Where I grew up here in LA, there were no stock laws and people had woods hogs everywhere and were really quite annoying. They would mess up a good deer hunt. When they passed the stock laws and outlawed people running their woods hogs in the wild, they became free fame. I only killed a couple of them and the ones I did kill, they didn't move when shot with my 120 gr. CL's out of my 25/06. So here is my question...is it really necessary to have ammunition specifically for a hog? Why doesn't one's normal deer hunting fodder suffice? It's not like they have metal armor on, or do they? The reason I ask is, when looking through some of the online vendors for ammunition for some of my rifles, pretty much every chambering I looked at had Wild Boar ammo! I can't help it...I find that funny. If they die on the spot shot with the little 120 gr. CL, I just can't see anyone needing special ammo. What say ye?
Core-Lokt is a cheap bullet but a very good one in my experience. That is if your rifle will shoot them accurately. I was shooting 165 Core-Lokts at hogs out of a .30-06 with very good results before I learned to reload. I found other bullets to be more accurate in my rifles and started loading them. I've shot a lot of hogs with a .223 AR while night hunting, using that choice for the rapid acquisition of multiple targets as is common at night. The low recoil and fast reloading help a lot, but they don't usually go down as fast or bleed much. I've used Hornady SST, Hornady 178 BTHP Match, 150 Flat based Hornady IL with good results and 155 Scenar with somewhat unsatisfactory results. When I use a .270 I've loaded with 130 SST and 150 Win. Power Points and they work fine. I've settled on a Speer 180 RN (.30-06) for the killing power and the blood spilling exit wound that you can count on with even big tough pigs. The Scenar was a disappointment in that it usually didn't expand and big hogs seemed prone to go hiking off long distances after being shot. I saw a deer shot with a Scenar a few years ago with a magnum rifle (either .257 or 240 Wby.) and the bullet demolished the front of that deer. I suppose velocity is the reason. My .30-06 velocity at 200+ yards is probably comparatively pretty tame. As Dirt Farmer said it is placement of the shot and I shoot for the middle of the ribs at night not wanting to miss so I use a big round nose bullet that will give me a little leeway on placement.
