Caliber Recommendations?

I am looking for recommendations for what caliber would make a good hog gun. I would only be interested in rifle calibers or shotgun gauges. I understand that shot placement is the main thing that matters, but I would hopefully be looking for a caliber where I could aim for the shoulder of a hog and it would be DRT. The longest shots would be around 200 yards. Lastly I already have a .243 WIN, a 30-30 WIN, and a .270 WIN, so I would be looking for a new caliber that I haven't already tried out. I look forward to hearing your opinions.

First, you need to do away with the myth that just shooting a hog causes it to be DRT because you use ____ hunting caliber. That is all bull. UNLESS YOU DO DAMAGE TO THE CNS, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, DO NOT EXPECT THE HOG TO BE DRT. It is that simple.

If you want to shoot a hog in the shoulder and have it DRT, then the bullet needs to be hitting the spine or being close enough to the spine to cause neural damage.

If you don't do significant damage to the CNS, expect the hog to run. It may be running dead, but it won't be DRT.

You already own perfectly good hog hunting calibers. If you are just looking to buy a new caliber, then buy some big thumper.

Not sure just what type of hog hunting you do, hunt from a stand maybe? My self, i do a lot of walking, spot and stalk has accounted for the majority of my hogs.
Of all the calibers i own, i have put down tons of them with a little AR223 shooting 55g fmj's. I aim for an area high, front of shoulder to their head. Lots of them drop asap.
Not necessarly drt, they may flop for a bit. That little 55g fmj hits bone, specially the spine, and they go down. I have everything from a 17hmr to 338 winmag. If i were to
look at getting a close range hog hammer in an ar15 platform i'd look at the 450 bushmaster. I have the 300bo, it puts a good hurt on them but really no more energy than a 223.
I am kind of fond of the 300bo when hunting new ground or where i know there could be cattle behind us at some distance. I know that with the 300 zeroed at 150 yards the
bullet will be doing a nose dive to the dirt not much past 200 yards. The 300 is launching 110g Barnes tipped. Right now i'm having a hard time not pulling the trigger on a
6.5 grendel upper.

https://thebiggamehuntingblog.com/450-bushmaster-vs-458-socom-vs-50-beowulf/

105 Howitzer
308win
708rem
the 243 and 270 you already have will do it
6.8
6.5 of multiple flavors
many many more will do it, you must decide yourself

Get something in the 30 to 35 caliber range, if you just need a new caliber. That said, Double Naught has good advice about bullet placement, and that 270 will do all you need. As for bullets, I shoot Nosler Ballistic Tips, but any good bullet will do. And, on placement, for years I shot hogs where I shot deer, which is in the lungs. It works, and they don’t go far, but they also don’t drop straight down. If you want them to drop on the spot, like I do now, shoot em in the neck/spine.

I had the granddaughter and her boyfriend (who had never hunted) at the ranch a while back, and they wanted to pig hunt. All I had extra was my 223 and 65 gr Sierra GKs. I drew a pig diagram on my barn whiteboard to show the boyfriend where to put the bullet. I let him shoot a while to familiarize himself with the rifle, and put them in the most likely stand. He dropped a big hog “straight down”. Perfect spine shot. And I didn’t have to track a hog.

My preferred POI is base of the neck/shoulder for the reasons DNS mentioned. Quality ammo will improve your DRT to run ratio as well.

You already own it. That .270 Winchester would do great on hogs that are around 200 yards out.

As was discussed earlier. You already have some good hog calibers. Also, as was discussed, if you don't hit the CNS, you won't have DRT regardless of what you are shooting. That said, if you are just looking for a good excuse to buy another gun, then I say GO FOR IT!! One of my faves for 100 yards and under is 45/70.

I wanted to thank all of you for your advice. I will be for sure to keep it in mind, I can see now that I am going to need some more practice if I want to make for sure that I drop every hog that I shoot.

358 Winchester or 35 Whelen, might not drop at the shot but there will be a blood trail and a short one at that. But your 270 is going to give good results with the right bullets.

I dropped 2 on Friday evening with my sons .243. First kicked a bit and died, second one never moved. In fact, I thought I had missed it because I couldn't see any movement. Went to the feeder to look at the first one and noticed the second lying right there. 100 grain Core-lokt's

Easy answer. .45-70 Gov't.

6.5 Grendel in the AR platform.

That's easy.....300 HAMR baby! The rest are all pretenders in the AR15 frame, lol.....

Check out the 300 HAMR thread in the guns and shooting section, lots of info there......

That's because you shot him in DA FACE

I hope you are correct! My upper arrived in the mail today. All I need is a scope to go on it and a trip to the lease.

Your 270 is fine, but if you want something bigger, don't fool around. A 458 Win or 416 Rem will make them do cart wheels with a solid shot.

I sure like a .308. You can kill the first hog with about any caliber, but once alarmed and running, a .308 sure has some knockdown power. Its available in so many different platforms, including magazine fed, and ammo is reasonably priced and in a multitude of loads. With so many variables, you should be able to put together a very reliable hog killer for all conditions on a valued budget.

It works for me, but many here are much more experienced than I am.

what rifle platform do you want to use?

in an AR I personally like and use the most is a 6.8 SPC, 16" barrel, 120 Hornady SST

Really, just about anything works fine with behind the ear shots.. I like the 6.8 because for when I get into a group of them and want to put the hurt on em, better at running shots than 5.56 or 300 BO

I have an AR10 in 308 and 6mm Creedmoor but it's a biggier heavier gun and I like stalk hunting, mainly at night with thermal, lightweight is good.

You will be pleased. Shooting suppressed the 130 gr. Speer hotcore with adjustable GB virtually no muzzle rise and it puts the hammer on them.

In response to what rifle platform I would like to use, I would ideally be looking for a rifle on the AR platform, as long as I could find a good deal on one. I will be going to University in the fall, so I won't have a lot of disposable income to spend on a rifle plus optics. Because of my budget I will probably wind up going with a bolt action, but I am open to any rifle platform.

I think anything at or above the .264 mark with proper bullet selection is going to do what you want.

I recently realized that I have two rifles below the .250 mark, an old 243 Winchester Model 70 that was made the yr I was born and a 223 Wylde upper that I just built. I found bigger/fatter, slower are where my love lies in calibers.

I built 3 rifles for pigs, soon to be 4, AR10 in 308 and 358 and a 458 Socom, with a 375 Socom barrel and bolt on the way.

I use what I have, either a 243 or the 270.

Any of those are more than enough with good shot placement. Subsonic 300 BLK works with expanding bullets like the Lehigh 194 max expansion. Point being that has less energy than any of what you already have so you are good. Use bullets designed for game hunting. For example, if you handload, the Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets are devastating.

What was said about shot placement is indeed important. I wait for a broadside shot and go for the spinal column in the neck between the head and the shoulders. Look at an anatomical drawing of a pig because their spine is strange in that it runs through the middle of their neck and not along the top like one would normally think.

I think you boys have left something out. You have to think out of the box.

Wont a 50 caliber get the job done in one shot??

I say Double naught is wrong.

the 50 will drop em no matter where you hit that hog.

I've been having a great time with my 300 Ham'r and the 130 HotCor. The hogs, not so much. It has become my favorite go-to hog whacker because it is light, deadly, and the recoil is negligible. We old whimps love ourselves some light, deadly, low recoiling rifles!

6.5 grendel is my main hog gun

16" suppressed .308, 155 gr TMKs, 165 SGKs, 168 A-Max, 168 ELD-M, 168 ELD-M

Bolt action or AR-10