Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hog gun

DANG!!!!!!!!!!!! I would be happy to let you try out the ole Sendero. (In exchange for a few porkers, of course ) I could also bring the 458 Winnie stoked with some Hornady RN's that would love to meet a pig. badger.

Make sure that you get the flat top upper if you are going to mount a scope.
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<br>Also, choose your bullets wisely. Don't shoot varmint or FMJ rounds. Look for controlled expansion bullets.
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<br>I like the illuminated retical. Just looked at the new leupold tactical reddot/scope (ACOG?). It retails for $800 but sure is nice. It is 1-4 or so power and has an illuminated retical that I really like. The retical is a large circle with a find dot in the center.
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<br>Conrad

It's one to three power, and it is a very nice scope. Fooled around with one in the store. Cool reticle. You can use it as a range finder. At 100 yards the full circle covers 6 feet. At 200 yards six feet is contained between the dot and the outer edge of the circle. Come to think of it, though, you'd aim dead on at both distances, so what's the point? Nice scope though.
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<br>The Bushmaster Varminter has to be a flat top, by the way. They wouldn't call it a Varminter if it wasn't.
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<br>Why'd you end up with a .223 again? I thought you were concerned about wounding the pigs. Like you said, though, a head shot would certainly work. I guess FMJ would be the way to go for a head shot, although a bet a varmint round would positively liquidate the lungs on a broad side shot.

The Varminter does has a flat top. As to why I chose the 223 again, I kind of switched gears a little. I was originally looking for something to "jump" shoot them, from the truck, 4-wheeler, etc. However, for the time being I'll be hunting them from a stand where I can be more careful with shot placement. The last ones I shot were with Black Hills 55 grain soft point. They worked perfectly. I'm still planning on getting another gun to shoot them at close range that I can also use for deer. Leaning toward the Ruger Deerfield with the open sights. I've got a 44 magnum pistol I can use in the meantime.

You should just go get a real hunting gun instead of that prarie dog shooter. Personally, I wouldn't use the .223 on coyotes, much less hogs that can go to 500lbs. If the .223 is a hog gun, then my .22-250 must be a fine elk rifle.
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<br>Get something appropriate and quit sending those pigs off into the brush with wounds. The antis are on us enough....we don't need to give them additional ammo for the political arena.

Ga Hunter:
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<br>You must have wanted a gun, not a hog killer. Great gun, but a long ways from a GOOD choice for a hog gun. I've killed one hog with a .223 (neck shot) and it will certainly kill them, but, judging by your efforts up to this point, your accuracy leaves a bit to be desired, And, with a .223 you MUST put your shots from the heart(almost directly behind where the front leg connects to the body) forward. A good lung, rib cage shot will probably get one in an open field, but if you are the least bit too far back, you will never recover that animal.
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<br>As has been said above in several different ways, a decent hog gun starts at .308 caliber and escalates rapidly into the best neighborhood of the .40s. The problem with a .223 is, while you may get a dead hog on the first shot, you will almost certainly not have the luxury of carefully placing a killing shot on any follow ups on it or another hog. And, with a .223, it has less room for error than the .30s or up. It has been my experience that hog hunting does not lend itself to perfect shot placement. Even when they are feeding they are always moving around, etc. If you are afraid of recoil, (and I can tell you that a .45-70 with FACTORY say .300 grain HPs(or the old reliable 405 grainers) lumbering along about 1750 fps will kill them dead and not hurt you shoulder, not nearly as bad as a 12 gauge duck load, for example) get a .308 or a .30-06 bolt action, put a decelerator pad on it, shoot 150 grain SSTs into the shoulder area and get out the skinning knife. I considered a BAR, but haven't tried one yet, and bought a AR-10T which kind of filled that niche....... for now......LOL The other suggestions of .30-30s and .35 Remingtons are good too. In short, leave the .223 at the house, and get a better caliber for the job.

You better make sure you are in your tree stand when you pop one with that peashooter you bought, cause your gonna piss them off!

Calm down guys, the majority of these hogs weigh less than 100 lbs and a fair number of them less than 15-20 lbs. A well placed 223 will certainly kill them. A 22 long rifle will kill the smaller ones. This gun will be shot from a stand. No long shots at big hogs. Trust me there are enough hogs that I can pick and choose which ones to shoot. The hogs I've had problems killing were "snap" shots taken while walking or riding in the truck and you're right a 223 is too small. I'm still investigating what to fill that niche with. One option is to get another "upper" for the Bushmaster in a larger caliber. Again thanks for all the opinions, I'm not ignoring them just changing gears a bit.

That's a damned good idea. You can get an upper in .50 caliber that can make use of the standard magazines. It's called the .50 Beowulf upper, from Alexander Arms. Check out their web page. The standard mag becomes a single stack mag. This would be very good piggy medicine. If you get it, let us know how it works.

My 12 year old son has been "researching" this for me. There's another called a 458 SOCOM I think. He was a little disappointed I didn't get an M1A, so he's been looking for an "upper". By the way, I got the Varminter today and sighted it in. It's really a nice gun, much more accurate than the one pulling the trigger. It did malfunction with the standard magazine. The bolt would push the cartridge forward and the "point" of the bullet would hit the end of the magazine and push the bullet down in the cartridge and jam. I think they call this "stovepiping"? Anyway used a couple of old Colt AR magazines and no more problems. I may have gotten a little more than I bargained for. They (Bushmaster) recommend a pretty strict "breaking" in of the barrell. Shoot a few times, clean, shoot a few times, etc. I'm afraid in the past, I never spent much time cleaning my other guns.

ga hunter, check my last post in this thread, it is the only place to buy a 458 upper, I have one and they are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<br>RR

Where do you get ammo for it? I checked the Con Bor website and they don't have it listed.

its there hard to find though, I ordered mine from them, its a 300 gr. HP stated velocity is 1900 fps I think in a 16" heres the page www.shooterstore.com/acb/showprod.cfm?&DID=150&User_ID=668649&st=4776&st2=-153021749&st3=259916044&CATID=215&ObjectGroup_ID=871
<br>RR

Hello GA hunter. I'll bring money...a Mini-30 you can use and anything else you can think of for a shot and helping you with your hog problem. I'm across the Savannah River in Beaufort, SC. Hehehe. Have guns....will travel. Good luck to ya! Chris
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<br>SSGT USMC

I would buy a used Rem pump in .308 or 30-06.
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<br>the enfield suggestion is a very good one if you are comfortable with peep sights. You can load one with a stripper clip...ZZZiiippp! and detach the mag as well.
<br>Bombproof with .308 power. They can be found from $65.00 used on up.
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<br>The BAR is nice and accurate. Bought one for my Pop-in-law (I hunt his land) in the .243 lightweight. NICE!
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<br>I have a Deerfield and it handles super, never jams, 4" accuracy at 100 yds with the iron sights. But trajectory starts to fade past 100 yards. One thing, 240 grainers run 1770 fps out of mine...alot more ooomph than a .44 mag revolver.
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<br>Then you could get a rifled slug barrel for your bird gun....it will bring home the bacon no question.
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<br>You've got a neat dilemma here.....good luck with your choice.

Just thought of the ultimate hog gun for you: The Springfield M1A scout rifle. long range accuracy, carbine length, .308 power, hi capacity semiauto action, military integrity.

GAhunter, e-mail me at alan@autobuysales.com Got a couple suggestions & ideas for you. badger.

(Looks like I lost this post, so here it is again) Here's the latest on the "hog gun". The Bushmaster Varminter is a very accurate gun. Shooting off of my tailgate I could get 10 shots in about 2 inches at 100 yards. It has a very crisp trigger and no recoil to speak of. What I don't like about it is the trigger pull weight of around 4.5 to 5 lbs and can't be adjusted below 4.5 per Bushmaster's instructions. Also the 24" barrel is a little long for getting around in the truck. As to the hog killing ability, well it could be better. I built a 4'x8' x 10' high stand at the edge of the dove field (basically a shooting bench 10' up in the air). The first time out, a group of about 10 medium sized hogs comes across the field. I shoot one just behid the ear and he drops, but he's still kicking on the ground so I put another one in his head. As the hogs are running away, I'm not able to get a clean shot (so much for the advantage of a semi-auto). About 20 minutes later, another group of about 6 or so comes across the field. I drop one of them, right behind the ear. He hits the ground. Then after a few seconds, he jumps up and runs about 25 yards and "expires". So, you guys were right a 223 is a little "light" for a hog gun. I had hoped to make up for it in shot placement and firepower, but I can't place the bullets any better and I can't hit a running hog at 150 yards no matter what I'm shooting. So now the gun dealer is looking for a Tikka 7mm-08! By the way, I appreciate everybody's offer to help with the hogs, but I'm going to let my 3 little boys shoot one before they get "wise".

Sorry, that should "before the hogs get wise" not the boys!

Sometimes you just have to use what you got, went to check on my field yesterday at sundown, about 15 hogs "mowing". I put the Bushmaster on a fair size boar (5' from from snout to tail) at 100 yards dropped him, then shot another as he was starting to run, dropped him. The first one starts to get up, shoot him in the head (again) he stays down, then the second is crawling across the field, shoot him 2 more times before he's dead. I'm impressed with the sheer firepower of the gun but the 223 is just too small. My gun dealer couldn't find a Tikka in 7mm-08, so I ordered a Sako ($ouch!), should be here next week. For $350 more I get a magazine that holds 5 instead of 3 and pretty wood. Oh well, I hope it shoots good. I have a good friend who is planning to go with me next week to shoot hogs. I asked him what gun he was going to bring, either a 375 H&H or a 500something double gun, good grief, from one extreme to the other. I've known this guy for 15 years, never knew he had a closet full of elephant guns. For what it's worth, those illuminated reticles really work. When I put the scope on the first hog who was solid black it was too dark for me to see the crosshairs. I turned the reticle on and put the little glowing crosshair on him.