Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Russian Boar Cartridges

If you'll leave 'em in a trap about a day in the summer, you don't have to kill 'em.

I had a nice herd of wild hogs on my river bottom land up until two years ago. The a-holes on an adjacant hunting club gut shot them with 22s at their corn feeders. That way the hogs ran off out in the woods and died--slow and hard.

Never hunted pigs but I'd sure like to. If and when I do my Marlin Guide Gun .45-70 will probably get the nod, that or my .500 S%W.

My buddy TBear here has killed dozens of wild boars and hogs -- and lots of bear too -- with his Remington 760 pump gun in .35 Whelen. It offers fast reloads, light carry weight, great accuracy for the odd longer shot, and serious attention- getting impact. And they are not all that expensive.

You easily can get a peep sight for it or a low power fixed or variable scope. A Leupold VX III 1.75 x 6 would do.

Good luck,
1B

We kill a lot of hogs, in fact we had 2 catch & 1 chase dog killed yesterday by a 375-400# boar. During the summer some of the guys kill with dogs & knives or over baites. None of us are good enough with a pistol to use 1 but a 30-30/44mag carbine works great. If I were you I'd use a M1 they are easier to carry than a m14 and I used 1 in Viet Nam. Have fun.

Pigs are not hard to kill and the muscle structure is not as tough as many other animals of the same weight. I have killed them with cartridges ranging from the .223 loaded with 55gn Sierra's through to the .460 Weatherby loaded with 500gn Hornady's.

I like the usual deer cartridges best, or a .45/70 for the fun of it.

JW

There maybe some misconceptions about hog control, which is entirely different from hunting.

Feral hogs aren't anything other than one time domestic hogs that have reverted back to their wild state. After a few generations, they are as wild as one would want and more destructive than most people know about.

Here's my front yard this past March.



It usually takes a few trips with a disc and then either a spike tooth harrow or tiller to get things back pretty much to normal. When it's a hay meadow that has been rooted up or other crop land, it's an even bigger problem.

Here's a 100 foot row of Apache thornless blackberries that was rooted almost out of the ground.



People think it's great fun to hunt hogs and maybe profitable too, so they have "imported" and released quite a few of them. That wouldn't be so bad, if the hogs would stay on the release land, but they don't! The end result is everyone having to deal with the problem of destructive vermin over running the county.

We applaud the demise of hogs and it doesn't matter if they were gut shot with a .22 or a .458 Win Mag, just as long as they're gone!

Pigs are the best tasting bullet testing medium known to man!

Paul, we in Michigan are trying to stop their spread and I agree with you... unfortunately our DNR didn't know how to handle them right off the bat, and at the rate they breed it gave them a foothold.

my favorite way to shoot them is at night.we had feeders with lights. when the hogs would come in at night to feed i'd use my AR to kill as many as i could

paul the best way we found to somewhat control them was using snares. its not the most humane way to kill'em but is real effective

We have a government employed professional trapper/hunter here in the county and he mostly uses traps. However, he's spread so thin, I really wonder how effective he's being. The neighbor behind me said he rebaited the trap that's there, but I don't think they've caught anything.

I hate that I can't be part of the solution foy you guys that have pig problems.

I also want you to know that when you are dealing with creatures destroying your property, I am of the opinion that they surrendered their chance at fair play. If You have extra claymore mines, I would be for you using them.

the pigs get wise to the traps but can't see the snares when their running the trails at night

I have hunted "wild boars" as some people call it, from central CA to AR! I have used muzzle loader to 22 Hornet! It just depends on the size of hog and where you shoot them! My favorite little rifle is a CZ 527M. Its is in 7.62x39, topped with a Leupold 1-5x VXII. its like having open sites on 1x, and has such a broad field of view I see everything even up close and fast! I do use an old Marlin 35 Rem. from time to time! Most any deer cartirdge will work if you get them in the sites! Good luck, and hog hunting is my favorite kind of hunting!

I would think that the 7.62 Russian would be the perfect cartridge for Russian boars.

Wife popped about a 300 pounder a few years back over at the Caryona (or something like that) Lodge in TN on an NRA women's hunt. Used a .44 Ruger carbine and 270gr GoldDots with a 1.5x4.5 Bushnell Firefly, very heavy crosshair. No problem. Shoulder shot DRT and the guide was almost as impressed as the pig.

I have only been in the middle of them once, and between my buddy and myself we downed 5 of them. Both of mine were DRT with a 130 Gr Scirocco out of my 270 WSM. My buddy planted 2 of them with factory 270 Hornady Light Mag 130 gr Interbonds. The first 2 dropped on the spot, but the third was a running shot that hit too high and broke the spine mid back, allowing the use of its front legs to crawl away. I ended up finishing him with a 32 Win Special model 94. All worked well when put in the right spot, and poorly if you didnt, which applies to all calibers.

I would suggest a 7.62x54R round in an M44 Mosin-Nagant carbine. Just don't forget to extend the bayonet, in case the Russian boar charges.

All you need is a well placed arrow where it counts.

Other than my bow, my next option would be a pistol of some sorts. I don't by into the staying away from a scope on a gun. Those comments come from people who aren't used to modern day optics and don't trust their scopes.


Crappy pic of me, but here's a piggy of mine a couple years ago.

Nice hog. In what part of the country did you shoot him, and time of year?

I'll have to take a photo of some of my pig hunting terrain, where you can't see halfway to your 4-wheeler, so you can understand why a telescopic sight gets in the way.