.223 for Hogs? Recommend a caliber please.

[fonzy]

Foothills above Madera, not likely to stumble across one down here in the valley.

Yea but that's mostly private property around the foothills unless you go higher up.

[HarryN]

My suggestion is to use a 375 H&H with a 225 grain bullet.

That way you don't have to worry about it shooting flat enough or hitting hard enough to get through the side tissue.

Especially now with the no lead, it makes life easier.

[Goosebrown]

I use 8mm Mauser and download it quite a bit so that I don't get much meat damage. I start half way through the recommended charges and work down to where I still get accuracy. I went to the DFG advanced hog hunting clinic which I HIGHLY recommend. They all liked the 30-30 and up but felt "big and slow" was ideal because it didn't damage the meat as much as high velocity rounds. They thought 243 was too hot and too small. They all thought .223 was right out although it was legal at the time I took the clinic.

My buddy bought a 45-70 and we load it to medium velocities and it does great.

[NiMiK]

How about a 7.62x54r from a mosin? Cheap and fun!

[M_lizar]

I would imagine 7.62x54r should be sufficient.

[ar15barrels]

How about a 7.62x54r from a mosin?
Cheap and fun!

Only $50 per 20 round box of lead free 7.62x54 ammo.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=&products_id=419

Lead free 30-06 is $32 per box here:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Federal-Premium-Springfield-Rifle-Ammunition/740753.uts

[Garandimal]

Carbine:
(Mini-14)

Barnes VOR-TX Ammunition 223 Remington 55 Grain Triple-Shock X



Rifle:
(M1 Garand)

Remington Hog Hammer Ammunition 30-06 Springfield 168 Grain Barnes Triple-Shock X






GR

[Ishooter]

Only $50 per 20 round box of lead free 7.62x54 ammo.
http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/cat...roducts_id=419

That's so expensive. If it's reloaded with that same Barnes bullet at home, it'll be around $12/20.

[shooterfpga]

Hogs are a unusually tough animal. It you could 100% of the time hit it behind the ear then yeah 223 is fine. Since that's not reality I would start with 30-30 Win and go up from there. 270,308,30-06,280....... all good hog rounds. I personally use a 7mm Rem mag as my do all rifle and it hammers boars with no problem. I use 160 gr Nosler Partitions.

Lol at needing to shoot a hog behind the ear with 223. Too cute. For the OP i personally never go below 62gr. Ive used up to 75gr but mostly have dispatched plenty of hogs humanely using 62gr green tips.

How i personally feel about more expensive "hunting" rounds is they are useless and dont kill any better than your run of the mill match rounds. In the larger calibers that i use for hunting i use smk and amax why? Because theyre damn accurate and they provide nice clean kills without it being overkill and completely destroying a large portion of meat.

[toby]

In 40 years of hunting and using everything short of a 50 BMG I have yet to see more than 1/2 -1# of meat damage on any big game animal taken and I use Nosler Ballistic tips and Sierra Game kings for most everything.

[ar15barrels]

I use Nosler Ballistic tips and Sierra Game kings for most everything.

Those days are rapidly ending for CA hunters...

[TMB 1]

Those days are rapidly ending for CA hunters...

Yep, time to try out Barnes Tipped Triple Shock X bullets.

[shooterfpga]

In 40 years of hunting and using everything short of a 50 BMG I have yet to see more than 1/2 -1# of meat damage on any big game animal taken and I use Nosler Ballistic tips and Sierra Game kings for most everything.

A lot of my friends like the ballistic tips and gamekings as well. But where theyre paying upwards of $32-$45 per box im still paying between $15-$26 a box. The one time i didnt have a DRD shot and had to go look for it was with a gameking round. I know others have had better luck but for me that was enough.

[toby]

Those days are rapidly ending for CA hunters...

2019ish but I hunt out of state more and will be moving soon so I'm good.

[toby]

Yep, time to try out Barnes Tipped Triple Shock X bullets.

Tried them as well as the TSX and was not impressed and they are not worth the extra $$, IMO but if one is to hunt the state where all hunting will soon be banned then you have three choices for copper bullets Hornady, Nosler, Barnes. I never paid for an Adventure pass for the local mountains and will never be forced to use copper bullets to hunt. This state will not run my life any longer.