Favorite .224 projectile for hogs?

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ATLDave

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I'm not much of a hunter, but a fair number of feral hogs have started to appear on my family's mountain cabin property (in southeast TN). They're doing hog stuff, tearing up the ground. It's time for some sort of cull program.

I'd like to load some suitable .223/5.56 rounds for this purpose. In all likelihood, we'll be up on a second story balcony/porch, so I'm not too worried about the "he's coming right at us" problem (which might require bigger rounds to ensure DRT results). That said, I want to be ethical and not have undue suffering for any dispatched animal.

I've loaded lots of .223/5.56 for target shooting, and have always enjoyed the results with 69 SMK's. I understand those are generally deemed too soft-skinned/fragile for something the size of a pig, though. For those of you who have killed feral pigs with .223's, what projectiles have you found to be effective?
 
rbernie said:
I would expect most any match bullet to have a pretty thin jacket, and I would avoid them.
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Agreed, and would want a heavy bonded bullet intended for hunting. That said, I have never shot a pig with a .223, but I do know the bullet needs to hold together to be most effective. Pigs are tough in many spots, might have to punch through to get vitals.
 
That’s for spot and stalk, ambush, or baited hogs, naturally. Drive and still hunting hogs with a 223/5.56 with compromised shot angles and placement on moving hogs isn’t ideal. The 60 Partition is still about as good as it gets, but more horsepower sure is nice!
 
ATLDave said:
Yeah, this would be at <100 yards, from an elevated position. Very, very hilly terrain.
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If you do load the 60 Partitions, 2 bits of advice:

1) Don’t expect them to break any aggregate records, but they WILL group well enough for what you’re asking.

2) Give them plenty of jump. I’ve occasionally gotten them to shoot small at 5-20thou, but most often, 50-60 gives me better results with less tweaking and searching. I kind of lump partitions/A-Frames in with monometals. These made me feel like I didn’t know how to reload until another friend suggested giving them a long jump.
 
Varminterror said:
If you do load the 60 Partitions, 2 bits of advice:

1) Don’t expect them to break any aggregate records, but they WILL group well enough for what you’re asking.

2) Give them plenty of jump. I’ve occasionally gotten them to shoot small at 5-20thou, but most often, 50-60 gives me better results with less tweaking and searching. I kind of lump partitions/A-Frames in with monometals. These made me feel like I didn’t know how to reload until another friend suggested giving them a long jump.
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Fan. Tastic. Exactly the kind of guidance I need.
 
Sounds like some good advice here. I have never shot a hog with a .224 bullet.....But I have shot some hogs and I have shot some other stuff with .22 centerfires. First choice for me would be monolithic (Barnes TTSX or HDY GMX) but a Partition would be high on my try it list.
 
For destructive hogs, hunting them doesn’t work. If you are lucky you get two or even three at a time. In other words they will out breed your hunting efforts.

They have been particularly bad this last year at our place too, I finally got fed up and spent some time making remotely activated trap doors.



I then got a $120 cellular game camera and downloaded the app that sends photos to my phone when something comes in the trap. This allows me to see what’s there before the gates drop.

You can see the rear gate and the white string that pulls the pin, behind the deer in this photo, the drive gate is behind the camera, pretty big trap.

2519D98C-82DC-4F4E-AB1A-F29763A93673.jpeg

These were in there a few hours ago.

9771ACA9-7E05-4825-8E24-0A6DCFF5BD1A.jpeg

I prefer subsonic 147 gn 9mm, the 52 grain Speer JHP’s to the head make a mush bowl too but they won’t work in a 1:7 twist barrel, at least not as fast as I am pushing them. I wouldn’t use either for “hunting” but in a trap where even a .22 lr will do...for hunting them I put on another upper, used the 300 once, the 450 I like but use the 458 the most often.
 
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I've had good luck with the 70gr GMX from Hornady and the 75gr SP that Hornady makes. I shoot them from a 224 Valkyrie so it's a little faster than the .223 but inside 100 yards the velocity difference don't matter. For hogs the heaviest bonded or mono metal bullet your rifle will shoot is gonna be your best bet.

I haven't seen it mentioned but be aware of your barrels twist because the long heavy bullets may not stabilize correctly id your barrel twist is 1:9 or slower.
 
Varminterror said:
60 grain partition is THE deer and hog bullet for 223/5.56
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Although I haven't shot any hogs, I did shoot a white tail doe this season with the 60 gr nosler partition bullet and it performed perfectly. Had a quartering forward shot placed through the shoulder joint, broke the shoulder, turned the heart and lungs to mush and exited the off side ribcage. They are real tough bullets
 
Planned on doing a Hog hunt this year with several family members. We got into it big time for a bunch of Yuppers who have never seen a hog.
While the 5.56 is a lot of fun to shoot I've never been enthusiastic about it for anything other than wood chucks, skunks and other varmints.
As a result when I purchased my AR for the purpose of the Hog hunt I purchased a 6.8SPC upper for it which I'm pretty impressed with.
Problem is those southern boys want a lot of money for us northern folks to come down and help rid them of those pesky Hogs.
Think I'll save my money and stay in the north woods even though the wolves and black bears will keep the pigs at bay. :p
 
Problem is those southern boys want a lot of money for us northern folks to come down and help rid them of those pesky Hogs.
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Yeah, we need a hunting exchange program, as it’s the same all over. Prairie dog hunts are even $200-500 a day per hunter and they are varmints too.

My largest reservation inviting people I don’t know, is that I don’t know how they handle themselves/firearms etc.
 
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