Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 7.62x39 AR15 Magazines

I'm not sure where all the ideas come from that hogs are tough. I've not found that to be the case at all. If they are big enough to make you wonder, shoot em in the ear. 223 works fine.

Baring that we've shot lots of them up to about 200 pounds with 223 and just using better bullets, like 75 bhp, 77bthp, or barnes. I've never found it lacking.

As to max distances with 300/221 or the X39, its what you make them. For pigs or deer it only takes 3 things. The right bullet, enough energy and shot placement. After having killed a lot with head shots, up to 300 appx, with 22lr subs generally 50 yards and in, well you see what I mean. I'll shoot em in the lungs too if need be. Sometimes you have to go look a bit, but I have not lost one with a 22. Max distance with the CF rounds, well again its what you make of it. 150 is certainly an easy shot. I shoot 200 with the 300/221 suppressed subsonic with 194 lehighs. My worst problem is accuracy with sub sonic rounds. I'd have no qualms at all at 300 under the right conditions.

X39 supersonic just out as far as I have zero's... which I never got past 500 with my nephews model 1 sales and 125 ballistic tips. Which by the way run around MOA pretty easily.

It’s often not about being ‘tough’ it’s about harvest conditions. Perfect conditions and perfect shots, they’re no tougher than killing coyotes or deer. At night, and/or with pigs running everywhere, imperfect angles and fast decisions, more than any 223 is better for instant results on torso hits. That’s all. We have places for daylight hunting of hogs where it’s rimfires only allowed. Hogs die. That’s perfectly ‘do-able’. For my normal hog pursuits, it’s not desirable.

Yeah, I've killed more hogs with a .223 than anything else.

But When dealing with large sounders, I want to inflict the utmost damage I can when a shooting situation arises.

I did get 4 hogs that were in one group awhile back with my .223 carbine. But running shots and having to use more than one shot in a few cases.

I think to put the 4 hogs down before they got the brush on me required 12 shots... Not great, but gotter done.

For what you are doing RE hogs unless you demand to eat each one, I can get more aimed shots out faster from the 223 than others. Dont' really care if I find em, as long as I poke them enough to kill em. With a good bullet a 223 will penetrate more than enough on most pigs.

I can say for sure a few times had I been shooting a higher recoiling gun I could not have shot as many as I did. Short time periods of exposure give you these situations.

Of course if the most important thing is finding each one and death immediately one can go bigger, but when we step up in small magnitudes it often doesn't impress me. I"d be thinking at least the 10 platform... and something decent out of it for sure then if you need that bang flop

Those that don't think a barnes or heavy bullet in 223 penetrates and kills under dang near any situation is kind of nuts in my opinion.

Problem is: I’ve put too many 223 rounds into some moving something I didn't KNOW I had already poked a good hole in, because there was no immediate reaction. Maybe it was the wrong bullet. For different reasons, I just find the bigger stuff more ‘efficient’, I guess. I’ve not noticed any speed difference on a fast runner with any 223 vs 6.8 vs 6.5 vs 300 vs x39.....with the last two being conjecture, as I’ve not got into a mess of anything with those, but notice no real recoil or recovery difference in the rigs I do shoot. By the time/$ one can invest into a premium 223 bullet, load, you can get more rounds in more different stuff for less, often. I’m not necessarily averse to using a 223 for just varmint hog control, but I do sometimes want to find a few easily, and might deer hunt with it in daylight/thick stuff, etc. It’s just different strokes. A 223 and primo bullet will work perfect for some. Others have their reasons for other stuff. I happen to like alternate AR offerings. It lets folks wrap it around what they need a bit better, and they’ve probably encouraged FAR more AR hunting use than the 223 ever did, by itself....legalities, bullets, gam3 type, etc.

Put a brake on em and you might do ok recoil wise. IE heavier bullet, and speed is always going to give more recoil. Simple. Might not realize you are dealing with it but you are.

I don't always see reaction but I know good and well when I pull the trigger if its a hit or not. I dont' need to see reactions. So far its not failed me. Subject to change on the next sounder.

RE deer, I don't shoot moving deer. I see no need to. Given a heavy BTHP or a 52 grain plus Barnes there isn't a deer alive that will not die.

Watched a book class deer fall over from a 69 bthp some years ago. Bang. Flop. Lungs. NOT a small body deer. Around 130 steps.

That said for some reason we have shot most of our deer in the last 15 years with a 308 or a 300/221 or 10mm. Don't really use a 223 much on deer. Not quite sure why though.

It’s splitting hairs in a 7.5# rifle, there’s not enough difference between a 55gr at 3200 and a 110gr at 2200-2600, or 90gr at 2800-3k, to notice on the shooter end, for speed.

Again, I’m not saying a 223 and a Barnes isn’t good medicine, or that nobody has bang flops with a 223. I just feel several other AR calibers suit my uses better, as evidenced in MY use. We don’t all do stuff the same way or demand the same outcomes. When stuff is moving at night, you believe a lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily end up as you thought, especially when relying on digitally reproduced representations of reality....shooting ability often notwithstanding.

To the OP.....E-Lander makes some highly thought of x39 mags.

Ah yes. night stuff. I don't have any. But have used it a few times. so I defer to you there. Most of the night stuff I've used is in 30RAR IIRC and we've had plenty run off after being hit with that. And plenty fall over too.

I know my friend doesn't have digital, only IR and night vision so can't comment on that either.

But I go back and think of a deer I took a shot at with a red dot years ago. Never saw the vines in front of him since it was red dot and not magnified. Deflected the bullet enough to make a low leg hit that we looked for and followed literally almost all day. None the worse for wear thankfully as we kept jumping him.

Wife said you need bigger. Went and got a beowulf. Shooting big barnes HP bullets that always open nicely. I've yet to have a deer fall with that gun. Makes me wonder. And almost always have at least a 1 inch hole through the vitals.