The 22 caliber hog curse

So...deer season is about over, since i’ve filled the freezer, and I dragged out the 220 Swift for some coyote hunting. That’s the good news. The bad news is that every darn time I take the 223 or 220 to the stand, here comes a hog. Well, since I haven’t been seeing any hogs lately, and don’t have much sign around the feeders, the 22 caliber hog curse probably won’t be an issue this time. Got my Diet Coke and a good book and my coyote caller, and a lovely nasty day. Five doe are eating acorns...I still have acorns if you can believe that. No coyote, but by golly here comes a big old hog at 300 yards, doing a slow trot. I couldn’t get a shot, but that’s not the point. The point is that the 22 caliber hog curse remains in place. I’m getting the 260 out again.

Why not just carry two guns to the stand or just go hog hunting. When you go hog hunting all you see is deer and coyotes lol.

That 220 Swift should be surgically accurate so I say ear shot!!

Why not just shoot the hog with the 220 or 223?

Shot plenty of coyotes with a 270 and more than i'd like with a 300 wby, bring enough gun to cover all your bases

“ear shot”..at 300 yards, while the hog is trotting. Sure. I’m good, but not that good. And I mentioned that I couldn’t get a shot. The hog was out in my hay field and following a low area that goes roughly north/south, so all I could see was the top of his back. If I had spotted him earlier, he’d have been in a flat area and I could have taken the shot.

I’ve killed a few hogs with the 220, but at distance it isn’t a sure thing. I can’t stabilize the 60 gr Partition, darn it.

Back when we first bought this place, I shot a bunch of coyotes and didn’t see hogs. They moved in later and I had to upgrade to my 260. I can hunt for weeks with the 260 and not see a hog, but drag out the 223 or 220 and here come the hogs. Can’t be pure coincidence. Maybe they have a pig assigned to watch me....

Just for fun, try the 45 grain TSX. It stabilizes without difficulty in my 1:14 22-250.

If that's the case and you don't have a shot anyway, it doesn't matter what you have with you.

You'll get your shot, 22 cal or not!

We still have plenty of acorns and will continue to have them well into the new year.

Syncerus, maybe it’s time I tried a mono metal bullet in the 220. Should I try the TSX or the tipped TSX, or is the tipped one too long? I need to look into this.

I've killed a lot of hogs with a 223.

I would think that a 50 or 55gn ttsx would fit that bill. I have thumped several with my 22cm running 80.5gn bergers. They tend to tip over a do the "dying cockroach".

I use my Remington Mohawk. 222 in the ear Dead

Truck gun is a 22-250, kills hogs, coyotes dead every time I pull trigger

One of my luckiest shots was a big hog trotting across a big cedar sprinkled flat while coyote hunting with a 22-250 at 310 yards. 52 gr Berger in the neck DRT.

Somedays it's better to be lucky than good.

Given many hogs a head ache with my 204.

I've shot oodles of hogs with a .223 and premium, and non-premium bullets. The trick of course is to wait for the right shot opportunity and surgically place the shot..it aint that hard and and brain shots invariably result in a DRT. Haven't lost one to the little guns yet...


.223 and 60 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip from 120 to 169 pounds..

Just take 2 guns with you

I've killed more hogs with a 55 grain bullet out of my 223 AR than all my other guns combined. I don't wait for head shots either. Nor do I care if they run off. I prefer they do.

I’m not saying a 22 cal bullet won’t kill em, but you might have missed the part about the big hog at 300 yards and at a trot. Always at a distance and moving, it seems. I have killed a few with the Swift, but it isn’t as effective as the 260 when the shot gets tough.

I have about the same luck. I carry a gun for one thing and see the other. I carry two guns I see nothing! Lol. I have shot a couple pigs with 17hmr and dropped them where they stood. 100 yards or under and ear holed them!

Nothing like ear holing a pig!

Well, the 22lr worked for me just now. As bad as I feel, I didn’t want to deal with pigs in the trap. But, you know Murphy’s Law, so the worse I feel the more likely there just HAD to be pigs in it. Yup! Two big boars, about 150 each. The buzzards will eat well, and maybe even my damaged flightless buzzard will get some meat.

Don't beat yourself up to bad. That's two less hogs to destroy stuff. Good job!

Nicelly done!