Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best bullet for HOA hog hunting?

One of my duties after deer season is over is to sneak around at night in a high dollar Home Owners Association near Richland Chambers lake and take out feral hogs that are destroying lawns and right of ways. What I am looking for in a bullet is adequate penetration, massive destruction and with little or nothing making an exit. I have rifles in 224 to .358 diameter cartridges with my preference being in the .243 to 270 range. Noise can be a factor also so I like to keep velocity down around 2700 fps. Any suggestions? I got some Lehigh Dense .257 85 gr. HP's to try but in testing this bullet turned out to be a heck of a penetrator not unlike the Partition. I have used the 6MM 100 gr. Prohunter but I had more pigs running off than those that decided to lay down. Thinking maybe a varmint bullet of some kind, possibly a VMax or Sierra HP. I try to make CNS hits but night hunting doesn't always give enough time to make the perfect shot.

Check the Leheigh Defense site they have two types of fragmenting bullets that could work. The controlled Chaos is a little bit like the Raptor and the base will exit on most side on shots. The barrier bullet is an aluminum cored bullet that will fragment and not exit on larger hogs. These were 15% off at Midway and Leheigh usually has a Black Friday sale and veterans discount.

I tested the Lehigh bullets on water jugs, front of bullet did fragment the rear sailed through the fourth jug no sweat. I will hunt with this bullet but for what I want in a control bullet it is too tough. I will look into other Lehigh designs.

Yep a varmint bullet......Id try 50-55 Grain Vmax in a .223 and take brain shots only. Ive shot a ton of hogs with a 60 grain NBT going a little faster and never got an exit on brain shots. I say the Vmax because its softer than the NBT...likewise the lighter ones should slow up quicker...

Generally the shots I get are not always right for head shots. One of the rifles I use a lot is a 243. I have loaded for it now the 95 gr. Ballistic Tips at 2700 fps and it's a tackdriver. Other than most of the body hit pigs getting into the brush or running into peoples back yards where I have to recover them it really does fine with head shots. Exit virtually guaranteed. Maybe an 80 grain Ballistic Tip? 85 grain Sierra BTHP? Seems like I'm not going to bridge the gap between solid chest hit hogs running a ways and no exit holes. What about the 257 using one of the varmint style 100 grain bullets? I have a 6.5 Grendel and it is a good hog killer, I'm thinking about trying the Eld-M 123 grain bullet as I hear it breaks up yet still makes a good wound.

70gr Ballistic tips in your 243

I looked and I have some on the shelf, not many need to order some.

These hogs can weigh 10 pounds or over 300 pounds and darned if they aren't the most nervous hogs I have ever hunted. From the homeowners plinking at them and trying to trap them these hogs are way up there on the difficult list! Add that if a deer gets in a hog trap it can be a pain to release it and the homeowners bitch about everything, even being able to see my hog traps. Ungrateful rich people! Not fooling with rimfires on this project.

I like shooting them

Yeah I would go with a varmit bullet at high velocity. Minimize the richcet, an pick your shots carfully. I don't know if I would want the liability.

After looking around a bit I might try the 120 gr. Hornady SST made for the 6.8 SPC. Hornady says max velocity is 3000fps but the bullet is expressly designed for a cartridge that tops out at 2400 fps. So I figure if I add just the right amount of speed over 2400 fps, say another 400 fps then I might have a bullet that will get inside, break up and do a lot of damage yet not have much left to spew out the other side. Sure I could use a 22 if I were to only take the shots the rimfire is effective on but then I would miss out on the other 100 shot opportunities. There is no daytime hunting in this residential area. There are rich greenies living there. I have been scheming on turning my Contender into a rifle for a while but my Super 14 in 22 long rifle is such a tackdriver!

22lr subsonic with a can and HP pre fragmented bullets. Kills up to 300 pounders pretty easy shot in the ear socket.

Just be picky with the shots and pass what you have to pass. Patience. This Mc Donalds society chit gets on my nerves at times.

Its either that or a CF fragile fast bullet and hit the head, lots louder. And forget body shots with that type of bullet IMHO.

. Bullet?

^^^ This^^^

Tempted to put that picture on my desktop!

Hanco:

That looks more like the St. Valentine's Massacre!

Whats your range? High brass Birdshot to the head willl kill one and not go too far past that...

Be real careful with 22 rimfire ammo.
Many like it better than a center fire for around buildings.
I think it can be the most ricochet prone thing there is.