Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Who's shot a wild hog with a .357?

You don't here many condone it,and I understand why.Just like to here some stories. Here's a picture of one I shot with a Taurus .357 topped with a 4x Simmons.Shot was 35 yards.Recovery of hog was under 45 yards.A good rest and proficient loads.

A Rossi .357Mag. 92SRC trapper carbine is all I use for hog here in SW Florida, either hard cast 158 grain LRNFP over 6.8 grn of bullseye or Cor-Bon 180 SJSP factory loads. They both shoot to the same POA in my rifle and get the job done quite nicely. Most shots are under fifty yards, and I will pass on longer ones any way. I would not recommend either load in a handgun however!

I wouldn't recommend it in a handgun either. In a carbine, the .357 Magnum duplicates the balistics of the .357 Maximum, and even then would be bearly potent enough to safely take down an angry boar. I like the .444 Marlin or .45-70 Springfield in a carbine using heavy, hard cast, bullets.

A pot full of them. Sort of a special case though as they are usually bayed by the dogs and somebody is trying to catch them. They are right there so it is head shots mostly with a Tarus M66 158 gr cast from wheel weights backed by 12.5 gr Accurate #9.

BCR

I read that a 41 mag or 44 mag was plenty of gun for hogs provided that you get sufficient penetration and that you are close enough.

I haven't, but would with the right bullets. My brother shot one over dogs 6 times with the wrong bullets - not one penetrated the fat on the big (200 lb) sow. I shot a boar of about the same size in the shoulder at about 25 yards with Remington 240 gr HSPs in a .44 mag, and the bullet did not penetrate the gristle plate. Perfect mushroom, though. The Remington 240 gr SPs do much better, and I also like the 250 gr Sierra "FPJ" with a little dimple of lead exposed - they expand well but penetrate great, too. The Sierra FPJ is also available in heavy .357, .41 and .45 acp varieties.

A good 160 to 180 gr hardcast lead or other sturdy bullet would do just fine.

I shot about an 80 pound hog or so, with my 357 magnum rifle loaded with 170 gr Speer gold Dot flat points pushed by Lil gun. I forget the exact charge, but it clocks at about 1700 fps as I recall, could be lelss.

The hog was at about 20 steps from me, I hit him high in the right side shoulder on a broad side shot. It was a Bang Flop scenario. After I checked him out the bullet did not penetrate the shoulder like I thought, it glanced of and up into the neck where it spined him and broke a main vein, he bled to death in a minute.

If I shoot another with that load I'll definitely have to pick my shot a little better. It was kind of a "oh crap there they are get the gun find the ammo, load, shoot" type deal.

I was also thinking of using a 180 grain flat point solid lead bullet, that may provide better penetration. I will have to see.

Try the Federal Cast Core 180 grain bullets if you want to risk it. Something with a bit more umph would be worth it though. Sometimes you really need to drop these beasts head on at close range and you won't get a second chance. You can't rely on richochets hitting the neck to save your butt.

T LEE

I recently read an article by JJHack, where he recommended using the 240gr JHP on bear. He stated in the article, that he got quicker kills with that load than with the 300 gr. hardcast FPs. Penetration was plenty from most angles.

It made me think, in the .357 mag., if a 180 gr. JHP wouldn't have the same effect on hogs/bears. Any thoughts or experience with that load on these animals? If so, Do you know if a bullet that would be effective?

Prospector

As I said back up the line, I have used the Cor-Bon 180 JSP, the JHP worries me as to it's expanding rather than penetrating first. Hogs can be damn tough to get into the vitals if you are a bit off on placement. The JSP's just give me decent penetration and expansion. JJ may be right, but I stick with the ones that I know work for me.