Ok, been using a .223 rem last few year on west TX hogs and deer-no real trouble on deer and when I am shooting, no real trouble on hogs-issues come when i take a recoil sensitve/new/young hunter out-we still do fine on the deer but hogs are a bit of an issue. Takes some tracking and follow up shots more often than I like-So i am wondering what other light recoil caliber you guys have experience with to get faster experiation on a hog?

I am seriously considering a 250-3000 for this application-wondering if anyone out there has real world experience with this caliber on hogs?

Thanks

Dave

.223 shouldn't be much recoil. Get a silencer if you don't have one already and they take out even more recoil and concussion.

yea, did that this year...but the shooters I have can't always put the .223 bullet where it needs to go for a "dead right there" result...last one we hit needed 150+ yards tracking and a follow up-

I've shot them with a lot of different cartridges and I have come to the conclusion that sometimes they run no matter what. I went to head shots only and still had mixed results. Several times I have thought I had a magic combination of bullet and speed for them after having a couple of dozen drop dead. and then my plan get ruined by one running a hundred yards. Basically, regardless of what I shoot them with, I plan on them running, and If they don't, it's a bonus. They don't die as easy as a deer in my experience.

OK gotcha-still prolly gonna turn my ruger no 3 in to a 250 savage for the heck of it! Just gonna use the excuse of "I need a bigger caliber for my youger hunters/kids to kill hogs more effectively"

Here's a big, mud-armored boar that dropped in his tracks to the lowly .250 Savage out of a Winchester M70 loaded with an even-lower 85 grain Ballistic Tip (a cup and core bullet...gasp!). I've also dropped my biggest whitetail (DRT) with the little, mild mannered cartridge.

I love the .250...to the extent that last week at Nashville SCI I was in serious talks with Park West Arms about building me an SD 10 (their reiteration of the old Dakota Model 10 single shot). Truly a gentleman's rifle.

I have NO idea why they'd consent to build ME one, in that case. Money MIGHT enter into it...

Mark

Like you, the first couple of hogs I shot with my 223. That was years ago, and they’re probably still running.
I switched to 6.8 SPC and 300 Blackout.
Even though you haven’t specifically stated you’re not looking for something in an AR platform, the 2 above and the 6.5 Grendel all are pretty light-recoiling in a Ruger Ranch or similar configuration and can be had for not much money.
I’ve shot around 150 hogs with the 6.8 and around 50 with the 300 and I’ve learned that if you don’t want them to run, shoot them on a line halfway between the ear and shoulder.
Here’s the last one- no tracking just dropped in place.

Like others have said, I had mixed results with the 223, so I went to the 6.5 Grendel. Much more effective, and recoil in the AR isn’t much. That said, a bolt action in 250 Savage would be a light recoiling choice, if you could find one.

What bullet? I’m a fan of 77TMK if you can stabilize them

If hit hogs with up to a 338 win mag, only ones ever DRT was shot placement

55 grn barnes TSX

6.8spc, 6.5 grendel or even 762X39

Using a suppressor the kick is minimal and plenty of hog killin power.

Big

I’ve killed em w about everything but my favorite is the ole faithful .308

I use.300 BLK supersonics.

My son picked up a .350 Legend and that seems to hammer the hogs pretty good.

My wife, grandsons and I killed dozens of hogs with a .243 using 100 gr. Winchester Power Points.
Only one hog wasn’t dropped on the spot. That hog was a marginal hit and recovered within 50 yds. The boys were shooting this setup since they were 8 yrs. old.
I don’t believe the recoil is very similar between the 250-3000 and a .243.

I built an AR15 in a wildcat .25-223 about 15 years ago. My reason was so my daughter could use it deer hunting (.223 is not legal here for deer). 87 gr bullets were going about 2,600 fps out of a 16" barrel. I shot one hog with it and it worked very well.

I have seen hogs killed with .22 cal air rifles to .50 BMG. Using smaller (caliber and/or weight) and less powerful (however you want to quantify power/energy/momentum) ammo usually means needing more precise shots to key external locations on the animal at a trajectory that will carry the bullet through the intended bone and/or tissue to the vitals to effect the kill, ideally, quickly, given the type of bullet used. As you increase size and power, you can make the same kills with with and less precise shots or shots to typically poor external locations and still make good kills.

I can recall a certain hunting partner hitting a quartering away running adult hog with a .300 win mag that entered at the hip (not enough lead on the hog) that would be considered a typically poor hit for most calibers that transited diagonally through the body and end up breaking the opposite side shoulder after ~30" of penetration, dropping the hog in place, bullet nicely expanded and reduced. That is not a shot that would have worked with my 6.5 Grendel.

If you are going with a light recoiling rifle, then pick a bullet that will give you the terminal performance (fragmentation or expansion) you want at the intended ranges you anticipate shooting (impact velocities). I would argue that you want a bullet that will give you at least 10" of penetration with good expansion/fragmentation. You don't want a bullet exploding on the shoulder and not penetrating deeply enough.

To me your problem is not recoil. For a bottom end performance wise hunter you aren’t going to beat the 223 in low recoil. Your hunters need more trigger time.

I really have to agree with redchevy. You're not going to find anything with noticeably less recoil than a .223 that will kill hogs.

22 creedmoor is my current flavor. It’s doing excellent

I killed a 150 pounder last night w AR 556, 62 FMJ green tips


Had a lot of luck w that bullet on pigs

Anything that isn’t rimshot. I have quite a few pigs and have used .222 on numerous occasions. Like deer, I’ve had to go find them after the shot. I wouldn’t use rim fire on any animal bigger than a squirrel, possum, coon.

.223/5.56 is popular, but I'm personally a fan of .308/7.62x51

I have no experience with suppressors but YouTube has plenty of videos with various sets ups that may help this looking to get a rig set up.

.223 or .243 both pretty light recoil rounds.

6.8 in an AR is hard to beat...

Can not find much better than the 5.56/.223 for recoil. I was going to go all in on the 77gr TMK, already had a 1:7 barrel. I went on a hunt that would not allow 5.56/.223. I debated .277 wolverine and 300 HAM'R back and forth. Went with the HAM'R and love it, pigs...not so much.