The better hog round - 7.62x39 or .243 WIN?

Just wondering your experience and opinions on the better hog round choice (among these two, and I'm talking the average hog here, not hogzilla).

I like my AR in 7.62x39, but ALOT of animals have been harvested over the years with a .243!
I'm hunting river bottoms so a average shot is 50-75 yards.

If planning on shooting multiple (many) rounds at a SOUNDER of pigs semi-auto. Cheap ammo 7.62x39 has good reach for distance (100 - 175 yds.) 243 better. Six of one half of another.

7.62x39 is much better in dicey hit, multiple hog, and charging hog situations, due to larger caliber holes and better penetration from heavier bullets...not to mention faster and more follow up shots from the semi rifle options.

I prefer lightweight, short barreled 30-06 and 270 semi autos with extra capacity mags, and 2x7 scopes for hogs, as I like to stalk them in their beds. And these setups offer good firepower in a fast quick handling rifle...I will not hesitate to take my open sight 7.62x39 when walking them off their beds, either. I will use a 243 when I am just sitting and have time to make a good clean ear shot, but with a 243,your shot placement is critical...similar to using a 22mag or other light weight caliber.

Hope this information helps...good luck on your decision making.

Had a guy at the lease this weekend drop a 150-175 boar with a 243 last night. Plus two more that ran off and died. It works.

I see the 7.62 has about a 28% larger diameter and typically 23% more weight but the .243 has about 29% more energy and 25% more velocity... on paper this is about a close to a toss-up as it could be.

ear hole em and it don't matter, Ive killed many with my .243

as an observer of newbies and experienced hunters on my place

.223 is a horrible choice - shot but never recovered; combination of bad shot placement and / or hog ran off to die somewhere else (place is thick, canyon , hilly )

.243 is a good choice - a few ran off , majority will drop even with bad placement due to enough shock generated

.30 is an excellent choice (.308 win) - very few ran off, most dropped on the spot ,,,, lots of shock damage

---Nosler Partition bullets has 100% drop on the spot
---Nosler Ballistic Tips has 80-90% harvest rate - a few big ones will run off ; some BT bullet never mushroomed (small hole in, small hole out )

That sounds about right. Ever seen a .243 smashed up against a boars armor plate, without penetration? I have, in fact my bullet placement on that hog was exactly where I shot, at maybe 50 yards. I killed him a couple weeks later, saw the skin hole, and cut it open to inspect it...after that, I just kind of put away my .243 when I went hog hunting.

Personally, I have taken much game with a .243 caliber, and it is one of my favorite calibers, bar none. Shot placement is critical for most larger species (I prefer head/neck shots on basically all game). In fact, when I got serious about hog hunting, I went and bought a semi auto browning BAR, in .243. After that incident, I just put it away for hog purposes. Those -06’s I shoot are plenty of firepower and enough gun, when the situation get dicey, up close and personal...so is that 7.62 x 39...Now if you want to start talking about longer range shots (past 125 yards), I wouldn’t use either caliber. You can get a clean kill past that point, but not reliably. Step up to a .308 or similar caliber. Hope this information helps.

What bullet was this?

I could see that with an 80gr HP.

But just for fun let me say I could not see that with a 405gr out of the .45-70.

Just gotta love the .45-70.

Never seen a full power rifle round, even .243 fail to penetrate a hog on the entry side inside of 200 yards. Never seen it documented either.

ive shot quite a few hogs with the .243 and with very good results (100gr power points), mostly because that is my coyote gun and I have it on hand more than the .270 is...

Personally, I am not a fan of the .243. I know a lot of people have them, love them and use them. Heck the one that I owned for years never failed to drop a single deer or pig that I shot at. Here's my rub...Never got a good blood trail, and never dropped one DRT. I would go with the 7.62 if it were me. Bigger hole, heavier bullet. The 7.62 will be more forgiving on shots on running pigs or if one gets your heart rate up and you have to take a snap shot at one.

My wife uses a .243 with 100gr Sierra Gamekings. Every hog is DRT. She does not make head shots. Every hog I've shot with .223 has dropped instantly. Placement is critical. If you gut shoot them they will run off no matter what you shoot them with. Head, lung, and heart shots put them on the ground. Of course with a lung shot it may take a minute for them to expire but they have never run off in mine or my wife's personal experience. With 7.62x39 I would use US mfg commercial soft point ammo. The foreign soft point does not expand well if that is your concern.

I've shot hogs with everything from 22 Mag to 30/06, but my favorite is the 7.62X39 that I built on an AR platform. It is very accurate and an absolute "hog hammer" at my usual range of less than 150 yards. It works quite well on our little CenTex white tails as well. I would strongly recommend it.

With both those calibers its all gonna be about shot placement and distance.
7.62x39 I'd keep it under 75 yards.
.243. I'd keep it under 100 yards.

I will agree on the blood trail being minimal with the .243 as I experienced it with a couple pigs and a deer last year.

I would choose the one that gives me the better chance of a 300 yard open field shot or further if I had to.

243

I think you'd be safe to double these distances.

The hand loads I use in my 7.62X39 give me consistent 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards:

Hornady 123 g. SST, Cat.# 3142 (G1 B.C. is .295) seated to 2.190 COL
26.5 g. RL 7 (close to max load according to Hornady, so approach this load carefully if you care to try it.)
CCI #34 LR Primer
Chronographs at 2310fps
I've tried H4198 and Accurate 2015 to pick up a bit of MV, and I did gain about 100fps, but the accuracy degraded. I'd much rather have the accuracy than the speed!

Thinking about getting a 7.62x39

Gary it was a 100 grain Nosler partition. That is basically the only grain weight I shoot out of the 243. And that is why I put it away on hogs...yea, it could be a one in a million shot deal, but in my mind, with the way I hog hunt, that is enough.

Now, if I was just checking cows and saw a hog, and I had my 243 in the truck, of course I am gonna take a shot, (or coyote hunting for that matter) and could most likey bring it down...but, I am gonna ear shoot only.

Basically, when I go hog hunting, it will be a 30-06, loaded with 150 grain partitions. That will bring down the biggest, and meanest hog in the worst predicament possible (I have a bad habit of putting myself in these situations) and still come out with a fighting chance.

Think all you want. I'm not gonna question my experience in the field with both calibers and seeing hogs run away.
Shot placement is essential with any caliber. But when I am using these calibers I keep it close.

That is another reason I like 30 cal. For hogs, distance shots. Zen, I tend to agree with you on the distances, but I might fudge a little on the 7.62, if the gun was scoped.

I would prefer the 243, the 243 caliber is my choice for my predator guns.

I use to kind of turn my nose up at the 243 for hogs. Started using one a few years ago for ammo cost reasons vs the 300RUM and have been nothing short of impressed. Shoulder shots all have dropped in their tracks. Behind the shoulder shots all left great blood trails. Had a youngster with me one time shoot a boar in the neck with the 243......he dropped in his track as well. All with 100gr Federal soft points.

I did not like the 243 for much of anything years ago but the cartridge and bullet development over the years has produced much better ammo and results. I like the 7.62 x 39 for hogs because I like to carry an AR15 for hogs and the 30 caliber SP bullet works great, in a bolt gun I would go with the 243 if limited to those 2 choices.

Currently scoring the .243 with the lead on this question.

Since the original question was about hogs...

I've killed many, many pigs with everything from Ruger .22 pistol to 458 SOCOM.
Overall, I've taken most of them over 25 years with 7.62x39.
First in a Chinese and Yugo SKS, then later in an AR platform.

The main criteria for my type of pig hunting is need for quick follow up shots as I get on sounders and rarely solos.

You can get 7.62x39 in bolt guns, AKs, SKSs, and AR15 platform but the AR gets the nod as it is easy to mount optics and can be very accurate from them.
7.62x39 uppers in AR15 platform can be had complete for around 300 bux right now but you still have to buy specific mags for it and you can use your standard lower if you didn't put in light hammer/trigger springs.

You can get 243 in bolt guns but to go semi, the weight goes up considerably in AR10 over AR15.

I've done most cals in AR15 platform and stay with ARP barrels in 6.8 with 95gr TTSX and 120gr SST handloads for my two main pig guns.

The use of bullets under 100 grains for hogs still sort of surprises me, even though I have seen some drop from the 55gr .223 at 175 yards, and I am sure others have seen longer shots work as well, but they just seem awfully light for a critter with legendary toughness, and some dangerous reactions to being shot to boot.

I like the 7.62x39 now for the casual woods walking gun in hog country, certainly over the .223, but if I was more serious about the hunt and in the close company of some big hogs, I would reach for the good ole .45-70 and feel pretty confident that there was enough lead coming down the tube...

My favorite is my CZ 527 in 7.62 x 39, 30mm tube Zeiss scope, daytime out to 200 yards with a 125gr bullet.

Nighttime or out further, AR-10 in .308 with a Flir thermal.

At last count, I have taken 170 hogs with 90 gr. Speer TNT from 6.5 Grendel this year with shots out to 240 yards. Picking the right bullet for the caliber and velocity can go a long ways without the need for a big thumping round. I love the .45-70 for hogs. Nothing wrong with it is you like big thumpers.

Hogs are tough critters....like others are saying. It is all about "shot placement".

I just recently switched calibers from 5.56 to 7.62x39 for my hog hunting round. Currently I've only killed eight with it and am Sold on the 7.62x39 round for Hogs. I started with Wolf 125SP rounds and shot three with it and they all dropped from neck shots. After examining the exit wounds it appeared they didn't expand to much so I switched to Honardy Steel match with the 123SST and found it delivers more damage.
In the picture, this sow was shot facing away from me, bullet went in just behind the right ear and exited the left eye. this was a 75 yard shot.

35 Whelen with a 225 gr balistic tip , dit