Good post Jeremy. I dispatch hundreds of hogs per year, and what you say is pretty much spot on with the exception of 7.62x39 ricocheting off a hogs skull. I have put enough of them down in traps to tell you that a .22LR will put down a 200 pounder fired from a MKII pistol with a head shot{usually right behind the ear or right between the eyes} and I have never had any other result but a dead hog.
What you most likely witnessed was a glancing shot{ a hogs head is shaped like a ramp and if you shoot head on, from the wrong angle, the bullet will crease the skull and ramp off.}
FMJ is certainly not the best thing to use on any wild animal but if you have good angle and good shot placement it should be ok. The down side is the wound in the body cavity will close almost immediately and you will have no blood trail{ this had led to many tales of the hog "shield" stopping high power bullets at close range} This is why I use a 150gr Core-Lokt in .308. Nice big exit wound that bleeds well.
What you most likely witnessed was a glancing shot{ a hogs head is shaped like a ramp and if you shoot head on, from the wrong angle, the bullet will crease the skull and ramp off.}
FMJ is certainly not the best thing to use on any wild animal but if you have good angle and good shot placement it should be ok. The down side is the wound in the body cavity will close almost immediately and you will have no blood trail{ this had led to many tales of the hog "shield" stopping high power bullets at close range} This is why I use a 150gr Core-Lokt in .308. Nice big exit wound that bleeds well.
