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Q: Is 00 buck shot in a 12 gauge shotgun sufficient for hog hunting, or do I need to use slugs?
If I have to use slugs, do I have to have a rifled barrel for the shotgun, and if not how will this affect the slugs accuracy?
A: use the slugs. The maximum effective range on the buckshot on a hog is literally point blank. Those slugs will knock him A$$ over elbows out to 100 yards if you practice. As for rifled/unrifled: for best accuracy, use a rifled slug barrel, but then using buckshot or lead shot in it dosn’t not work out very well. On the other hand, I prefer to use an unrifled 20″ barrel with modified choke and slugs in a sabot (jacket) these slugs/sabots are rifled and do impart enough twist to the projectile to make it acceptably accurate out to 100 yards. I’ve used them on some darn big hogs, bears, deer and even elk. Others have used them on buffalo, grizzly bears etc, and even used in Africa. Plus, without changing barrels, you can switch back to buckshot, or bird shot at any time.
shoot safe
Q: Is a 270 a good cal for deer and hog hunting?
I am going to purchase a new rifle for deer and hog hunting. I’m not rich and in the Navy. I have bought a few shotguns before but never a bigger caliber rifle any suggestions?
A: The .270 Winchester is a stellar deer gun. It will work on hogs also. Remember neck/head shot only for hogs in excess of 400 lbs. and use the 150 grain bullet if you are specifically hunting hog; the heavier bullet will give you a penetration advantage. Either 130 or 150 will work well on deer.
If you wanted the .308 Winchester (7.62×51 NATO) or even the old .30-06 you wouldn’t go wrong. Since you asked specifically about the .270, then yes, it is a good choice. I have one myself.
H
Q: Few Questions about Hog Hunting.?
I plan to go Hog Hunting this Thanksgiving and would like to know some information about such.
1. What’s the most effective firearm against Hogs? Shotguns are Rifles?
2. If shotguns, would a 12-gauge buckshot work?
2a. If rifles, would a .223 be fine?
3. What’s the most effective way to hunt Hog?(Tree-stand, etc)
4. Is there a bag-limit on hogs if they are considered a nuisance?(Texas and Louis.)
5. Are hogs dangerous even if dealt with properly and maturely?
Thanks in Advance.
A: 1. Depends how you are going to hunt, when I am in the scrub I use my lever action 44remington magnum, but when I am chasing them In an open paddock I use my 12 gauge.
2. Yes defiantly, either 00 or 000. I use Winchester buckshot 00
3. Not at all, get a 12gauge or 44mag lever action.Do not use a 223 as you would need a very good shot, the 44mag or 12 buckshot will give you piece of mind when hunting Also if a hog runs at you, you want something that will drop it on the spot even if it is running at you.
4. Don’t know, I hunt hogs in Australia and here you can shoot how many you want, whenever you want
5. Yes, they can kill you easily with their tusks-razor sharp, don’t wait and look at one, shoot as soon and you see one. If one starts running a you shoot at it straight away, if you are near a car or bike go into it and drive away. Their tusks can rip you to pieces.
Good luck mate. I hunt with a Marlin 44mag and a Single barrel 12gauge.
Q: Hog hunting in Florida?
From my understanding, the Florida FWC allows year round hunting of wild hogs… there are no specific season dates. Does anyone know of a public land area, preferably near Tampa, where I can go and do some hog hunting with a rifle or shotgun year round? Maybe it’s just me, but on the FWC website, I can only find info on WMA areas, and they all seem to have specific allowable hunting dates.
Thanks a bunch.
A: contact your local news paper who ever writes the outdoors colum, should be able to get that information for you.
or, you can call the florida wildlife commission office in Lakeland,at 1 – 888 – 404-3922 & ask them to have a wildlife officer call you & you can see, if that officer can tell you about PUBLIC land in your area
Q: What’s the best shotgun ammo to hunt feral hogs with?
I have a 12 gage and a 20 gage.
A: Slug when your in the stand.
Walking out, 00 Buckshot. Keep the buckshot loaded incase you get charged…
Q: Is A 20 Gauge Shotgun loaded with #2 Buckshot Enough for Wild Pig?
I’m going out for a California hog hunting trip in a few weeks and I have a friend who wants to come with me. Unfortunately I only have one big bore rifle. But, I do have a 20 gauge shotgun and I just bought some Federal Vital-Shok #2 Buck.
I think it will be enough, am I correct? If it is enough, within what range can one reasonably expect to take down a piggy? 50 yards?
I also have some Winchester Rifled Slugs, which I’m sure would work like a charm, but my shotgun does not have proper sights for slugs yet.
I have no experience hunting big game with a shotgun, so clue me in, so I can clue him in.
A: It will take a pig down at closer range, not 50 yards. That would not be a humane shot to take (50 yds with #2). I would use slugs. If not slugs then 0 Buck, 00 Buck, or 000 Buck with a full or modified choke. Your true range would be 40-45 yards max. Yes, you could kill something further than that but you pattern will be spreading out quite a bit the further you go out of this range. This is just general info, and you should pattern the shotgun with the loads to verify…who knows you may find that you can get more out of it.
Q: where can i find places to hog hunt?
i am looking for a place to hog hunt in central texas alot of places i found you are restricted to shotgun or bow but i would like to be able to use a rifle does anyone know where i can find a place and also i dont want to pay an arm and a leg just to be able to hunt them on someone land
A: Hey Mountain Man, I have found this to be true, But I have seen more around 10 pm. They must be nocturnal where i am from. LOL!
Q: can you hunt wild hogs with a 12 gauge shotgun?
A: Absolutely…….
If you have a smooth bore shotgun then use these…..
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshell/slugs/slugger_rifled.asp
If you have a rifled shotgun barrel then use these……
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshell/slugs/copper_solid_sabot.asp
Look here for a little more clarity…..
Q: I’m buying a.357mag for home defense would this be good for hunting deer&hogs too.?
I have hunted with rifles&shotguns all of my life and I am going to try out hunting with handguns.But i am not very ejucated with handguns(scince im mostly a deer and bird hunter)so can you please tell me if i can buy one that is good for hunting and home defense.(preferably a.357 or larger)
A: Bound’s hubby here:
There’s alot of advice here. I will add my two cents. I think your .357 will be adequate provided you have the right ammunition. The shortest barrel I would go with would be a 6 inch barrel (my preferred home defense gun is a 6 inch K38 with Hydra-shocks… it’s not too long because no intruder is going to get close enough to grab it!). A .357 has it’s limitations… I would keep my maximum distance to the distance at which I can keep 6 shots on a 6 inch paper pie plate.
Your ammuntion: if you limiit yourself to factory soft points and jacketed hollow points… get a .44 Magnum. Your hunting round should be of a semi-wadcutter design. The flat part of the semi-wadcutter is called a metplat… the larger the metplat, the more shock you induce which is good for dropping the animal. You want the shoulders to be as sharp as possible. Your .357 with this type of bullet should be more than adequate for deer to 40 or 50 yards, and perhaps, smaller black bear.
While I own a couple of .357s, I bought a Smith .41 Magnum for hunting. The .41 has greater muzzle energy than the .357, with less recoil than the .44. When you compare a .41 and a .44 the difference in wound cavity size is 0.019 inches in diameter. In many respects, from this angle, the .41 is a better hunting round than the .44. Therefore, I would suggest you give the .41 serious consideration as a hunting round. I have also assembled a handload I call a “.41 Special” that I found in the RCBS cast bullet handloading booklet that shoots like a .38 Special. That big revolver with a nice big hole in it, can be real intimidating if you’re looking at it from the wrong end.
If you plan on handgun hunting give serious consideration to casting your own bullets and handloading your hunting ammunition.
I would suggest you look at either an L-framed S&W .357 or an N-framed S&W .357 or .41. The new Smith L and N frames are factory drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Because you stated home defense, in addition to hunting I have not recommended Ruger’s single action Blackhawks… only because (by design) they can not be reloaded quickly like a swing out cylinder revolver.
Good luck.
Q: Which shotgun to get?
Hi im just looking for some help in deciding which shotgun to get. Its between either a Stoeger Coach Gun Supreme with the chokes or a Stoeger 2000 if i don’t get the coach gun im looking for a good reasonably cheap Semi-Auto. Im looking to use which ever i get for just about everything from clays to hog turkey and deer hunting and any opinions on which would serve me better would be helpful.
A: The Coachgun Spreme is a nice shotgun but its not well suited for hunting…. The barrels are too short….. If AStoeger is what you want then either consider the Uplander double barrel….
http://www.stoegerindustries.com/firearms/stoeger_uplander.php
Or the Stoeger Model 2000…….. (best choice)
http://www.stoegerindustries.com/firearms/stoeger_model_2000.php
Q: best handgun for hunting?
i would like to carry a revolver or pistol for hunting? what do you recommend? I’m already carrying a 20ga shotgun but i would like something for snakes or maybe squire. i’m hunting for hogs.
A: If it is only a back-up gun for snakes and applying finishers, a good revolver is hard to beat. The shot shells for most of those will rip up snakes out to maybe about 3 yards. But be sure you check to see where the shot shell’s point of aim is in your gun. It has a very small charge of shot, and if you don’t know where it hits, you could miss or mostly miss a snake at all but point blank range. With a good hollowpoint, you can go for larger critters. With a good wadcutter load, you can pop small game for food without ending up with most of the squirrel as a fine pink mist settling over the forest floor.
Personally for a back up revolver, I like a 3-4 inch barrel. If I am not expecting to use it as a primary weapon on hogs, a .357 would work just fine. But if hogs have the potential to be on the menu, I would go with something a bit bigger. .44 Special, .44 Magnum or .45 colt. More than that, and you are dragging along a heavy cannon that is uncomfortable to shoot. I carried a ruger Vaquero and Blackhawk in .45 colt for years when out and about hunting or hiking. They are hard to beat for reliability, but a tad slow on reloading. I have switched recently to a Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special, and don’t plan on going back. It uses the same CCI shot shells as the .44 Mag, has a swing out cylinder, which puts it ahead of the Vaquero, and is comfortable to shoot. With hand loads, I get 800+ fps with a 235 grain lead hollowpoint. That is .45 ACP performance out of a .357 sized revolver. Admittedly, it only has 5 shots, but I am only using it for a back up or trail gun. Not combat. It wouldn’t be my first choice for hunting big hogs, but no regular handgun would. That is what shotguns and rifles are for. Or single-shot pistols in hunting calibers. Your back-up gun is there for just that. Back-up.
(edit)
Dangit. Yeah, I forgot the .41 Mag. That is another one, but as the other poster noted, ammo is a bit scarce and pricey if you don’t reload. And just to make the 10mm cultists happy, S&W offers a 10mm revolver that is also in the same catagory.
Q: Why does the National Rifle Association have so many whackos?
Thinking liberals are trying to take away your guns. You can get a handgun powerful enough to blow away a half ton hog. You get rifles to take out someone a mile away and an array of shotguns for bird hunting. And you can get reliable enough guns to kill of 30 people in very short order. Why, you can get 4 Glock 10 round gun clips for $60 off ebay without a license .
So you’ve canshoot here, shoot there, shoot the heck everywhere. A real paradise and no liberal trying to stop you.
So why the paranoia?
BTW, it has been reported that a 11 year old boy kill a half ton hog with the darn largest handgun I’ve ever seen. The VA Tech shooting was done with legally obtained guns with those Glock clips mentioned.
No one can tell me what is even being proposed to to any gun away that can be used for hunting or protection.
BTW, I have nothing against gun ownership, would own firearms myself if I had a need or purpose for it
A: lol good question!!!!!! makes sense though
Q: Which is a better backup shotgun?
I’ve been looking at the remington 870 Express Synthetic 7round shotgun and the SPR220 Side-By-Side which would be better for home security and backup while deer hunting with wild hogs and coyotes around. I’ve had a few coyotes to charge and a bolt action rifle and scope take to long to get up so I’ve been carrying a single shot 12 gauge shotgun w/ a barrel cutdown to 18 1/2 ” and I feel I need more shots. The double looks cool but the pump holds more rounds and I’m 18 so dont suggest any handguns
A: Since you mentioned home security, then 870 will be a far better choice than any SxS double. The sound of a round chambering in any pump action shotgun is very intimidating. The sound alone will make a very clear statement. You will know what it is immediately even if you have never seen a firearm before.
As for hunting, a pump action is only a little tiny bit slower than a double gun but it will not be slow enough to make a very noticeable difference. Actually, I don’t feel that I’m any slower with a pump action when shooting beside a double gun or a semi-auto. By the time I recovered from recoil, there’s always another round already in the chamber and ready to fire. It doesn’t affect my aiming nor will it slow me down.
I do prefer hunting with a double gun though. With a double gun in hand, I always cradle the gun with action open. This way, I could just close the action, shoulder the gun and fire when needed. An open action eliminated the need to take off the safety and this alone really made a huge difference for me. The safety button always seemed to get a lot smaller when you really need to get that shot off in that split second. Of course you could carry a pump gun with the action open too. The only problem with this is that the round might fell off without you even knowing.
As for so called “back-up” secondary arm, I highly recommend that you have someone else holding that gun for you. Don’t hunt alone when you have a choice. When you must hunt alone, your “primary” weapon could take care of most if not all problems. Hogs and coyotes usually won’t bother you unless you bother them first. The problems coyotes = they scared off my prey or they ran away too fast before I could pull the trigger. lol I’ve never been charged by hogs before. But according to all the stories I was told, I’ve never heard of anyone being able to get a 3rd shot off. Out of the 5 hog charging stories, only 1 was able to fire a 2nd shot and that guy was very handy with a lever gun. That 2nd shot didn’t count anyway because it didn’t hit the target; it flew over the pig. So, don’t hunt alone whenever that game could fight back.
PS: If hogs charge, get behind a tree if possible. If trees aren’t around, toss the gun and grab a blade. Machete is a good choice.
PPS: Out of the five pig charging stories, only that guy who managed to fire the 2nd shot got hurt. Both he and his guide were too confident in his shooting skills and the pork got too close. His guide hacked the pig up with a machete.
Q: what kind and size of shotgun should i get?
I am looking for my first shotgun. It is between a Mossberg 500 a remington 870 and a winchester 1300. I need to stay under $360 probably. I want to be able to shoulder the weapon quickly and quickly shoot and chamber a next round smoothly. Also i am wanting to be able to use this for the rest of my life basically so i want it to be solidly made. I am regulary hunting rabbits and ground hogs with my pellet gun and am doing good but its not a guaranteed kill everytime considering the size of the pellet. I just dont know what size shotgun will be an over kill. I might want to go deer hunting and i dont know what size gun will and will not take down a deer. I know not alot to work with on that small of a buget but any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
also i am about 16 and 5′9 155 and bench 200 so i aint all scronny if that helps
A: I can’t speak for the winchester but ive shot skeet with my friends Mossberg and it was like shooting and old car jack ,clunky and not smooth at all , I’ve had a Remington 870 since i was 14 im 33 now and it’s still my #1 choice, brand new it has a smooth action and just gets better with age . As for hunting deer 12 gauge is best and on a buget i have used a xtrafull turkey choke with buckshot for years they screw in the end of the barrel and are fairly priced, and i havent had a deer run after shooting it since . good luck
Q: What States do people hunt wild hogs, and are they hunted for food, is the meat good, or just for killing and?
not for meat. How big do the wild hogs get (at range, on the average) and is it dangerous to the hunter? What do you hunt them with, bows? rifles (what calibers?), shotguns (slugs or ??).
A: The top boar hunting states are California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Texas is the “Wild Hog Capital of the World”. Other hot, southern states have a lot of boar hunting. Boar hunting is becoming the next deer hunting. Wild pig populations are exploding. They are currently in 31 states and it won’t be long until they are everywhere. It gives us a good opportunity to bring home some bacon since these animals are a huge nuisance.
For rifles, .243 and larger is ok, but I’d stick to .308 and up. I use a .30-06 with 165 and 180 grain, soft point bullets. They have a tough hide and shoulder bone that need to be penetrated to get to their vital area. Their vital area is a little smaller and lower and tighter to the shoulder than a deer. Make sure you can hit within a 6″ circle at 100 yards consistently with your hunting ammo. 20 and 12 gauge slugs are fine and .357 magnum and up is fine for handguns. Here is a link of which calibers are acceptable: http://www.jesseshunting.com/site/hog.html
They can be dangerous but for the most part won’t charge or attack you under normal circumstances. If you wound one, corner one, or encounter one with young, then watch out.
They have poor vision which makes stalking a good way to hunt. Keep on higher land and look down into valleys and such. They sometimes like to get into the thickest and nastiest stuff so watch out. Using dogs like ridgebacks, Catahoulas, bull dogs, deer hounds, and so on is common. Make sure you get a good protective vest for them. Boar have great hearing like a deer so keep quiet. No camo is really needed. Just wear light earthy tones.
The latest issue of Field & Stream (April ‘07) has an article about how to get started in hog hunting. It might be worth the $4 to check out.
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