The Perfect AR Hog Rifle Setup?!

[sleepyone]

If this is not the perfect hog rifle setup, than I don't know what is!

Seriously though, I vowed to keep it simple and this what I ended up with. But I am ready to take on the hogs that have over run our 200 acres and doubled their population in less than a year.

I started with my favorite AR, the Smith and Wesson M&P 15 OR for $900 plus tax from Academy and added the following:

Aimpoint PRO red dot with the included QRP2 mount, which is a great mount by the way. The red dot is amazing but everyone knows that. $400 shipped

Yankee Hill Quick Release BUIS $179.00 shipped from local dealer. Hope I never need them.

Grip Pod Vertical Foregrip Supposed to be the same ones used by the soldiers. It is very sturdy and well-made. Retails for $100. Bought for $45 at local gun show.

Daniel Defense Omega Rail 7.0 Free Floating rail system for $229 shipped from eBay. I researched long and hard for a free float rail system that did not require replacing my front gas block. This is the da bomb! installed in 10 minutes.

Hogue grip for $18 at local gun show.

Selph Arms VRL-1 Varmint Hunting Light with pressure switch for $150 plus tax. This light is similar to the Elusive WildLife XRL-250 Light System but is supposed to have better internal components and batteries. It comes with car charger, wall charger, three types of rifle mounts, red and green LEDs and and the pressure switch and push button on/off.

I'm using both the M855 and M193 Lake City ammo.

Hope this helps! I will give a report from my first night hunt, which will hopefully be next weekend!

 

[Texan Scott]

I'm not a huge fan of ARs or scopes, and I'd have chosen something else to HUNT... but if iI had 200 acres to cover, and all i really needed was to fatally shoot (not clean, necessarily, just fatal) as many hogs as possible? That's not hunting... that's combat! AND, you seem to have a FINE combat rifle, there. Scout the terrain, bait/ lure, and set off 100 yds downwind... you could take out the better part of a sounder, every time if you do your part. Me, I'd get upset about the lack of sausage afterward, but if you can make your frst shot a good neck/ spinal, then blast away? go for it... hope you kill dozens.

 

[sleepyone]

Indeed, the key word in your post is hunt. I have no interest in eating these hogs, so I am going for a slaughter. For hunting, I would use my M70 .270 or my Marlin 30-30.

They come to my feeder every night and a particular pond at dusk pretty regularly, so I just needed a good light to illuminate 50-100 yards or so as most of our land is heavy brush and oak.

 

[Texan Scott]

.30-30 for hunting, AR-15 with green light and optics for mass slaughter... you are then, indeed, the man. bang away!

 

[unwise11]

That's a great hog setup! How do you setup? In a blind? A tower?

 

[MCgunner]

I shoot most of my hogs with handguns, carry guns, head shots, in my trap. When I hunt, hogs are targets of opportunity. I hunt deer. I am not a night person, so I don't stay up lookin' for 'em. I've done it a few times, reminded me too much of working graveyards which I always hated. I'd rather be home with mama when the sun goes down. But, if you enjoy that sort of thing, you'll definitely have a faster reload than me with my front stuffers. If you're into hog eradication, you definitely NEED the firepower. Looks like you have that covered.

I do eat hogs. They're yummy, much yummier than venison IMHO. You can actually bar-be-que 'em and not need a chain saw to cut the meat. Venison is just too dry. I grind most of my venison and mix it with pork in sausage. Now THAT is for the smoker.

 

[justice06rr]

Looks like a great setup! That is a sweet AR for sure. Way to keep it simple and purpose-driven. Happy hunting!

 

[sleepyone]

How do you setup? In a blind? A tower?

i have a 4x6 deer stand on a five foot steel platform and a feeder 50 yards from the stand. i keep my feeder going year round just to keep the deer coming through, so the hogs are regular diners also. They usually come throughout the night during the summer, so it should not be too difficult to take them out. I have learned their routines and the ponds they like to frequent at dusk before feeding. I have an idea where they bed down, but the brush is so thick I can't get to them.

here are a couple of pics. We had 17 last November and then I saw this pic on my trail camera recently. This is not even all of them.

 

[Texan Scott]

oh, man! that's a LOT of young... to think that in six months to a year, half of those will have young of their own... my original thought was that you might have too much gun... i stand corrected. in fact, you may be in big trouble, if the one AR is all you got. better take friends!

 

[Well Now]

Yes sir, thats a lot of shooting with some good meat to be had if wanted. I have a VLR set up on my night gun. It works well, you'll like it. Have fun.

 

[sleepyone]

I shoot most of my hogs with handguns, carry guns, head shots, in my trap.

wish I had a live trap. that is my next project when funds allow. do you have an pics?

 

[Texan Scott]

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/

This has lots of general info, but at the bottom you'll find simple directions for two types of trap. a little bit of spot welding and some general coat hanger engineering, et viola!

 

[Twmaster]

While that is a nice AR for hog killin I think Mr. Flinkknapper has that one beat.

AR chambered in .458 SOCOM. THE Hog Hammer.

You can see his AR in the sticky at the very top of this forum!

 

[Texan Scott]

Yeah but you gotta get at least 5 little pigs in a line and shoot them all at ONCE to get your money's worth from a .458 socom! (besides, it takes him so long to get back up after firing one....)

 

[Twmaster]

Details... Details....

 

[jmorris]

Here is my suppressed, NVD equipped 458 socom. No quad rails or other extra attachments but hogs don't die from that stuff anyway.

 

[tarosean]

I have an idea where they bed down, but the brush is so thick I can't get to them.

Seems to me, that you have exasperated that issue with the stuff hanging off your gun....

 

[wankerjake]

Man, those little pigs look delicious!

 

[BP Hunter]

Wow, with so many pigs, you you can practically live off your land. No more pork shopping at the local Walmart.

When I see those trail cams with pictures of so many game, I start to miss South Texas. Texas has game everywhere! AFter I moved to SE Washington, I could not find any game and realized how spoiled I was in Texas.

By the way, nice set up for a slaughter. With the small .223, I would usually like to hit the pig behind ears/eyes for a straight kill with no tracking whatsoever espcially at night.

 

[Texan Scott]

Game? I see no game... no one has posted pictures of game.
OOOHH, you mean the ecologically noxious, invasive non-native verminous wildlife in the FO-TOES? We call 'em pigs, or hogs... they're not 'game' in Texas... they're pest animals the state is practically begging us to eradicate at will.

 

[MCgunner]

wish I had a live trap. that is my next project when funds allow. do you have an pics?

Sorry I'm slow getting back to this post.

Bout $325 IIRC. I'd figured it'd cost THAT or near bouts with cattle panel from TSC and the angle and wouldn't be galvanized. This thing is still bright and shiney and it's over 5 years been out in the open on the humid Texas coast. I've seen home builts rust down in a few years.

 

[MCgunner]

Wow, with so many pigs, you you can practically live off your land. No more pork shopping at the local Walmart

Now while some think hogs are obnoxious pests, I like having 'em around for this very reason. Much of Texas is as you describe above and no amount of firepower in the hands of skilled pig shooters is likely to change that. The things have the natality rate of rabbits and their infant survival rate is as high thanks to a mean ol' mama. Ain't no coyote or cat gonna take on mama pig. Maybe a mountain lion, but ain't enough of THEM around and I doubt even a lion would wanna take on a pig. Some places I duck hunt, I'm sure the big gators take a few, but they don't seem to make a dent in the pig population.

 

[brodgers60]

Just need a suppressor and you'd have a perfect setup!

 

[Twmaster]

Here is my suppressed, NVD equipped 458 socom. No quad rails or other extra attachments but hogs don't die from that stuff anyway.

Now that is freaking cool.

I guess I'll have to just boo-hoo and get by with my 'lil 6.8 AR... (It's the top one)

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I got a few "perfect hog rifles" my new Bushmaster .308 ORC with a Leupold VX II 3x9x40 works pretty good, then again, my open sight Armalite AR10A2 or my Springfield Armory M1A loaded standard can dish out lots of lead and my pastures and my deer lease are infested with hogs, cant kill em fast enough.