Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best pig rifle

I'm going to try my 9X56 M/S and take the Steyr scout.308 with 150 gr barnes TSX. The 9mm has Hawk 245 gr RN Softs. Rusty

When out and about in the truck or on foot it is a .45 Long Colt revolver or 92 Lever gun. Load is 10 grains of Unique with the Hornady 225 FTX. Always dead right there, never a runner. Typical distance is 25 yards to 50 yards max in the heavy brush here.

Hunting from a stand for deer and when the occasional piggy pops up it is usually a .308 Winchester or .300 Savage with 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. Once again, always dead right there, never a runner.

This season I got angrier at the wild hogs and bought a dedicated rifle for stand hunting in low light for distances out to 100-150 yards. Ruger Scout in 450 Bushmaster, 8x56 S&B scope, and so far factory Hornady loads with 250 grain FTX's are about as good as it gets:

Any rifle is fine for pigs.
I have shot more than I could ever count with a range of cartridges I could never recall between the .223 Remington and the .460 Weatherby. Nothing, did not work well.

Although they are a stocky animal with an overly promoted claim of a bullet proof gristle plate shielding, (Not so much in the US but many Aussies were full of it) I have always found the flesh to be relatively soft which is why even a 55gn Sierra works on them.

Marlin 336 in 30-30

Can't fault in any of that idea.

I use my lever 44mag similarly. What bullets are you shooting? I was using store bought ammo- the Hornady 225 grain Lever Revolution stuff. It shot great but I didn't care for its performance. I switched to 240 hollow points but haven't shot anything with them. What amazed me when trying different ammo in that B92 was how wildly it flung lighter weights.

I shot the Lever Revolution a few times, but I've had two instances where it jammed feeding. I think their length might be a problem. I typically just shoot Winchester white box 240 grain soft points. When I get my reloading equipment set back up, I'll probably load the Hornady XTP bullets.

First thing I thought of was an ar15 in 6.8spc

Based on the cages you build to trap hogs. I’d go with a 9mm or a 45ACP and get some pistol work in. 😎

I've killed pigs with 7x57, 338 Win Mag, 260 rem, 25-06 and 300 Black Out.

If you hit 'em where you should, it is not much of a problem to kill them.

donsm70

I have friends who own land in Oklahoma and are always trying to shoot off the pigs to keep them from tearing everything up.

They have used many different guns, but they tell me the one that is their "standard" is now the AK47.

No maintenance or near none, always loaded, always works and is always with them in the trucks and 4 wheeler.
Some have low power scopes and others use iron sights, but the AK is the "pig-tool" and they have all gone to keeping them near by in the vehicles at all times.
Jordan said he's killed more pigs with his AK in the last 5 years then with every other gun combined.

Dunno the best for everyone, but for me, I killed 3 dozen or so in the last few months with a 6 Grendel AR...plus a truckload of whitetails...

My daughters little Henry mini-bolt in .22LR works perfect for that. You stick the barrel in and they get curious and come to smell it, raise it a few inches and pop them right between the eyes. Quick and humane with no mess.

CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39 has worked well for me. Iron sights mean I can get in the thick stuff easily.

AR chambered in 6.5 grendel with a lightweight 16" barrel is quick handling. About to mount a leupold VXR 2-7 which should work out just fine.

It is fun to shoot them with a 45 or a 40 in the round pen traps. Takes me a few rounds to kill them. I need cataract surgery, I suck with open sights.

Love my Tikka 695 in 270. Might be a gay caliber but it puts them down fast.

I got a couple of friends that have those and really like them.

That's some good looking lumber on that lever gun.

Stretching back to my teenage years, I've probably killed more hogs with a .22 LR with solid bullets than anything else. In recent years I've killed them with .30-06, .270, .300 Savage, .300 Win Mag, .22 Hornet, 12 gauge, 20 gauge (buckshot in both smoothbores), and .44 magnum. My favorite hog gun is a Thompson Contender with 14" barrel in .44 mag, with a 16" suppressor on the end of the barrel ("permanently" attached). This rig is in a carbine stock. My favorite loads are hard cast bullets of 300+ gr loaded to just under 1000 fps. Not a long range gun, most of my shots are under 50 yards. Pretty much always one shot kills - twice I have shot into a group and had two hogs drop dead at the shot. Single shot firearm works fine for me, not planning to shoot more than I want to butcher at one time. I've used night vision scopes on this "gun", mostly shot it with a 3x9 Bushnell, but just replaced that with a 512 EOTech. I use red-dots on several semi-auto handguns and a few revolvers, expect to really like the EOTech on my hog gun. Speaking of handguns, usually have one when hog hunting, as a backup if nothing else. I'm partial to .44 mag. but also use .45 LC and .45 ACP. Lately my favorite handgun round is 10mm. In a 1911, it is handy hog firepower.

I hunt my own small property, and don't raise crops or livestock on it. Hog hunting is GOOD, can do it year round, any time of day or night, hardly any restrictions, and the meat is good.

Mike Holmes

After carefully considering your post, I'd suggest a .22-250, maybe with a faster twist than traditional. The Ruger American is a lot of rifle for the money.

Seriously,
- How far is long shot for where you are likely to find pigs?
- Do you care about damaging a lot of meat?
- Do you plan to take only "sure shots" or plan to keep shooting as long as a shot is available regardless of the shot angle or how fast the pig is moving?
- Do you consider pigs to be a "game animal" deserving of humane hunting ethics or vermin not deserving of the same consideration you would have for a game animal? (No judgement here. I can see good arguments for either side.)
- Do you want a "nice" rifle or a "truck gun"?
- Do you shoot iron sights well enough, or do you need a scope even for relatively close shots?
- Is weight a consideration?
- Is ammo cost a consideration?
- Do you plan to hunt them at night, need to mount a light?
- And on, and on, and on.

There are a lot of "best" pig rifles.

Logic over. Back to our rifle looneyism.

It’s really amazing how easy they are to kill. I had really good luck with a Brno 611. If you got into a covey, follow up shots are really quick. Hasbeen