.223 for deer and hogs

[Oklahomabassin]

Hogs aren't armored varmints. No reason to spend extra on premium ammo marketed specially for hogs. They don't take a special "silver bullet". If you would feel better about my advice if I charged a premium price for it, by all means mail me a check.

 

[YukonGlocker]

I may be wrong, but I don't believe those hollow point bullets will hold together well enough for good penetration (if you shoot a deer in the heart/lung area). If you are head or neck shooting, it won't matter. In my experience, lack of penetration (i.e. no pass through) means no or not much blood trail.

This is my opinion based on first hand experiences, and if you don't like it, that's fine too.

Those are solid copper bullets that will hold together better than most of the others. There were designed to expand, but also penetrate. Also, they are the best performing bullets (still expanding and penetrating sufficiently) in gel tests through hard barriers (typically recommended for LEO/military use. These aren't traditional hollow points. The Razorback 64 gr. is showing the best penetration of any of them, which I'm guessing makes it an interesting option for hogs. I've now read lots of field reports with these bullets, and they seem to do very well on deer and hogs...the 55gr TSX in particular has a great record.

Do you have first hand experiences with these particular bullets/loads? I like all the information I can get, regardless if it corroborates with everything else I can find.

 

[J.T.]

Hogs aren't armored varmints. No reason to spend extra on premium ammo marketed specially for hogs. They don't take a special "silver bullet". If you would feel better about my advice if I charged a premium price for it, by all means mail me a check.

True statement from the guy that stacks hogs like cord wood.^^^. I think, like a lot of things, personal perspective plays into our use of a particular widget. Anyone with an hog issue would likely shoot them with a pellet rifle if that's what they had in their hand at the moment. I have seen them killed stone dead with a .17hmr. TK had it right too, shot placement is critical on both species.

 

[r00s7a]

Bassin, you have obviously not read about the armor plate protecting a hog's vitals that I read about last week in Hog Hunter Weekly. They said you need a Kevlar tipped bullet to even penetrate the armor plate. I also read that hogs have a super tough hide that will make a bullet prematurely expand and anything less than an RPG won't do anything but piss it off. Then it will charge you. My cousin's boyfriend's father-in-law's stepdad said he got charged that way. Right after he seen a black panther. I can't say if that is true or not, I've never shot a wild hog before, but I have seen a black panther, twice.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Just for clarification, I have hunted hogs all my life. But the minimum caliber I've used on hogs is 7mm-08. Additionally, my family raised hogs for show and sale; and I've butchered a fair share of them rascals. But I don't take the killing of animals lightly, and if I'm going to use a .223, I'd like to be comfortable that I'm getting the most out of it. The ethical side of me thinks it's worth it. It really isn't a joking matter to me...but I'm not offended if you do poke fun at it.

 

[J.T.]

I have seen a black panther, twice.

Bull butter! They morph into Eagles at will in order to spoof you and the ODWC. I know a guy that killed a morphed eagle with a slingshot but you have to use marbles from your moms fake plants.

 

[J.T.]

Just for clarification, I have hunted hogs all my life. But the minimum caliber I've used on hogs is 7mm-08. Additionally, my family raised hogs for show and sale; and I've butchered a fair share of them rascals.

I'm not buying into the whole YG is full of bull but, are you saying your family raised hogs for show and sale and killed them with no less than a 7mm-08?

 

[YukonGlocker]

I'm not buying into the whole YG is full of bull but, are you saying your family raised hogs for show and sale and killed them with no less than a 7mm-08?

No...sorry if that was confusing. 7mm-08 for hunting. We used a variety of things to kill them on the farm (usually whatever was handy)...but those were nearly always point blank shots (and perfect placement).

 

[Oklahomabassin]

I wasn't joking about it. Proper shot placement is key. I have seen hogs drop from a great shot with a .17hmr and hogs run off with guts hanging out from a .50 cal beuwolf bad shot.

Likewise, choose a round (soft point, ballistic tipped, or hollow point hunting bullet) that is accurate and affordable and don't worry about the "hogzilla" "razorback" "hog slayer" marketing hyped rounds, that cost twice as much.

 

[YukonGlocker]

I wasn't joking about it. Proper shot placement is key. I have seen hogs drop from a great shot with a .17hmr and hogs run off with guts hanging out from a .50 cal beuwolf bad shot.

Likewise, choose a round (soft point, ballistic tipped, or hollow point hunting bullet) that is accurate and affordable and don't worry about the "hogzilla" "razorback" "hog slayer" marketing hyped rounds, that cost twice as much.

I agree. I'm more interested in the bullet performance because I'll be reloading anyway. It's possible (probable) that some of these new bullets are just marketing hype..but if there is anything that actually improves on what we have, I'd like to know about it.