Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger 480 ammo choice for hogs...

Hello all-

I'm going on a hog hunt this October. I have a Ruger SRH .480 and currently two types of ammo on hand. I can go out and buy some of the specialty hog killin' ammo designed by the specialty ammo companies at a premium price ...but will either of these two choices below work for the application mentioned? Hogs are feral and Russian strain. Weighing anywhere from 100-400 lbs.

I have Hornady 325GR HP/XTP and Federal Vital Shok 275GR Barnes Expander

Your thoughts and experiences, please.

I think either will work well on hogs, XTP being my choice of the 2. If i had a 480 I'd be reloading some big lead slugs.

The .480 Hornady XTP bullets work very well on Feral hogs here at the Ranch. I used them quite a bit before a good friend bought a LBT WFN bullet mold. Personally,I prefer the big cast bullets at moderate velocitys. But either will work very well. If you don't reload, I highly recommend the Buffalo Bore Factory Ammo.
The .480 Ruger cartridge is as excellent hog cartridge, IMO. And If I was fly fishing in Brown Bear habitat I'd even prefer it over my .454 Casull.

I have killed a tractor trailer load of hogs with a .45 Colt and 255 grain LSWC bullets moving along at about 1000 fps. Anything out of a .480 will anchor a hog.

Me too Sam! I use a LBT WFN 260 gr Cast bullet at 1000 fps in nearly all of my .45 Colts. Kills em graveyard dead.

Of the two loads you mentioned, I would pick the 325 XTP. That much velocity is not really needed for my type of hog hunting, but the bullet weight is better. Like others, I load hard cast of 375 - 415 gr at 1000 - 1200 fps in my .480 SRH. A bit of "overkill", but I might run into one of those 820 pound hogs when I don't have my .38 with me!

Mike

Are you refering to the 820 lb. pigs that escape from your neighbor's house and horas your dog on the front porch?

The Barnes bullet is way better than the XTP. Not a fan of XTPs as I have witnessed some spectacular failures with them. Both will work, but I would avoid heavy bone with the XTP and if you go up against a mature boar with a gristle plate, that will only exacerbate a bullet's flaws.

Thanks for all of the comments, much appreciated.