Hello 357magfan. I have been hunting wild hogs here in texas for awhile now and here are some results. The federal cast core 180gr. shot into the head of a "face on" 225 lb. sow from a 4" ruger gp. exited the last rib, instant death. Snub nose taurus .38 with 125 gr. hollowpoints only penetrated one and one half inches of a 200 lb. plus boars "shield", that is the heavy cartilage protecting a boars rib,shoulder and neck area. Later "testing" on a boars shield found that at point blank range a .38 fmj. from the same taurus snubbie only penetrated 3 ins. of shield. This means that if hit in that area the .38 would not even reach the muscle, let alone the vitals.
30/30 win.mod. 94 150 gr. soft point shot into a 220 lb. boar at 100 yds. boar made it to the creek bluff 200 yds. away, was subsequently found in the dark with the aid of dogs and dispatched from approx.20ft with a load of 12 ga. 3 in. 000 buck, he still ran another 10 or 15 ft. after that. "Autopsy" later found that this hog was shot behind the shoulder but quartering toward, only destroyed one lung.
We had approx. 25 wild hogs in the pens at our farm at one time, and have found hard cast bullets from 44's and 357's will kill them with double lung shots, but not as quick as soft points from either caliber.
The 357 will do it under hunting conditions, 100 yds or less, use the marlin, cast cores through my 16" ported are extremely accurate, but the 180 gr. win. supreme partition puts them down quicker all things being equal.
Make sure shots on the "BIG-UNS" are quartering away if possible, definitely avoid long range double shoulder shots no matter what 357 round you use.
Also remember the vitals on hogs are farther forward on hogs than deer,
necessary to be protected from other boars teeth during fights. B