Shot a hog, but.....

[1shot]

Shot one 6 times last year with 223. Never found him.

[Brhibler1]

When I was younger, I put 3 .270 bullets in one and it stopped with the third shot in the head. Guess I forgot how tough they are.

[3rdShot]

Shoot them in the head. Small caliber and body shots on hogs are not a good mix...they can work, but there's not much margin for error. I prefer a .308 to the head, dead right there.

[Bradley]

X2

X3

[Rudyl]

Unless you have a heavy construction on the .223 bullet, you might limit yourself to head shots.

[GarGuy]

The ballistic tip 223 is a horrible deer round and even worse for hogs. Fast expansion and little penetration. You did get fragments intro his lungs though as evident by the nose blown lung blood. He will die.

[spiraltrue]

Then a lot of tracks from other hogs and no more blood.

Cannibals!

[Pistol]

The other pigs ate him.

[BIG IRON]

Maybe the dingo got your pig

Tough to lose one, especially with that much blood

[banzai]

Use more gun. 45-70 drops hogs. You lost your hog when the others showed up. Even if you tracked by feet, not blood, the other pigs hoof marks obliterate your hog's trail.

I have recovered a hog shot very poorly with a .444 and we had to track it for 100 meters with zero blood trail, just hooves. If other hogs had muddied up the tracking I would not have found that hog. That hog was between Marble Falls and Llano very close to where you hunt.

What distance did you shoot that hog? I am interested in knowing if .223/5.56 can be a solid stopper on a hog at 25 yards so I can use a standard cheapy AR with cheap ammo on hogs from my bow stands. I do not like sub magnum handguns on decent sized hogs because it does not penetrate the body cavity well.


I like ARs based on my exp with M16 in the USMC, but I don't know how they will do on hunting 100+ LB game even at super short range.

[Old Bald Guy]

".223 Winchester ballistic vamint round into the front quarter of a 120-150# hog "
^^This is probably your problem. My guess...the ballistic varmint bullet did not penetrate enough to take out the vitals.

Yep, and the same thing happens from time to time on bigger bodied deer despite what some say. After over 40 years of shooting deer, pigs and whatever else with .22 caliber rifles ranging from .22 Hornet to .22-284 I have found that bullet construction is key. Thin jacketed varmint bullets can make spectacular kills or fail miserably depending on the situation and velocity they are driven at. With a TSX or Nosler Partition and the same shot you would have had a nice blood trail for a few yards with a dead pig at the end.

[RiverRat1]

I don't think guns can kill hogs. I'm taking a bazooka out next time.

Last weekend I shot the biggest hog I've ever seen in broad daylight with my bow. 25 yard show. I swear I watched the arrow sink in perfect. Suckers turned and trotted off like nothing happened. Didn't kick and rocks or make any noise so must have stayed perfect on trail. I searched a long time...but nothing. No blood, no broken arrow, nothing.... Sorry sack could have at least grunted or squealed when the arrow hit LOL

[Old Bald Guy]

What distance did you shoot that hog? I am interested in knowing if .223/5.56 can be a solid stopper on a hog at 25 yards so I can use a standard cheapy AR with cheap ammo on hogs from my bow stands. I do not like sub magnum handguns on decent sized hogs because it does not penetrate the body cavity well.


I like ARs based on my exp with M16 in the USMC, but I don't know how they will do on hunting 100+ LB game even at super short range.

Since we switched to Partitions several years ago in the kiddo's .223 we have not lost a single hog shot with it. In your AR the TSX bullets would be a good choice, imo.

[Mike D]

Shot a hog, but.....

This is why you don't use varmint bullets on medium game. That's not what they are intended for.

[onejump]

Shot a hog about three yrs ago, used a 22-250 with federal 40gr. ballistic tip at 208 yrds, dropped him on the spot. hog weighted 219#. So it does work.