I'm learning of more and more opportunities to hunt hogs here in central Florida (mostly on WMA's and some private), and am thinking a 7.62x39 might be the ticket for them.

Thoughts? What bullet would you use?

Thanks in advance.

The 7.62x39 is basically a 30-30. There is nothing magical about the killing ability of any cartridge. It's all about the physics. Use the 123 or 154 grain soft point and you kill pigs.

Used to use an SKS some years back when I
had a place to go that wasn't restricted to
shotgun only.
I had tried some 150 SP , but my particular
gun wasn't all that accurate with them.
I found some 123gr HP's that were really
accurate and did a good job on the swine.
Not sure what they might cost now. IIRC the
ones I used were around $2.50 box of 20
The rifles were around $60.00-$70.00
You could drag one through the nastiest
briar filled river bottle and didn't have to
worry about malfunction or misfires.
They'd go boom every time

Good Luck

Doesn’t take much to kill a pig, killed many with a .223

Range will be your only limitation. If you can put it in the head or vitals the 7.62 commie will do the job.

The earlier posts are on point, the 7.62x39 is a 30-30 and Range is your limiting factor. Pigs have a great nose, I’ve been winded at 150+ yards by a sounder which would make the 7.62 39 a challenge. I use an AR10 .308, obviously, range is not an issue, even with a thermal image where judging distance is sometimes difficult at night

No but I wouldn’t hesitate to use my AR 47/AK15 or the cz on a hog, deer, elk or black bear with in appropriate distances

I plan to take this one with me on my next trip down to Texas.

Wouldn't have any concerns out to 100-150yard or so.

It’s all about shot placement. They kill easy, have shot hundreds of the bastards.

Hanco: not to derail my own thread but where do you place your shots for hogs?

Hint:

Shoulder

If the range isn't too far and they aren't being too "wiggly", I like to aim for the middle of the neck. Tends to work nicely, even with smaller chamberings, and they don't run. With a bigger rifle or a less ideal scenario, I also like the shoulder. It's generally going to end well, even if they run a bit.

Shoulder and neck shots work well. The ear hole is a good target also.

Mebbe this will shed a little light on the topic...

I've killed pigs with everything fro a .22 pistol to a 458, like Hanco say's Pigs are not hard to kill.

Rio7.

Yep. Good diagram. I seem to catch quite a few with hard quartering-to angles, getting the base of the neck and some of one shoulder. Those guys go down hard.

Landowner was using a 7.62 x 39. He swapped to a .308

Anything will kill a hog with the ideal shot. The issue is jumping them and taking a quick, less than ideal shot. I think a .308 with 150gr is about as good as it gets. I shoot an AR-308, suppressed and it's been the perfect setup. I do a lot of walk and stalk.

Same here. If you need to resort to body shots on the fly, it’s a great balance of power and “shootability”. Walmart ammo through a .308 autoloader is cheap and reliably effective on hogs.

I killed many hogs back in the day with my first rifle which was a 30-30. So if the 7.62 is similar, blast away. I kept ranges under 125 with my open sighted marlin lever gun. If I would have had it scoped I would have stretched it out a bit further.

Depends on the animal really. A 80 pounder isn't hard to kill, a 180 pound boar is a different matter and a 280 pound boar is something else entirely. On the big one's you got to be smart with your shot placement or use plenty gun.

The 154gr soft points work noticeably better than anything else I've tried. 123 SST are okay but a little too fragile for my liking on hogs. If you want expansion that's the way to go but I want to be able to bust shoulders no matter the angle. The 154gr will do that.

Pigs are like any other critter shootin them in the Ass or Gut Doesn't kill them, .223 will do the job with a well placed shot size does not matter pigs aren't hard to kill. Rio7

South Ranch Protein feeder, Pigs are hitting it hard, been holding off shootin Pigs because it's so damn hot,looks like i better get with it. Rio7

I have 3 friends in Oklahoma who use AKs to keep the hogs under control. All of them say the AK is the perfect rifle for their use because they are so resistant to abuse. They use dirt bikes and 4-wheelers and there is no 'babying' of the weapons. But mud dust rain ice snow......nothing matters to the Kalashnikovs --and they make a LOT of dead hogs every year. I asked about ammo and they told me they used soft points for a while but after a while they simply went to the Russian battle ammo and it killed them just fine.

Do you trap pigs??

In the middle photo, center, who does the ears and eyes belong to?

Looks like a doe

^^^This^^^

[quote=Ranger99]Used to use an SKS some years back when I
had a place to go that wasn't restricted to
shotgun only.
I had tried some 150 SP , but my particular
gun wasn't all that accurate with them.
I found some 123gr HP's that were really
accurate and did a good job on the swine.
Not sure what they might cost now. IIRC the
ones I used were around $2.50 box of 20
The rifles were around $60.00-$70.00
You could drag one through the nastiest
briar filled river bottle and didn't have to
worry about malfunction or misfires.
They'd go boom every time

Like Ranger 99, I used an SKS and 123 gr bullets when hunting pigs down in the Fla. Everglades back in the 90's. The rifle and ammo worked really well.

I'm jealous of you folks who have hogs to hunt at anytime. We don't have them in my parts since but one can hope they get started here.

I prefer the 7.62x39's offspring. 6.5 Grendel

I have not but I gladly would!

I have killed hogs with a .243 and a .308, they were not particularly difficult to bring down.

I miss the days when one could get an SKS for $150!

Bought my first SKS for $69 bucks. Think it was about 1985 or 1986.

Be very careful of what you wish for
They'll tear up s**t faster than you can
fix it. Doesn't matter what. Fencing. Hay
meadow. Planted crops. Gamebirds and
nests. Fawns. Tree plantings. Etc. Etc.

If you have em close around your place
and your hay or weeds get too high, you'll
have to run slow or you might find a deep
hole they dug the hard way and possibly
turn your tractor over on top of you or
break an axle or tear up a wheel.

Yeah they're fun to shoot and such and
have around, unless you have to fix
things they tear up then you'll change
your mind about having them as guests

This times X 100

I killed a bunch with an SKS with various cheap steel cased ammo. Use a .223 mostly now unless I deer hunting and they are targets of opportunity. As others have said Hogs dont take much killing.