Rifle for hogs at 100 yards or less

[easy rider]

I have a Winchester 30-30 and it's one of my favorites, but then my 300BLK would do the trick too.

 

[ak2323]

I've used a 7mm Rem Mag to good effect.

 

[ROGER4314]

My choices for pigs are:
.458 Socom
Marlin 1895 45-70
Marlin 336 30-30.

My rifles have scopes because of cataract issues.

Whichever you choose, put the slug right behind the ear. If you look at the body of a pig, the heart and lungs are not where you think they are. Miss the target and you get to hunt a wounded piggie in the bush.

Flash

 

[ak2323]

My choices for pigs are:
.458 Socom
Marlin 1895 45-70
Marlin 336 30-30.

My rifles have scopes because of cataract issues.

Whichever you choose, put the slug right behind the ear. If you look at the body of a pig, the heart and lungs are not where you think they are. Miss the target and you get to hunt a wounded piggie in the bush.

Flash

That's solid advice but if you put a big round its shoulder, it'll drop and you can make a follow up shot too.

 

[birddog]

I’d use a shotgun with slugs. Open sights at 100 yards aren’t a prob.

 

[Riksors]

View attachment 182418

Wow. Please tell me they were taken by a 30-30 or a 44mag. I believe in those rounds and been wanting to get one.

 

[Hoji]

Wow. Please tell me they were taken by a 30-30 or a 44mag. I believe in those rounds and been wanting to get one.

Those are wart hogs. Probably taken in a caliber that ends in Rigby

I have killed plenty with both .44 and 30-30. Both are absolutely adequate and effective for pigs.

 

[baboon]

Wow. Please tell me they were taken by a 30-30 or a 44mag. I believe in those rounds and been wanting to get one.

.308

 

[Robert_K]

Guess I'm too traditional American... .308win.

 

[Hboy35]

Either will work fine, 44 or 30/30. However, shot placement cannot be emphasized enough. I shot a large hog (200pder) at 20 yds with a 3030 170 grain in the shoulder. Tracked it running on 3 legs for over a mile....
Dropped a small (40pder) with a 22 mag to the ear.

 

[satx78247]

Just wondering if .30-30 is appreciably better than .44mag for hogs at 100 yards. I’ve got an older Marlin 1894s .44mag but would be open to buying a .30-30 if it is appreciably better at that range.

Not interested in long range shooting because (1) my property is only 16 acres and not much space for long range shots, and (2) my old eyes with iron sights can’t do much over 100 yards anyway.

GoPappy,

Unless you just want to buy another rifle, your Marlin in .44 MAG will be FINE for ANY hog to well beyond 100M. = My 1st cousin, Randy, has taken literally TONS of feral pork with his .44MAG Marlin saddle carbine over the last 2 decades. In fact, he has fed our entire Scout camp's >300 campers, adult leaders & staffers any number of times. = He pulls his "commercial-size pit" up to the camp, cooks/provides the pork BBQ & the camp provides the "sides", bread, desserts & beverages. - It takes a LOT of BBQ pork to fill-up that many people!!
(Fwiw, my "go to" pig rifle is the same rifle that I routinely use for WT & exotics: a circa July 1954 Remington Model 760 in .300SAV & loaded with a GCCB .30-30WCF equivalent load.- I have over a DOZEN rifles from .243 to 9.3x62mm & I know of NO game in Texas that the old-school .300SAV won't take at 100M plus.)

just my OPINION, satx

 

[deemus]

Either will work fine, 44 or 30/30. However, shot placement cannot be emphasized enough. I shot a large hog (200pder) at 20 yds with a 3030 170 grain in the shoulder. Tracked it running on 3 legs for over a mile....
Dropped a small (40pder) with a 22 mag to the ear.

Should have used an adequate bullet. I load 125g flat HPs for my 30-30, and one I shot in the shoulder blew the back shoulder almost off.

 

[satx78247]

deemus,

Your experience with a 125 grain HP is WHY I only use 180 grain SWC GCCB for things that I want to BBQ. = The blunt-nose 180 CB knocks them "down for the count" & spoils little meat.
(MOST BBQ pigs to 100+ pounds fall where they were hit. = At 72YO, I hate chasing or looking for wounded game in the thick south TX brush.)

NOTE: Up in NETX, where I call "home", we have HUGE, aggressive & VERY DANGEROUS Russian/Feral cross boars to 500#. = IF I'm going for one of those MONSTERS, I either use my 11.7x56R Danish RB "Remington clone" (with 350 grain CB) or my 9.3x62mm, with 286 grain JSP & hunt them over bait from our tower stands.
(You definitely do NOT want to face a wounded/charging RussianX in our swamps.)

yours, satx

 

[GasGuzzler]

...I only use 180 grain SWC GCCB for things that I want to BBQ. ...

Yep, if we're talking .30-30 I go 172-ish grain (after gas check and lube) flat nose cast.

 

[Hboy35]

Should have used an adequate bullet. I load 125g flat HPs for my 30-30, and one I shot in the shoulder blew the back shoulder almost off.

Curious how big the hog was.

 

[deemus]

Curious how big the hog was.

100ish

 

[satx78247]

100ish

deemus,

GOOD SIZE pig for dressing out & going straight onto a good sized BBQ pit to feed a crowd, especially if the pig was a young female.
(When I still had a 600 gallon LPG tank that was converted into a BBQ pit & mounted on a "junked" boat trailer chassis, we cooked MANY a whole feral hog, using green hickory split logs as fuel, to feed our local HS athletic teams, the Lion's Club, Scout troops, church groups, etc. - I cannot ever remember a single "meat-eater" who complained that the pork had previously been "running the woods" as a feral pig. = Sadly, I had to sell my big pit when I went OCONUS the last time, as I had NO place that I could afford to store it for a year plus.)

yours, satx

 

[gdr_11]

My first pig rifle was a Marlin 1895 in .45-70 because I was hunting dense brush and shots over 75 yrs were non existent. I used moderate charges with 300 grain controlled expansion bullets to minimize meat damage while relying on the large caliber and heavy bullet weight for knockdown. I still think that combo of firearm and caliber is hard to beat unless you are strictly shooting small pigs

 

[just country]

morning, 44 mag. a dose of H110 and Hor. XTP 240gr.
lights out. justme gbot tum

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Only hogs I've killed (half dozen or so) have all been taken with a Weatherby Vanguard .270 with the 130-grain Remington Core-Lokt. Sizes ranged from around 150 lbs. to close to 400 in one case. Only one took more than one shot and all fell within 20 feet of where they were hit, even the one that took two.