Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles AR .223 for hogs?

My son in law lives in Texas, he's looking to buy an AR. Says he wants it for killing hogs.

Does anyone have experience with the .223 for hogs? Most of what I read suggests something a little heavier.



P

It will kill hogs, you may have to do some tracking though and the blood trail may not be the best? There are certainly better options.

He can get an AR in almost any caliber and configuration. 308 Win, 300 blackout, 6.5 Grendel, 7.62x39 are all options he can look at?

I live in Texas and have shot a few wild hogs. They come in all sizes and all are legal 24/365, as is trapping them, and shooting them with full-auto from helicopters. It is probably legal to blow them up.

A .223 would be light for body shooting the bigger ones, but a lot of people use accurate light caliber rifles and try for head shots. The only real trophy is one with large tusks, which makes a reasonably impressive mouth open shoulder mount. Or better IMO, a cleaned skull with big tusks sitting near the fireplace. I digress, but my point is that since you usually aren't trophy hunting per se, and since they are usually plentiful when you find them, waiting for a good head shot is usually not difficult.

But if I'm going pig hunting, I just take a deer rifle, .30-30, .270, or larger if you want. Much of the choice being about the expected type of hunting and range.

I've killed quite a few hogs with 62 TSX's and Fusion bullets. A suppressed AR would be close to perfect hog medicine.

Load a TSX, GMX or Nosler 64 bonded solid base and go kill hogs.

Use a good bullet. Avoid the shields on the larger ones.

Contrary to most thinking, I've killed a LOT of pigs with a 22lr pistol and CCI Mini mag Hps to the lungs... NOT in traps. Lung shots kill pigs pretty quick.

If I was worried about anything TSX and rock on... killed lots with 63 sgk semi points too...

Ive only killed a handful, but I find if you can hit them in the brain, they die real dead in front of a .223

Use a good bullet....just in case.

personalty,I prefer a 44 mag marlin lever action,loaded with 310 grain hard cast for hogs, but I think most of us want an EXCUSE TO OWN AN AR 15 so I'd also point out that its fully capable of killing hogs , Ive seen it done repeatedly with these bullets

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/13...aliber-224-diameter-64-grain-power-point

and 25 grains of VARGET powder

Basically, depending on the size of the hog and the size of deer in your area, they are deer-sized critters. I'm assuming all the posters who say a .223 and good bullets are fine for hogs also assume the combination is fine for deer.

I won't get into the debate of what people ought or ought not use on deer, but, head shots excepted, I hope no one is treating hogs differently from similar sized deer.

We've had excellent results with 64 grain soft points & head shots. My buddy even scored a double in such a fashion.

FC

.223 works just fine on hogs. Ive killed lots with a .223 mostly with 64 grain WW power points but quite a few with the 55 Hornady as well. I shoot for neck/head area.

I have killed a lot of hogs with a 223 both in a bolt gun and AR platform. It will do the work BUT it is a bit light for some situations. If I had to kill a particular hog I would use a larger caliber.

62g TSX through the front 1/3 yields good results.

My initial loads with the 62 TSX shot into just over 2" in a very accurate RR Varmint that shoots other bullets into tiny groups.

I'd be interested in some loads with that bullet, including overall length, powder, primer, and any other details you find pertinent.

Clarence

26gTAC/62g Tsx's, LC hulls, load to mag length.

Double post

Killing and stopping are 2 separate things.
If your looking to eradicate them and run them away...223 in the guts will do solidly.
If your hunting them for food and you want them down quick, I'd opt for something else. Something that doesn't nessesitate a CNS hit to incapacitate.
Consider this, a hog at 35mph can travel over 1000 yards in just under 1 minute.
That's a long way to track.
This pig was hit at 40 yards , in the spine (see behind the ear) and he still needed a follow up shot to stop him from trying to get dad.
That's with a .308, 165 soft point.
Hr went down then started getting back up when the old man got about 6 feet from him.

Ya can't kill much of anything with the .223 unless it has been blessed by the Poobah. I recall that service is free but that's subject to change. Otherwise the bullets will bounce off.

He probably doesn't recall, but he blessed my .22 CB shorts years ago. They are pure poison on hogs. Really.

Trust me,

Dan

[quote]
That service now requires an appropriate 'whistle wetter' as I understand it.