Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters PIG GUN

iI and several other hunters just returned from Texas where we hunted "hogs" We killed enough to take home about two hundred pounds of boned out meat for sausage making......that said a lot pf them got away from us and yes.....some poor shooting may have been the cause. But a great discussion then broke out about the ideal hog gun.....

The range was under 150 yards most of the time and the pigs ran about 150-200 pounds......a few smaller but none larger.

We hunted west of Mountain Home , Texas on the Priour Ranch..,.,.a high fence antelope size game farm with over 30 species of game from Africa and Asia and Europe. The risk of an errant shot killing one of the trophy antelope was not great as they stayed their distance most of the time so that wasn't a consideration.

My question:.....what in your opinion is the best rifle for this style of hunt. Often the pigs were together in groups as large as 50 animals per sighting so follow up shots seemed to be the main concern but that often led to missing the first shot and getting nothing.

AR15 with a good low power illuminated scope. Bullets from 55 to 77 grains and try to shoot them in the front half.

Any rifle you would use to hunt deer. Second shots are difficult as they scatter instantly. Your better off focusing on one good killing shot. A second shot at a second pig is a bonus. With a round that will penetrat line up two for the first shot.

Hogs don't take much to kill. Like anything else it is shot placement.

The ideal rifle depends to some degree on how you are hunting them and what sort of cover they're in. For pigs the size you are describing a .223 would do, with the right bullet. I've killed pigs that size with smaller, but shot placement is at a real premium. With a bigger calibre than .224" you don't want a bullet that expands slowly IMHO - a plain cup and core opens fast and drops them where a tough bullet may not open well and therefore not kill nearly as well unless you spine or brain them.

Walking up on pigs I like a light rifle that fits me well so I can get the shots away fast. If you bounce a mob of pigs you'll often be able to drop several of them if you get your shots away quickly, provided of course that you make them count. I have dropped as many as eight out of a single mob with a bolt action, maybe taking the odd step or two to keep them in view. You may do better with a self-loader, if you are disciplined enough to make each shot count.

The same rifle also does the job if you are spotlighting them.

Some of the shots can be close, if there's cover - sometimes pigs get a bit confused and run at you, or want to have a go at you - so for the shooting I do I like a scope with a low enough magnification to allow for this. Shooting them out in open paddocks though you might want to be able to reach out a bit, and may want a bit more magnification.

The perfect pig rifle is a Savage 99. This one is a 358. It doesn’t take much to kill a pig. Shot placement is the key, just like any other animal. I’ve killed truck loads with a .223. This was one weekend in Weirgate Texas. I think this was the coolest time I’ve ever had hunting, damn pigs kept coming back, ran out of bullets, could have gotten a couple more if I’d put more in my pocket.

308 Winchester
300 WSM
280 Remington
7mm Weatherby


......are my choices & all of them work.

I use a 6.8 SPC in a Ruger Mini 30 (re-barreled from 7.62-39) and it is very effective. Hogs don't like it at all. Heaviest bullets I have used are 120 Sierra Pro Hunters but mostly I use the VMAX bullet. At 6.8 speeds, it behaves like a hunting bullet when it expands.

A whole lot of "Big Gun" pig rifles have been built for that dream hunt to get a knock down. But it seems that in the end the first shot is the best shot and most guys firing from field positions shoot a lot better with a whole lot less recoil.
Action type and cartridge choice are variable among pig hunters but keeping it low recoil sure improves the, dead on the first shot, from what Ive seen. Esp if your talking night vision and low light shooting.
Bullets well placed are what help in the DRT department.

Hanco, that classic rifle should be called the Harvestor.

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THIS...exactly

Here is probably my favorite hog gun .223A! Burris 3x9 with illum reticle for night shooting. Aim for the brain, one and done. These pigs were killed with a 60 gr NBT

Great pics, Hanco! I’ve only shot hogs in Central CA where I grew up on a cattle ranch.

At the time (80’s & 90’s) we only had a .243, 270 & 30-06’s. We never changed our deer loads which were 130 or 150 grain Speers or Hornady. We killed them with .243 as well (85gr any C&C) but that was when we bumped into them while coyote or ground squirrel hunting. Killed them easy - no fuss. They get a reputation for being tough because some folks shoot them too far back in fear of that ‘grissle plate’ which isn’t really something to shoot around IMO and get some long runners that just go off & die elsewhere which sucks but happens.

Wish we had populations like what you in Texas do back in the day - I really miss hog hunting.

Sounds like the gun and caliber were not the main problem...

The below the ear shot just works. Next week...

PIG GUN ?? What ever I have handy. Rio7.

An AR in 6.8 SPC would fir the bill nicely

I shot some with a 6.8 in a bolt gun. It worked GOOD!

My first 99, a 308 I bought from Roy. My boy has claimed it. A 308 is the perfect pig-deer caliber for piney woods hunting.

bmo harris branch

My first 99, a 308 I bought from Roy. My boy has claimed it. A 308 is the perfect pig-deer caliber for piney woods hunting. These were caught in a round pen.

bmo harris branch

For pure fun, I like a .41, .44 or .45 caliber handgun. AR-15s work pretty well. I generally run 64-grain Nosler bonded solid base bullets in my .223 for big game and they do a lot of damage and penetrate like crazy. Something short and quick handling of roughly .308 power works well. This year I've primarily been using a .25-06 because I have a .25-06 Kimber Montana and a bunch of factory ammo and am too lazy to reload. The Kimber looks pretty beat because I've mistreated it and hunted it hard. It probably has around 100 rounds through it but almost all of those have been on game that has varied in size from coyote to elk. It is for me for some reason one of those guns that doesn't miss. Running or stationery, 40 yards or 400 yards, it gets the job done. Now that's a hog gun.