357 Vs Wild Hog

There are places in Texas where landowners would love someone to kill them. They are fast becoming a nuisance on fences, feeders, other game, etc.

Google free Texas hog hunting.
 
I know for a fact that grizzly have been killed with a .357. I've seen deer dropped with a .357. Hitting a hog well with a solid bullet at full power from a 4" .357 should be enough for a hog.

(myself, I'd give immediate follow-up shots.)

The .357 has the highest sectional density of just about any handgun bullet out there. at maximum velocity, you will get incredible penetration compared to pretty much anything but a .44 magnum.
 
Preacher friend of mine use a 38 spcl out of an old S&W model 10 with 4" barrel and rarely needs a second shot. .357 will work just fine, If you are not a good shot then even a .454 Casull won't help.
 
I have a .44 Magnum that I use when hog hunting and will very effectively do the job, but a well placed shot behind the front shoulder, and a variety of calibers will bring them down. The skin in that area is not any thicker than that of a whitetail. The skin is thickest on the top side of the body and thins out some as it goes toward the belly ( have killed and skinned out a ton in my day) I killed a 185 lb sow with my .22 Magnum Taurus revolver. Shot was made just behind the front shoulder on the right side of the body. She hit the dirt and never moved!
 
I have a .44 Magnum that I use when hog hunting and will very effectively do the job, but a well placed shot behind the front shoulder, and a variety of calibers will bring them down. The skin in that area is not any thicker than that of a whitetail. The skin is thickest on the top side of the body and thins out some as it goes toward the belly ( have killed and skinned out a ton in my day) I killed a 185 lb sow with my .22 Magnum Taurus revolver. Shot was made just behind the front shoulder on the right side of the body. She hit the dirt and never moved!
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I do not hog hunt, but your statement agrees with a lot of my own research that I've done on this topic. From what I gather, hogs aren't really any tougher than typical deer you find in the south, but their vital organ regions do present a smaller target that is naturally harder to hit in comparison to white tail.

Speaking of shoulder hits, a lot of guys in TX swear by 5.56 NATO (with the correct ammo selection) and neck shots (a couple inches below the top of the neck and a few inches back from the ear).
 
There's no question that a 5.56 is good enough for hog. If you don't hit them right, though, it's maybe a dangerous situation, and the least of it is that the thing will maybe get away gutshot. Probably, though, few people will care about a gutshot feral hog.

Using the 5.56, I'd personally stay with 60-65 grain bullets, and use solid copper bullets to get a deep, clean wound. If you don't drop it with the first hit, something like that will bleed it out quickly.
 
I live in Alabama and have killed several hawgs with my Colt Python
.357 magnum with 8" barrel. I use Buffalo Bore 180 grn hardcast
gascheck ammunition. One shot kills for the most part.
 
JAD0110, neck shots are another viable spot for a shot, but most of the time I am using my .44 Mag and a shot anywhere in that front shoulder area will bring em straight down. The .44 does enough damage and a .357 magnum in that same area will sufice just fine. The .22 magnum shot I would not say was a fluke , but I was not hunting hog and one presented itself . Not braging but I am a very good shot with a pistol and it was close enough that I felt comfortable that I could make an effective kill shot with the .22 Mag in the shoulder area. Being here there is no closed season on hog, I took the shot. But if I am going on a planned hog hunt, I take the .44 Mag.
 
Hogs for the most part are pretty easy to kill. Any good .357 load will do. But occasionally we do see some hogzillas down here. 350-400 lb boars are not too uncommon. I would use heavy solids if all I had was a .357.
Myself, I use 300g soft nose Hornadys from my 45 Colt Blackhawk. That or an '06.
And yes, they are very good eating. If you can smell them stongly when you walk up to them dead don't bother but usually they are good lean meat.
I was hunting down in the Llano area & talked to the rancher there a few years ago. He said that wild pigs on the hoof are worth 10 times what farm raised pigs are at the meat market. It is leaner meat that eats natural food, not slop & chemicals.
 
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A 158 gr. JSP ..Remington makes a good one...works well on Whitetail.
And a 180gr. XTP holds together well for a HP..and would anchor a Hawg....
But myself I would fill comfortable with a 158GR JSP or a 158 Gr.to 180 gr. Hardcast SWC

A 10mm with a right bullet is also a good choice


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a flat pointed 10 mm solid bullet would be an excellent round for hog, in the 1omm magnum.

I just don't see a .40 smith as being a good choice. maybe it's just me, but I want a shoot thru hit, and i don't have that sort of faith with a 40.
 
The meat is leaner than farm raised but, I shoot the smaller ones of the bunch if more than one because the bigger they get the more musty the meat becomes. I have thrown away meat from a 210lb hog because it would stink the whole house up just frying one porkchop and it was so musty you couldn't eat it. That seems to pretty much be the standard with the ones around here and the sow's usually are worse.
 
Word of caution. Hogs are dangerous animals. In tight cover they can kill and will kill you if they get the chance.
 
+1

My dentist was given a pet pig. It eventually got to several hundred pounds, and they kept it in a big kennel. he was in the kennel with it, it got aggravated and "pushed" him. he was knocked off of his feet, and the rip that thing left in his shin was over 3" long. I don't know how many stitches.

This was just a domestic pig that "loved his daddy" but got impatient because the feed wasn't in the trough. 200 pounds of compact, hard pig can smash you around like a bull can, and those tusks don't have to be razor sharp. there is enough power behind them to drive them through anything.

In all seriousness, my dentist is one of the neatest guys I know.
 
" In tight cover they can and will kill you if they get the chance" Somebody has been watching to much Discovery channel! Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been hunting wild hogs for over 26 years and I can tell you that they will try as hard as possible to get away from you, not attack you. Even in close proximity and in " TIGHT COVER" they will still try everything possible to avoid you. Even a Sow with little ones will run. Only way you gonna get attacked is to corner one or mess with the Sow's little ones, which then you deserve. I suppose if one was "mad" with some kind of sickness, that could be a scenario as well but highly unlikely. They have this reputation among people who have never hunted them or hunted them very little as being a viscious attacking ,killing machine but that just ain't so. They are an animal though wild or not and any animal at any given time if cornered or approached in an enclosed area could attack, but a wild hog in the open the majority of the time is gonna act just like most other non predatory animals and run away. They aint no Bear. In all my years of hunting them the only one doing the chasing and attacking has been me!
 
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