Oldtimr

Problem is, a lot of folks don't know where the vitals are on a hog. A heart lung shot on a deer will not be a heart lung shot on a hog, they are further front on a hog. Boars have a thick cartilage shield over the shoulder and the bigger the boar, the thicker the shield and a small caliber may not penetrate the shield.. I head shoot hogs, no muss, no fuss, dead hog.

katt72

flags, I'm not saying it wouldn't kill'em. I'm saying at close ranges the velocity of the bullet will travel thru the body cavity, with less chances of complete expansion. i had a friend that went hog hunting with a 7mag. He shot a hog (50-75lbs) at a close range(50-70yds) in the lung/heart area. We tracked the blood trail for about 10 yds from feeder. No blood trail, nor hog after the 15-20+yds.

flags

B.S. That sounds like a gut shot to me. If you lost the blood in 10 yards then, no matter what he claims, he didn't hit the lung/heart area. Such a hit would be fatal, especially on a small hog like that. If the bullet didn't expand it would have gone clear through and the lungs would be pumping blood out both sides. People tend to fault the cartridge when it is actually the shooter to blame. I've seen very few hunters admit to a bad shot when it is so much more convenient to blame the cartridge. Look at what OldTimer just posted about hog anatomy. Lots of people shoot them too far back.

I've been shooting a 7mm Mag since I was 13 years old. I'm 51 now. You do the math. I've never seen the cartridge fail and I've hunted in 14 states and taken it to Africa 5 times. By my count I have taken about 105 different species with the 7mm Mag including zebra, wildebeest, elk, bear and hogs. If he didn't recover that hog it is because he placed the bullet in a bad spot. That's shooter error and not cartridge failure.

BarnesX.308

That doesn't make any sense. Why would a bullet penetrate completely without expanding at close range? At close range, the velocity would be higher and the expansion would be much greater. You may get too much expansion and not enough expansion.

[email protected]

Nope. I shot a 150 pound sow at 82 yards with my 300 WSM with a 180gr Partition. Went right through both lungs, she took off without leaving a blood trail. Found her about 75 yards from where I shot her, she just started to bleed right before she died on the run. Entrance wound was covered in bloody foam, indicating that at least one lung was pierced. Confirmed both lungs destroyed, bullet exited the far side leaving a 4-finger hole. Since she didn't leave a blood trail, I thought I had missed her until we started searching.

I've seen other hogs hit squarely in the boiler room and the hog takes off, leaving no blood trail. Sometimes that fatty gristly cape they have just sort of closes up behind the bullet. I wouldn't necessarily always call it shooter or cartridge error, sometimes the pig just doesn't want to die.

[email protected]

My wife shoots a 7-08 and she's absolutely deadly with the thing. She's never complained about recoil, and the caliber is pretty flat shooting. She's actually taken more pounds of hogs with that rifle than I have with my Tikka. If you're recoil sensitive, I would look at the 7-08 (assuming you're not talking about 7mm mag) over the 30.06. The 30.06 will give you more options as far as bullets and bullet weight, but it can get a little kicky.

Just a personal preference, but I don't shoot game in the head. I go for the boiler room.

HatchieLuvr

I agree, (& BX308 you likely meant for your last sentence to say, "You might get to much expansion & not enough penetration?") some must be a little unsure or mis-informed about how bullets work. The faster they go the more frangible they are, simple fact. Now sure, most all bullets have a designed velocity range at which they do their best within. But if they are designed to in ANY way, expand, then they AREN'T "tougher when sped up". The toughest expanding bullets out there are the monolithic solids (Barnes, Nosler Etips, Fed Trophy Copper, Hornady GMX etc...) & the faster you drive them, the quicker the nose cavity opens up. In the worst case scenario they can hit sufficient resistance (double shoulder/hip joints, full length spinal column etc) at very close range (bow range) & they might actually shed their expanded/peeled back petals. But you can rest assured they DID expand!

redgreen

Choose whichever one you are most comfortable with and enjoy your bacon.

BarnesX.308

Yeah, something like that. And I used the wrong to, two, too

falcon

What Flags said. Lots of wild hogs get gutshot.

Hunters generally refuse to fess up to gut shots, it's a man thing: It's much easier to blame the bullet. i've tracked dozens of wounded deer and elk for other hunters. 75 percent were gut shot. i remember one hunter who voluntarily fessed up to a gut shot. One guy claimed the trophy buck i tracked and located was not his: Said his was not gut shot.

i kill a lot of wild hogs, mostly using muzzleloaders. Many of my hogs bang flop from heart/lung shots.

Put the bullet where it belongs and the hog will not go far after being double lunged: 200 yards max, usually much less. Those that run often die with their tongues hanging out.

A 55 grain .223 bullet in the lungs trumps a 7mm magnum or .30-06 bullet in the guts.