Forgive me if this topic has been beaten to death, but I am relatively new to ARs. But given the numbers of hogs that we are seeing, I think the semi-auto ability might be appropriate. But I have a few questions:

1) 63gr Sierra vs 65gr Sierra BT. Any significant difference the the terminal performance? I have read good things about both of them...

2) Would a 350 Legend, or some 30cal or 6mm cartridge provide a significant improvement in terminal performance over 22 cals? DRTs are not essential. After all they are pests, not unlike roaches, fire ants, mosquitos, etc. The important thing is to remove them form the population. But DRTs are sometimes nice if you want to take pictures of your "trophy".

3) Any experience with FMJs? The rumors during the VN conflict were that they tumbled causing serious tissue damage. Anyone have any experience using them on pigs?

Again, my apologies if these issues have been hashed and rehashed. But I would appreciate any and all input! Thanks!

Those bullets you mentioned would do fine. It doesn’t take much to kill a pig. I use 62 grain Bear Claws, cause I have a bunch. They slice and dice pigs. 62 Barnes work well also

308 subsonic will kill them fine at 50 yards.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...to-ammo-for-small-meat-hogs#Post19160038

Kill all the bastards

30 cal sub will kill em just fine at 200 yards if you know the drop.

We have killed a lot with 40 vmax in populated areas. I shoot em a bit with 6.5 Grendel and cannot tell much of any difference. Just another toy to play with. Though it starts slower and quieter than the 223 with the suppressor and I think that part helps me get more shots faster at night.

Similar note. Shot at a deer with 223 years ago. Hit a hard vine in front of it and deflected and broke its leg. Wife says stop the small stuff... so we bought a 50 beowulf. Have not hit a vine with that. But also everything shot with it runs just like with a 223 except CNS hits. And one hit to the pelvic girdle on one deer hauling tail that was badly wounded. That shot took it to the ground and we shot it in the head when we walked up to it.

So I"m not so sure from our experiences that larger helps really. According to many its the only way to go though. Larger. It certainly doesn't hurt. Other than cost and possible extra recoil. But those are not enough to worry about.

I'm going to keep shooting pigs before I fly north, with the 6.5 ppc and just see if I continue to get more shots. Or if the other night was a fluke. There were extenuating factors in that it was sows with piglets and when you take the sows out it gets kind of different. But I never shot a piglet. Only the big pigs of the group. 5 of the 8 that were with the group.

In East TX would not recommend the 223, as the swamp hogs tend to be bigger than the western TX hogs. Here in my area, I have used many calibers and cartridges in ARs to kill hogs. My current go to, is a 358 MGP. The 6.8 necked up, with 200s or 180s. Makes a big hole in big hogs and gives 100% penetration on a 3-500 pounder.

.223 is more than fine, and I'm not one to let something flop and flip around for 10 minutes just because it's a "pest". Use a hunting bullet and have at it. It's really not complicated.

PeeDeeRiver, I would like to see some pictures of your 300 to 500# hogs, I live on a ranch and can smell BullChit before I step in it. Rio7

.223 AR works fine on pigs they are not hard to kill. Rio7

You might re-check who you're calling out.

The get that big once in a while in the woods and swamps. We rarely shoot one over 200 in central texas

Weirgate. Newton county Texas Wish they could have weighed this pig

Madison county Texas, slightly over 400 on a scale

There are some like that. They are EXTREMELY rare. We have killed one over 300 with a bow. On scales. It bottomed a 320 pound scale. I"ve shot one who knows how big around 400 is my guess but never found. I've seen one in the wild I think would hit close to 500. Thats in 59 years of life...

I've hunted East TX and never seen a pig over about 200 and only a few of those. Most big pigs actually weigh about 125 to 175 IMHO. IE what people think are big.

A barnes ttsx will blow right through a 500 pound pig if I ever get the chance.

I’ve no idea what this pig weighed, I’m 6’4” and 205 and I know it was heavier than me. Doubt it was 300. It died from one 55gr Speer SP right through the shoulder, ran maybe 20 yards before flopping over. Probably the second largest I’ve ever killed.



I killed the largest a couple weeks after this one, it was a big grey pig that would have dwarfed this one, looked like a hippopotamus. One 55gr Rem PowrLokt HP factory load from the 60s out of my 222mag resulted in a 100 yard death run. If I’ve ever killed a 300+ that was it.

The only big one I’ve ever seen on a scale was floating between 400-420 on the COOP scale. It was killed on a dead run at over 50 yards by my old boss. One shot with his Rossi pump 22 carbine and a Remington Golden Bullet, right in the armpit. The other goofball hired hand said it was because them gold bullets were hollow points!

I have no clue the numbers of pigs I"ve shot with a 22lr. Even a lot with subsonics. Most of them have been with pistols.

Right bullet. Right shot placement. Dead. I"ve said it before and folks laugh, but if 22 rimfire was legal for deer we would use it.

Thanks for your input, Gentlemen. Sounds like I should just stay with the 223 and 63/65gr Sierras, and save a few bucks!

I have a couple AR's in 223. I also have a 300 HAM'R that I like better for larger stuff. The one that I have likes 300BO Magazines exclusively. It will not feed "period" from any of my 223 Magazine's that I have tried so far. It should work Point Blank to 200 yards just fine.

The 6.5 Grendel is another good choice for more Thump down range. The 6 ARC with good bullets would be another good option.

Just My Two Cents.

Bob R

This, you'll be perfectly fine and will kill the heck out of them. Those are both good killing bullets.

I've killed more with 65gr Gamekings than all other calibers & bullets combined, but these days my go to is a .300blk with 110s at about 2400fps. Barnes Tac TX are the best option, but V-Max work just fine too.

63 semi point I've never seen a "failure" from. Every other game king bullet I've tried has had weird issues so I no longer trust em. That said knowing anatomy and what you have in your hand helps a lot.

Florida and Georgia swamp hogs can get well over 200 pounds, but in my experience, they are fairly rare. Biggest I shot in Texas was 287 pounds. That was with a .270 though. Most local hogs have been taken with an AR using the 64 grain Winchester PP bullet over a bunch of H335. All died fairly quickly.

I don't see the need for anything other than a 5.56 and a good bullet out to at least 150 yards, and I know there are people who have shot and killed them further with a 5.56. I have shot 5-6 maybe more medium deer with a 6.8spc and honestly I don't see it to be any better than the 5.56.

I shot my first pig with an AR. Back when the carry handle and Iron sights was all we had.

BMT

I think it depends on the layout of your hunting grounds. Where I hunt, we typically get shots on hogs that are within 50 yards of fencelines and the adjacent property, and we like to recover them (we kinda keep score by recoveries). We take a lot of shots at running pigs, and while a good .224" bullet will kill them, we want them down on our side of the fences. Bigger bullets just do a better job. I love my .260s...I think the .260 easily does a better job than any .223 and also better than the 6mm ARs I used for a while.

Two of the three adjacent property owners allow us to shoot and recover on their wheatfields, but that accounts for a smaller percentage of what we kill. About 70% of the fenceline we hunt separates us from the property whose owner we have never even met. We just don't go over there.

I fully recognize that adequate is adequate, but bigger is better IMO.

I cannot agree over years of shooting and lots of it the AR game, that bigger is always better.

I can totally agree that bigger never hurts.

But I've shot lots of calibers etc..

The only rounds that sure seem to go above and beyond what I expect of them are the 10mm in a pistol. The 257 wtby in a rifle. And the 458 Win Mag in a rifle.

The rest are case by case. I think bullet choice in your caliber for what you are wanting to do, and shot placement trump it all. Guts is still guts no matter the round. Like I've said the 40vmax that never exits pigs, has resulted normal kills and quite a few that were more impressive than I expected.

Now some things matter. Like recoil and speed of shots. So if no houses around etc... all you have to worry is can you hit as many with a 308 semi as I can with a 223 semi basically.

I do get it about recovering pigs. Though I can't recall in a long time that any pig has made over 100 yards after being hit. With the 2 rounds I run the most. 223 and 6.5 Grendel.

The 50 beowulf makes a big hole but is not impressive at all. Doesn't seem to kill enough quicker than any other thing that we have used.

I suspect if I wanted DRT for whatever reason I would lean towards something that ran a really frangible bullet of around 120ish grains as fast as I could get it to run.