Hog/boar/pig gun

[JPbowhunter]

G'day all,

Just got back from an outback pig hunt. One thing I learned is that the country and hunting is tough on your rifles so I've decided for our next hunt (Jan 2020) i want to have a dedicated pig rifle that I don't mind getting banged and

Our main styles of hunting are stalking bedding/wallow areas and spotlighting/driving around and chasing in a buggy.

I've narrowed it down to the venerable 30-30 or a ruger scout 308 or similar. Don't want a scope and don't love red dots so wither open sights or a ghost ring is preferable.

I do like bolts but the ruger, savage and howa scout and ghost ring style rifles all have a muzzle break. Given that I hunt with other guys a booming rifle isn't ideal but given they all have it I wonder if they're kicking little buggers without it?

Any suggestions or considerations from guys that have chased them a lot more than I?

 

[thriller]

Go with a 308 it has more ammo choices and the ammo is cheaper. I have shot around 300-400 hogs with mine and I have not been let down by it yet. I run a 2-12 scope on mine but hey to each his own with sights.

 

[tarbe]

I have a Ruger Scout and it does not have a brake...it has a "flash hider".

So unless they have changed the platform...no brake.

I might want something a little faster on the reload for the type of hunting you describe.

I was thinking a 45-70 lever gun.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I haven’t hunted our feral hogs but 4x. Twice with a 308 and it was excellent. Once with a shotgun from a helicopter (saw 25 took 23). Once as a side hunt with a 300 WM, worked fine.
No reason either of your choices shouldn’t do fine. My Kimber 308 Classic had no brake and it wasn’t an issue. My 300 WM I used suppressed and it was fine (except it shoots 7” different at 100 yds than unsuppressed!)
Take the muzzle brakes off befor you start your accuracy testing and sighting in. It will work fine.
That’s my experience and opinion. What ever you decide to do, just make certain any handloads are worked up the same way you will be hunting.

 

[JPbowhunter]

I have a Ruger Scout and it does not have a brake...it has a "flash hider".

So unless they have changed the platform...no brake.

I might want something a little faster on the reload for the type of hunting you describe.

I was thinking a 45-70 lever gun.

View attachment 310547

That was an assumption I made, i read the savage had a break and then assumed all similar models had the same thing. Thanks for the clarification mate.

45-70 was actually my first choice but the cheapest factory ammo you'll get around here is $55 box and I can't be bothered loading for a pig rifle. Compared to around $30 box for 30-30 and 308. On top of that 45-70 in a lever are running at twice the price of the former two even second hand. Damned shame but I like that you are a man of style!

 

[PaulT]

I'm as "died-in-the-wool" bolt action shooter as anyone but by being so I believe you may be excluding one of the most useful rifles for your particular pursuit.

I have a Remington 7600 pump in 30/06 that I use down here for Sambar hunting which would also be ideal for your purpose.
Lots of fire-power for mobs, light-weight and very portable AND, mine at least, shoots 3/4" groups at 100.
One of these in .308 either carbine or full length would be hard to beat as a specific purpose hog gun, at least in my opinion.

Good luck with your search.

 

[BenKK]

Hard to beat lever action rifles as dedicated pig killers.

 

[BenKK]

My Winchester .30-30 is like the hammer of Thor on them.

 

[lwaters]

I would like to try my BLR 358 win. on hogs.

 

[bruce moulds]

here is my history of pig guns.
began with a win 94 in 44 mag, but it kept falling to bits.
went to a ruger 44 mag semi auto.
while good for short range, that was also its limitation.
next came a marlin 45/70 - great at short range, but out in the open very limiting.
for a bit more range tried the 358 win.
better, but some of those claypans were wider than its point blank.
then a woody in 308.
it grouped like a bolt action, and pointed like a shotgun, but jammed.
the cartridge had the ability at close range and a useable point blank where I went, so replaced the rifle with a b.a.r.
not as good pointing as the woody, but never missed a beat.
then john howard took our semi autos.
I also shot pigs happily with a 270 in both brno and rem 700, a ruger 338 mag, a mauser 300 win, and a 450 nitro double.
the 300 had an 8x kahles on it, and was used to some degree in moonlight.
the 338 failed to kill a pig with a good shot using 210 nosler partition.
in fact the next bullet was a 200 gn speer that nailed it.
with oz gunlaws as they are, paul's suggestion of a rem 7600 pump in 308 would not be a bum steer.
bruce.

 

[sgt_zim]

That was an assumption I made, i read the savage had a break and then assumed all similar models had the same thing. Thanks for the clarification mate.

45-70 was actually my first choice but the cheapest factory ammo you'll get around here is $55 box and I can't be bothered loading for a pig rifle. Compared to around $30 box for 30-30 and 308. On top of that 45-70 in a lever are running at twice the price of the former two even second hand. Damned shame but I like that you are a man of style!

My 45-70 and my 308 are what got me into reloading, and I do lots of pig hunting with the former. I have as much fun ringing steel with my 45-70 as I do hunting. I go out to 200 yards with it, and I don't miss the 8" gong often. I shoot 405 gr lead alloy for practice, and they're coming out at about 1625 fps. My current optic is XS Ghost Ring.

Don't know if you guys can shoot cast lead or lead-alloy down in Oz, but it cheapens the cost considerably. My standard range bullets cost about 28 cents each, counting shipping. With ~10 firings per brass, my total cost per firing is under 50 cents. During the late 19th century, literally millions of American bison were killed with 45-70s shooting 405 gr soft lead (BNH of about 8) or paper-patched lead, with MV in the 1250-1300 fps neighborhood. A large bull can weigh up to 2000#. And a lot of the shooting was at distances in excess of 500 yards. Take that for what it's worth.

A 30-30 wouldn't be a bad choice. 150 gr isn't a huge ballistic improvement over 170 gr. If that's the route you take, I'd stick with the 170s.

If you could find a Savage #99 in 308W or 300 Savage, that would be a great gun for what you have in mind. You'd almost certainly need to reload for 300 Savage, but I think you'd find plenty of other uses for it.

The three on the right, L to R, in order: 405 gr, 425 gr, 525 gr.

 

[JPbowhunter]

Go with a 308 it has more ammo choices and the ammo is cheaper. I have shot around 300-400 hogs with mine and I have not been let down by it yet. I run a 2-12 scope on mine but hey to each his own with sights.

Chasing them from the buggy was what put me off scopes I want more of an ability to point it like a shotgun which is why I thought the

My 45-70 and my 308 are what got me into reloading, and I do lots of pig hunting with the former. I have as much fun ringing steel with my 45-70 as I do hunting. I go out to 200 yards with it, and I don't miss the 8" gong often. I shoot 405 gr lead alloy for practice, and they're coming out at about 1625 fps. My current optic is XS Ghost Ring.

Don't know if you guys can shoot cast lead or lead-alloy down in Oz, but it cheapens the cost considerably. My standard range bullets cost about 28 cents each, counting shipping. With ~10 firings per brass, my total cost per firing is under 50 cents. During the late 19th century, literally millions of American bison were killed with 45-70s shooting 405 gr soft lead (BNH of about 8) or paper-patched lead, with MV in the 1250-1300 fps neighborhood. A large bull can weigh up to 2000#. And a lot of the shooting was at distances in excess of 500 yards. Take that for what it's worth.

A 30-30 wouldn't be a bad choice. 150 gr isn't a huge ballistic improvement over 170 gr. If that's the route you take, I'd stick with the 170s.

If you could find a Savage #99 in 308W or 300 Savage, that would be a great gun for what you have in mind. You'd almost certainly need to reload for 300 Savage, but I think you'd find plenty of other uses for it.

View attachment 310558


The three on the right, L to R, in order: 405 gr, 425 gr, 525 gr.

View attachment 310559

Thanks for the reply mate, i hadn't really thought of going down that route with the 45-70. It's a calibre that I see myself owning one day if for nothing else other than a bit of history and target shooting.

As it happens a winnie 94 30-30 popped up online for cheap so I bought that. I will be putting a ghost ring on it though I think.

In terms of ammo, I happily reload for my deer rifles but I don't love working out loads and fiddling around. It's more a performance thing for me but I see how it could be fun. I'll keep an eye out for 170gn ammo, locally it'll be limited to whatever is in stock though. I should have the rifle within a couple of weeks. Need a bit of meat so might take it after a fallow.

 

[sgt_zim]

If/when you get a 45-70, my magic load is 41.0 gr of Alliant RL-7. Produces 1600-1625 in all 3 bullets, with the same degree of accuracy in all 3 bullets.

I have a marlin 1895 GBL (short barrel, 18.5" I believe).

I'm on another BBS with lots of lever gun addicts. Every guy seems to have his own pet load with his own powder. This is a forgiving round, and excellent accuracy can be had with probably a couple dozen different powders. ADI AR-BMk1 is comparable to RL-7.

I'd recommend the two shops here where I buy my bullets, but ITAR prohibits the export of them, I believe (restricting the export of lead or lead alloy bullets is idiotic, but that's a topic for another day). You'd have to source local to Oz, unfortunately.

This was about a 65 yard running shot. I missed. I was leading for the ear hole.

 

[tarbe]

M94 can be fun. Here is a 1960 vintage...

 

[Shootist43]

JPbowhunter, I like your idea of a peep or ghost ring on a lever action 30-30. I have that setup on a 336 Marlin in 35 Remington. The William's 94/36 sight is what you are looking for. However you will have to install a slightly taller front sight. BTW I put that sight on both of my sons model
94(s) one in 30-30 the other in 32 Win. Spl. I bought the Marlin for $75.00 at a Pawn Shop. Bubba broke the stock and repaired it with some glue and a couple of wood screws. The dang thing shoots so good that I never had the heart to replace the stock. BTW I put a green optic up front, I think it shows up a little better.

 

[crs]

Shooting feral/wild hogs can be a lot of fun.
I have shot them with just about everything from .223 through .458 and all worked with proper shot placement.
I was hunting in OK for eating sized pigs and could not resist shooting this feral Duroc sow with my .308; offhand and downhill at 50 yards.

The landowner said it was 500-600 pounds, but too heavy for his game scales.

 

[Fastrig]

308 win would be my first choice, excellent round for hogs, but any of the 30’s work fine. Just bought a Merkel RX Helix Explorer which has a straight pull action that cycles very quickly with a 5-round mag (5+1)...6.5 lbs without scope, 21” barrel, quick to shoulder and aim, so should make an excellent hog gun. Going to mount a Leopold VX-6HD 2-12x42 on it. Not sure if they are available in your neck of the globe but you might want to check one out if they are. I’m going with three barrels for mine, 308 win, 300 win mag, and 9.3x62. All have Merkel’s very good open sights on them and barrel/caliber swap takes about 30 seconds. Can pretty much do anything with that setup.

 

[Shootist43]

Crs, there ought to be plenty of bacon and pork sausage on that rascal. Now if you just knew someone that could smoke the hams...…..

 

[BigSteve57]

For feral hog eradication I successfully used a LWRC REPR in 7.62×51mm NATO scoped with a 3-9x50 Leupold VX-R . A 1.5-4x 40 mm scope or a red dot would also be good IMHO. The pork fed us for a year.

 

[spike.t]

Sako black bear in 9.3x62