for these brutes in Kooch Bihar .

The best sort of ammunition available , back in those days... was the 170 grain Winchester Super X flat nose soft point cartridge . Most Wild Boars needed only 1 reasonably well aimed shot from a .30-30 Winchester calibre rifle ... to bring down.

 

[Fastrig]

There is only 1 contender for this position -
The Winchester Model 1894 lever rifle...
chambered in .30-30 Winchester calibre .

Nothing surpasses a lever rifle for needing to dispatch multiple wild boars at close range ... extremely swiftly.

I used to have an American client who took down 16 Wild Boars ( with most weighing in excess of 300 pounds ) with 20 shots... during a culling program for these brutes in Kooch Bihar .

The best sort of ammunition available , back in those days... was the 170 grain Winchester Super X flat nose soft point cartridge . Most Wild Boars needed only 1 reasonably well aimed shot from a .30-30 Winchester calibre rifle ... to bring down.

If you really want to cull boars/pigs, use an AR-10 in 308 win....it’s honestly the best pig gun on the planet, IMO. Know they aren’t legal in many places so everyone here talks about bolt and lever action, but I’ve never seen anything that can clear out a troublesome pigs/hog population like a good AR-10.

Sold my old AR-10 and I’m building three new, light weight AR’s right now (if the parts ever show up, been on order for months). One will be in 308 win, one in 6.5 creedmoor, and one in 338 Federal. The 308 is the pig and have fun at the range gun, the 6.5 is for long range stuff (never done that but wanting to give it a go), and the 338 is purpose built for hunting. I’m a fan of the AR platform, love it’s versatility, and if you piece/parts them right you can turn out beautiful rifles in the 6.5-7 lbs range now days. My old AR was an off the rack rifle and was heavy (10.6 lbs), weight is why many people shy away from them, but had thousands of rounds put through it, it never hiccuped once, and was damn near indestructible. The new ones will be just as reliable but weigh 35-40% less which should make them a joy to take to the field.

 

[Major Khan]

If you really want to cull boars/pigs, use an AR-10 in 308 win....it’s honestly the best pig gun on the planet, IMO. Know they aren’t legal in many places so everyone here talks about bolt and lever action, but I’ve never seen anything that can clear out a troublesome pigs/hog population like a good AR-10.

Sold my old AR-10 and I’m building three new, light weight AR’s right now (if the parts ever show up, been on order for months). One will be in 308 win, one in 6.5 creedmoor, and one in 338 Federal. The 308 is the pig and have fun at the range gun, the 6.5 is for long range stuff (never done that but wanting to give it a go), and the 338 is purpose built for hunting. I’m a fan of the AR platform, love it’s versatility, and if you piece/parts them right you can turn out beautiful rifles in the 6.5-7 lbs range now days. My old AR was an off the rack rifle and was heavy (10.6 lbs), weight is why many people shy away from them, but had thousands of rounds put through it, it never hiccuped once, and was damn near indestructible. The new ones will be just as reliable but weigh 35-40% less which should make them a joy to take to the field.

The AR 10 platform is an excellent design for culling large groups of feral hogs , Fastrig . I was being rather unimaginative in my selection , because @JPbowhunter seemed as if he only gave us 2 choices to recommend from .

The most devastatingly effective weapon , which I had ever seen being used on Bengal Bush Boars ... was actually an M 1 Garand semi automatic rifle , chambered in .30-06 Springfield !
My client loaded it with 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip soft point cartridges and used it to cull 34 Wild Boars in less than 10 minutes . I was only 25 years old ... when I had witnessed this incident . You should have been there ! Those 8 rapid shots , having the metal " Clip " fly out of the rifle , slamming in another metal " Clip " full of 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip soft point cartridges and then resuming fire . It was quite a fascinating sight to behold .

 

[Fastrig]

The AR 10 platform is an excellent design for culling large groups of feral hogs , Fastrig . I was being rather unimaginative in my selection , because @JPbowhunter seemed as if he only gave us 2 choices to recommend from .
The most devastatingly effective weapon , which I had ever seen being used on Bengal Bush Boars ... Was actually an M 1 Garand semi automatic rifle , chambered in .30-06 Springfield !
My client loaded it with 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip soft point cartridges and used it to cull 34 Wild Boars in less than 10 minutes . I was only 25 years old ... when I had witnessed this incident . You should have been there ! Those 8 rapid shots , having the metal " Clip " fly out of the rifle , slamming in another metal " Clip " full of 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip soft point cartridges and then resuming fire . It was quite a fascinating sight to behold .

Those old M1’s are great rifles and a 30-06 will definitely drop hogs in their tracks. Had a similar experience on our old ranch in California. A group of about 20 pigs got in one of our orchards and they were tearing up the irrigation systems. Went in with a buddy of mine, both carrying our AR-10’s, and in a matter of 15-20 minutes there wasn’t a pig standing. Got lucky and was able to flush them out of one end of the orchard and into a cut grain field, was like shooting fish in a barrel at that point. Our neighbor, who owned the grain field, was really happy as I guess they had been causing him problems all year, even had his hands come in and clean them up

 

[BeeMaa]

I'm with you on the semi-auto hunting rifle.
For hogs I'm sure the 308WIN is good.
But bigger is ALWAYS better.
300WM NEMO Omen

 

[Fastrig]

I'm with you on the semi-auto hunting rifle.
For hogs I'm sure the 308WIN is good.
But bigger is ALWAYS better.
300WM NEMO Omen

I chatted with a guy who had one of these, said he had feeding issues and had to be real careful what he fed it. Now that might be an isolated case, but I'm a little leery of a magnum in the AR platform. Too much recoil, IMO, for what the platform is designed for, i.e. speed/quick acquisition on subsequent shots/etc. Think the non-magnum 6.5-338 chamberings are better suited to the AR10 as that's really what it was designed for. The 18" barrel is probably the most popular for the AR10 but that short of a barrel with a 300 win mag is kind of a waste for that caliber. I prefer the 20"-22" barrels personally, 308 at 20", 6.5 and 338 at 22". 24" for the 6.5 is probably a better fit, but really don't care for AR rifles that start stretching out, 22" is about as long as I care for. If I'm going to go 24 plus inch barrels I'd rather have a bolt action.

 

[perttime]

If you really want to cull boars/pigs, use an AR-10 in 308 win....it’s honestly the best pig gun on the planet, IMO. Know they aren’t legal in many places....

Quite legal here in Finland - except - Hunting Regulations (not Gun Law) put a severe limit on mag capacity for semis: 2 or 3 rounds in the mag, depending on what you are hunting. Pigs go in the 3 in the magazine category.

Some who know they will shoot at short distance have gone for ARs in .458 SOCOM, or similar, for Moose. Not much short of 45-70 performance. That should work for pigs too.

 

[Fastrig]

Quite legal here in Finland - except - Hunting Regulations (not Gun Law) put a severe limit on mag capacity for semis: 2 or 3 rounds in the mag, depending on what you are hunting. Pigs go in the 3 in the magazine category.

Some who know they will shoot at short distance have gone for ARs in .458 SOCOM, or similar, for Moose. Not much short of 45-70 performance. That should work for pigs too.

Outside of culling pigs, I normally stick to a 5-round mag. For pigs, I use a 1o-round. I've got 20 round mags, but those are for the range. Can you use a 5-round mag but just load 2-3 cartridges?

 

[perttime]

It has to be a 2-3 round magazine, or a magazine with a limiter that doesn't let you load more, until you remove the limiter. For example, a semi shotgun that has a long magazine must have something in it to prevent loading more while on the hunt.

 

[BeeMaa]

I chatted with a guy who had one of these, said he had feeding issues and had to be real careful what he fed it. Now that might be an isolated case, but I'm a little leery of a magnum in the AR platform. Too much recoil, IMO, for what the platform is designed for, i.e. speed/quick acquisition on subsequent shots/etc. Think the non-magnum 6.5-338 chamberings are better suited to the AR10 as that's really what it was designed for. The 18" barrel is probably the most popular for the AR10 but that short of a barrel with a 300 win mag is kind of a waste for that caliber. I prefer the 20"-22" barrels personally, 308 at 20", 6.5 and 338 at 22". 24" for the 6.5 is probably a better fit, but really don't care for AR rifles that start stretching out, 22" is about as long as I care for. If I'm going to go 24 plus inch barrels I'd rather have a bolt action.

Truthfully, the NEMO 300WM to me is a novelty.
I'm not an AR (or AK for that matter) guy.
I understand it's place and why people like the AR platform.
And I agree with your opinion on barrel length/300WM/308W/6.5/338.
It's just not for me.

For Hog/Boar/Pig...I'd rather just take my R8 in 375H&H for my wife and 416RM for me.
I'll stick with my bolt guns and suffer the problems of dealing with the longer reload times.