I have a hunt coming up. I have the 6.8 but I hate it the ammo is so expensive and the gun has a 20" barrel and is so heavy. I want to switch back to the 5.56 but I'm worried it won't penatrate the skull. Any advice?

The 6.8 only likes the $30 ammo the 5.56 will eat anything.

not good with all the fancy words. 6.8 has more metric energy than the .223. yet .223 tis bigger than .22 short would go with FMJ rather than the ones with Holes in the Points for better penitration. translated will be with ya shortly. best wishes i got cheap posts

5.56 ammo will penetrate a hog's skull, but you should shoot the 6.8. It's not like you'll go through 4-5 boxes of ammo and spend hundreds if dollars. Ammo will be the cheapest part of the trip.

I went through 3 boxes getting it sighted in. 3 different brands

i use the .223 on public hunts, do a lot of walking, as u stated it a lot lighter & cheaper ta shoot. keep my shots short distance, usualy take heart lung shot. been luck, very little blood trail, it fills in body cavity cause of small puncher. most that use the .223-5.56 take head shots. best wishes

5.56 is fine provided you can shoot well. Otherwise take the 6.8

Just take the 6.8, most likely you'll shoot less than 20 rounds. I hunt pigs 2-3 times a month with a guy that uses a 6.8. You know, we find find more pigs that he's shot with his 6.8 than I do with my 5.56/223. Now turn that around when I'm using my .243 bolt gun. Yea the .223/5.56 will kill them but they may make into the brush before they succumb to their wounds.

If the price difference between a box of 223 and a box of 6.8 is a concern and could make or break a hunt then you should strongly consider opting for another sport.



Being sensitive to you, who I do not know, I have to ask if you are you a child or disabled in some way? Regardless, get a sling.


There's more to a hog than the skull. Either will do the job... everybody together now, if you do yours.

Which ammos did u try for the 6.8? Federal Fusions are usually accurate from the 6.8 at under $20/box. Hornady SSTs aren't as accurate for me but they put hogs down well.

The answer here is hand loading your 223. A highly supersonic 60gr partition is not hog friendly.

Cast that's the ticket! Love me some 60gr Partitions.

First, the ammo cost of hunting is likely a negligible amount of your hunt. So whether you pay 30 cents a round or $3 a round, you aren't apt to shoot so many hogs that it will be a financial impact on your budget. If you are shooting that many, then you have a LOT of additional expenses making that happen (if you are like most of use who don't just shoot off the back porch).

I have done well with Barnes TTSX bullets loaded by Silver State Armory. They were still pretty pricey, but performed well.

Easy answer here... Sell the 5.56 and use the money to buy ammo for you 6.8. Should hold you over for a while...

lots of great tips in this thread. can under stand what OPster is saying. got plenty of .223 ammo before the supply & demand for it went up. old age kicking in eyes not what used ta be, worken in iron foundry, most my shots with the .223 are close range, down in hollows, & thick areas action can be fast. great recovery success with the cheap fmj, haven't had chance ta try the HP's, heart lung gives more room for error. get out & get familour with wich ever ya choose. & learn ones limitations. best wishes on up coming hunt

dfwroadkill, you are a freaking genius!

I use my m&p 15 on hog hunts with .223. Works well for me.

I'm new to the hog hunting/trapping game, but all I've used so far is 69gr HP's out of a AR I built for varmint hunting. 1/8 twist 20" bbl and I have no complaints so far. Granted, all 3 pigs I've killed with this rifle have been 150 yards or less and I was able to hit all 3 just below the ear. After reading this whole post I will be checking out the partitions for sure, but so far I'm happy with the performance of a .223 69gr.

I haven't lost a pig yet with my AR and all I've shot is 55 grain Sierra Gamekings out of it. Killed a lot with 52 grain Bergers and 50 grain Vmax out of a 22-250 too. People worry too much about what to shoot hogs with. They're vermin shoot them with whatever you have.

556 will work good, 6.8 will work gooder ! Spend the 30 bucks a box !

Thanks that's all I was asking. I'm not a weakling I walked for 12 hours with the 6.8 10lbs 21 inch barrel it's the fulcrom point that kills you.

Penetrate skull? Yep no problem.
Killed one in October with a 22lr. Head shot at about 30.
Saw Kieth Warren kill 3 on tv with a pellet gun lol.

Yeah, there are several pellet gun kills on Youtube, but what you don't see is the number of times they didn't get things right, LOL.

Just something to keep in mind is just because something can be done, doesn't mean it is a good way to do it.

The opposite is also true. I saw a guy fail repeatedly with a .44 mag, but that doesn't mean the .44 mag is a bad round for hogs.

they had a rerun of that eppisode. hogs & pigions tis what they were hunten. Hhe has very educational show hogs, pigion both good eaton

hog hunten at night with with flash light off, wondering about the woods. ya gotta be tis not the safest