Hog stopper

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irondavy

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I have recently started reloading and at about the same time a group of hogs has invaded my Grandparents acreage in central Tex.
Here is what happened, I had my Taurus judge on my hip as usual while i was shredding a large boar came up out of some brush at the edge of the field and charged the tractor. (its a small tractor and he easily could have gotten me). He was about 20 yards away when I saw him and was able to draw and fire offhand a single shot. I hit him just to the left of his head on the shoulder. He thought better of coming any closer and ran off back into the brush behind me before I could aim and get another shot off.
Ok I know I shot him right in the fat/ gristle/ bone "armor" but I was shooting Winchester cowboy action loads in .45 colt 250 Gr lead flat nose and I would have expected that to do a little more damage.
I want to work up a hard hitting "hog Stopper" load, I want serious Knock down/ damage. Accuracy is not as big a deal as I will usually be shooting less than 50 yards and for the most part less than that.
I already have a box of Hornady 250 Gr XTP bullets, and I already have a can of HP-38 for my .45acp plinking loads.

Here is what I worked up but I am willing to get different powders bullets whatever.

Hornady XTP 250 Gr Bullet
7 Gr of HP-38
CCI 300 Large pistol primers

Thanks for any help
IronDavy
 
First of all, you were using the Winchester Cowboy load, running only ~750fps. While heavy, that's slow by anyone's standards. By comparison, Winchester's PDX1 is ~850fps and their Silver Tip is ~920fps.

I don't know, but I'm guessing that with the Judge's long cylinder you probably lose even more velocity than an average revolver (say a Ruger Blackhawk or S&W 25-5). You might have had a bullet only chugging @ 700fps at that piggy.

Work up from a safe starting point. I don't know what the Taurus can handle, pressure wise, but you should be able to get in the 850-900fps range without too much trouble if that's what you want to do. Unique, Universal, 2400 should all work.

Q
 
I'm just curious because I live in a rural area just SE of SATX. How big was the hog (approximately)? What part of central TX?
 
With that bullet around 8 grs of Unique, It's over what Alliant says for the Speer Gold Dot, so use at your own risk. I have used more with lead bullets in my SW 625 45 Colt MT Gun.
 
Mike... just east of Austin and I would bet the Hog was 200+ Don't have lots of experience in dealing with the stupid things though. I was just trying to clear some space/ cut some firebreaks, just in case you know. Oh well I guess it's time for me to grab the 30-06 and sit up in my tree over the pond overnight again....

As far as the load goes I think that I am going to go with the 7 gr of hp-38 and load up 10 rounds or so and see how things work out. Are there any favorite powders out there for the .45 colt? I would like to try trailboss but I can only find published loads in cast and I would prefer to use JHP.

Thanks again for the responses
Irondavy
 
Don't know, but that tells me the .44 Magnum would be a better hip gun for you.
 
EB1.... yeah I would probably agree but the .45 colt it what I have.

and Marlin That is also probably true but I wasn't about to go chasing a bleeding boar into the brush with with very short sight distance and no partner. in this case I will have to go with what Grandpa says "Eh let the GD thing bleed out on someone else's property."

I also have some 250 gr cast. FN bullets I guess I will pick up a can of unique as well and see if the 250 gr Hornady XTPs with 7 gr of hs-38 do any better than 250 gr FN backed with 9 gr of Unique.

Thanks again, any more suggestions would be helpful.
Irondavy
 
Yeah. The .45 Colt will do the job with bullet placement. I think you had a success. You deterred a threat. Good job.
 
I dont think you will be pushing the xtp s fast enough to make them expand and would be better off using a 250-255 grain cast swc loaded to about 950-1000 fps . Kevin
The only way you are going to stop a charging hog is with a brain or spine shot ! Your .45 should be up to that ! I shot a 150 lb pig 2 years ago with a .454 casull 300 grn hornady xtpmag bullet , the shot went in behind the left leg quartering away . The pig took off so fast I thought I missed , he an about 30 yards and collpsed out of sight in the palmettos.I found no blood trail or sign he had been hit but followed in the direction he ran in and found him . when he ws butchered we found fist sized exit wound and broken right shoulder , bullet went through both lungs blew the heart loose severing all attaching blood vessels ,this hog was just rooting when I shot him If he had run towards me he could have got to me before i could get him again , he was dead but just didnt know it . since then I have taken only head shots . Kevin
 
Last edited:
irondavy said:
Mike... just east of Austin and I would bet the Hog was 200+ Don't have lots of experience in dealing with the stupid things though. I was just trying to clear some space/ cut some firebreaks, just in case you know. Oh well I guess it's time for me to grab the 30-06 and sit up in my tree over the pond overnight again....

As far as the load goes I think that I am going to go with the 7 gr of hp-38 and load up 10 rounds or so and see how things work out. Are there any favorite powders out there for the .45 colt? I would like to try trailboss but I can only find published loads in cast and I would prefer to use JHP.

Thanks again for the responses
Irondavy
Click to expand...
JHP on a 200# hog? Wild pigs are fairly thick-skinned game. Hollowpoints likely will shred a lot of flesh, but not penetrate to anything that would bring a big hog down, stop it before he shredded your leg, much less kill him outright.

Hard cast lead with a flat nose has a better reputation for stopping aggressive actions in animals.

Lost Sheep
 
What about using a 410 slug load in your Judge? Or even a three pellet buckshot load? That would put serious hurt on that piggy at close range. I have no experience with it but I would certainly investigate its effectiveness for defense against a mean spirited hog.
 
yeah I like the shot shell rounds for HD but #1 I am not set up to reload shot shells (yet :) ) #2 due to the thick skin I don't think that the buckshot would do much damage unless you hit the thing in the eye with a lucky shot.

Thanks again
Irondavy
 
Not to veer off topic but I opted for a .44 Mag that can safely fire pretty much any load in existence because I wanted that extra umph beyond .45LC. I avoided anything beefier than .44 Mag, e.g. .454 Casull, because I don't think I can control hot Casull loads all that well. That stated, from what I've read, I'd think the .45LC should do just fine for any hog up to 250 pounds or so but to quickly stop a charging angry 300-400 pound feral hog... I'd want as much firepower as I could handle.
 
Any size wild hog is dangerous. Even a 40 pound piglet can grab your ankle and break it like twig. I would suggest carrying the judge as a back up only. An open sited 30-30, Ruger 44 mag simi-auto carbine or even an 870, or Mossberg 500 pump with buckshot would be better…
 
I would avoid any and all shotshell rounds in the Judge. The barrel is just too short for them to get up a good head of steam to do much damage. If you were to try a slug round in it, I'd find some targets to do a little comparison testing on before depending on it.
 
RE: 500+ pound monster hogs. Eh... I'd feel okay carrying a big frame .44 Mag revolver with hot/heavy HC or SP loads but I'd feel much safer with a .30-06 with 180-220gr SPs. Gawd... I hope those beasts never find their way to my neck o' the woods.
 
That's a big pig. I would haul my 45-70 Guide Gun around and have 500 grain bullet loads handy if I thought there was a chance I'd have to deal with something like that. What did they do with the beast?
 
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