Rifles for hog hunting

The question of what artillery to use for hunting feral hogs is a lively, beautiful debate that has given me many happy hours of reflection.  The simple answer is this:  anything will work. 

That being said, the simple answer is woefully inadequate to address an issue as fraught with subtleties as this one is.  Many thousands of feral hogs have been dispatched with the lowly .22 rifle or pistol, but is it a great idea to rely on that level of firepower?  Hell no.

Feral hogs have the potential to be truly dangerous game.  They aren't deer, or coyote, or coons.  They sometimes charge, and they sometimes have 6" tusks that are great for disembowling other mammals.  God gave the mature male hogs extremely thick skin on their shoulders, which they supplement with sap by rubbing on pine trees and by rolling in wet clay.  When the males fight, they try to cut into each other's shoulders with their tusks, so building up this shoulder shield is in their best interest.  Sometimes, bow hunters' broadheads are bent and broken by this ultra-tough 'shield', and many smaller caliber bullets fail to fully penetrate to the vitals.  A .22 might just bounce off. 

Then there's the problem of swine anatomy.  Hogs' vitals are not situated like a deer's are.  The heart/lung area in a pig is hidden by its massive shoulder area, not behind the front elbow like your cuddly whitetail deer's is.  You have to shoot through the abovementioned shield to get to the boiler room.  There is a shortcut, however.

Pigs are one of the very few animals in which a neck shot is perhaps the most reasonable placement.  A pig's spinal column is located in the middle part of its neck when viewed from the side.  A solid neck shot is generally an instant kill, as is a shot behind the ear.  However, even if the hog is down and unmoving, an insurance shot into the head is always smart.  You don't want your prize boar waking up while you're posing beside it for victory photos.

To guns.

The Marlin Firearms Company, recently acquired by Remington Arms Company, Inc., produces top-quality, American-made firearms of various kinds, but they specialize in lever-action rifles and carbines.  Of these, the Marlin 336 is the flagship model.  It has been in constant production since 1948, and is made of walnut and steel.  Most are chambered for .30-30 Winchester, which in gunspeak is the "jack-of-all-trades" caliber.  This cartridge has been harvesting game since 1895.  It's a near-perfect blend of power, speed, range, and moderate recoil.  It's pretty good for most any game animal in North America, sans the great bears, and it works pretty well for hogs.  If you get a solid head or neck shot, any hog out there is bacon.  Some of the big boars may soak up a round or two if you hit the shoulder shield, especially if you're outside the effective range of this cartridge (say 175-200 yards).  A gut shot with any cartridge is effectively torturing the poor beast and will not result in a quick kill.

To calibers. Most American hunters own and use .30 caliber hunting rifles: your .30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester and the ubiquitous .30-06 Springfield being chief among these. Each of these has killed a mountain of feral hogs, and in the hands of a patient, deliberate shooter, they can be very adequate indeed. However, wild hog hunting can often be a messy enterprise, and deliberate shots are not always readily available, as in the case of a charge.

Once you get above .30 caliber, the average Joe hunter is a little less familiar. The main reason for this is that the quintessential American big game animal is the whitetailed deer, and always has been. The above cartridges are best suited for targets in the general weight range of a whitetailed deer, or a human being for that matter ( the .308 Win and .30-06 were each originally designed as military cartridges). Clearly though, feral pigs are not in the same class as whitetail deer when it comes to toughness and degree of difficulty to bring down. Larger calibers that may be a little heavy for deer can really come into their own against hogs.

Oh, doctor.

Many folks use the 45-70 Government cartridge (pictured above) for hogs, often shot out of a Marlin lever action rifle. I've never used this caliber, but I've read and heard enough to have faith in it. Flinging 300-500 grains of lead at relatively slow velocity is a recipe for massive penetration, regardless of thick hide and tough shoulder bones. The 45-70 is often used as protection in grizzly country; even the largest feral swine should present no particular problem. If you must go bigger than the .30 caliber class of cartridges, a short, handy Marlin lever-action Guide Gun in 45-70 Gov't might be a great choice for busting hogs.

Most of my hog hunting has been with the .30-30 levergun, and I highly recommend it.  I am intrigued by other cartridges, calibers and rifle platforms as well.  I'd love a nice Winchester Model 70 in .30-06, or a Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70, or a Ruger No. 1 in 375 H & H.  I haven't had a chance to hunt with these guns, but the road is long and the hogs are many. 

I've learned most of what I know about firearms from Guns and Shooting Online, in my mind the best firearms website out there.  See www.chuckhawks.com for more info.

Just keep huntin.