What .223 for hogs?

R

rburch

New member
So I was just informed that wild hogs were spotted on some property my family owns.

So it looks like I'll be trying my hand at hog hunting soon.

I'd like to try hunting with my AR15 or 180b, but I'm not sure what ammo to choose.

Anyone have experience hunting hogs with 223? If so what load has worked for you?
 
If I were to hunt hogs with a .223, I would use a 62 gr or 64 gr soft point round.

Speer Gold Dot 64 grain, or Federal Fusion 62 Gr. Speer also makes a 75 gr. Gold Dot that would work well, if you can find them.
 
Hogs are not hard to kill but they have armor plating in the right places. I would use a Barnes 60 grain but it is likely more than is required.
 
I've shot a ton of them with .223's and just use fmj's. Very seldom has one got away after that. The fmj's penetrate just fine and I find my best results with them using a side shot right through the middle of the shoulder.
 
You'll hear all kinds of stuff concerning caliber/shot placement info and hogs. I sort of think a lot of it isn't from people that are serious hog hunters, and a lot of it is from people with not a lot of experience with hog hunting. Lots of calibers work and a hog isn't nearly as hard to kill as a lot of folks will tell you.
 
I shot them with almost every .223 bullet out there. They die.

Neck shots work great and an easy target. Also a low shot just behind the front leg will kill them pretty quickly as well. Mind your range and it will work just fine.
 
What twist rate is your barrel?
If it's a 1/7 twist I'd suggest 70 grain Barnes TSX.
If not the 62 grain federal fusions or the 62 grain Barnes tsx. .223 can and will kill them, although there are much better choices out there. Shooting with a .223 will leave u less room for error. U should be fine shooting st a hog under the feeder. Take a neck shot (not high in the neck).


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I've shot them in the butt, in the mid-section, the shoulder and the chest. Some dropped where they stood, some ran a little ways, but they all died and ended up in the freezer. I mainly used the Sierra 65 grain bullet.
 
I'll vote for Federal Fusion. I bought a couple boxes for a 243 that I bought and didn't have the reloading items for it yet. Those 95 grain things shot less than 1/2"!
 
Whacked a bunch with a 223 and 243... I use cheapo PPU soft point ammo and head shoot em. They dont know any difference in it and a fusion or barnes and the PPU is much cheaper.
 
For factory loaded ammo the 62/64 grain Federal Fusion or Speer Gold Dot will be a good choice. If you are hand loading the 62 grain Barnes TTSX is an excellent choice. So is the 62 Grain bonded Swift Scirroco II.

I shoot the Scirocco's in my .223 and 22 Nosler over the TTSX because they are more accurate in my barrels.
 
They dont know any difference in it ...
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I see this argument a lot, but it seems like a pointless point. Hogs no comprehension of basic terminal ballistics, much less of the idiosyncratic differences in performance of 2 or 3 different projectile types. I highly doubt they would even know the difference between a hollowpoint, softpoint, ballistic tip, and FMJ is you showed them examples of each. ;)

.223 will work for hogs and it can work with virtually any bullet type. However, I would contend that .223 is on the lower end of terminal performance that one might want to use on hogs, and so in knowing that, one might want to be much more selective in shot placement if wanting to effect a quick kill.

Remember that if you don't damage the CNS on a hog, expect it to run. A hog with a blown heart or blown lungs can still travel upwards of 100 yards - not a problem in open terrain, but a bugger to find in dense vegetation.
 
+1 on shot placement. I killed a 180 lb boar with a .22lr at 35 yards with a shot behind the ear. Dropped like a rock. I shot an already wounded 170 lb sow with a .45 ACP in the spine and it didn't run any further. I hit a 180 lb boar in the heart with a .308 and it ran 50 yards leaving a four foot wide blood trail.

Shot placement was more important than the cartridge in each case.
 
Double Naught knows of what he speaks. The CNS is the key to a quick kill without having to track one for a long time. We regularly shoot them in traps with a suppressed .22 subsonic pistol, and they drop immediately with one in the brain.
My current favorite is the 6.5 Creedmore....but that could change down the road...who knows?
 
Winchester PowerMax Bonded 64gr.

This is an amazing round. I used it this year for the first time. I took three bucks with it at ranges from 170 to 230 yards. This new bonded technology really improves the expansion and penetration of the bullet over standard soft point ammo. It significantly out performed my 243 with a 100gr soft point round that I shot another deer with.

I made a video of the impact and penetration effect on the last deer I shot. It is quite impressive. Here is the video if you want to see what this bullet can do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ObjPdER-k
 
John, the PowerMax Bonded 64 gr. may be a good round for hogs, but its use on deer is not a good predictor of performance in hogs. For example, Hornady AMAX (at least in the caliber I shoot, 6.5 Grendel) is great on deer and favored by a lot of Grendel deer hunters, but isn't a great choice for hogs.

Winchester claims the PowerMax Bonded is designed specifically for whitetail deer, not necessarily a condemnation for use on hogs, but deer are very thin skinned compared to hogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mizi-Dr7vck
 
Double Naught Spy

I agree, but what my video shows is both useful for deer and hogs. The power max bonded combines the best of both worlds. Most soft point ammo provide good expansion, but the tend to not have that good of penetration. I have shot a lot of hogs with my 243 using Winchesters 100gr Power Points. It is great round, but the I always find that the bullet has fragmented into pieces inside the animal. This reduced the overall penetration. I don't believe I have ever had an exit wound on deer or hog with the 100gr Winchester power point.

I shot three deer this year with these 64gr 223 Power Max Bondeds and two of them were complete passthrus (at over 200 yards). The bullet that I recovered in the video was fully expanded and intact. The two passthrus showed that both bullet were pretty much intact as well.

On a hog, bullet penetration and retention are very important. These factors even more important when it comes to smaller calibers like the 223. I can say with great confidence that the .223 64gr Winchester PowerMax Bonded, will be an excellent round for hogs.

I currently have some Speer Gold Dot 64gr rounds that I bought off Palmetto State Armory (they were on sale for $9.99 a box). When I get a chance, I am going to shoot some hogs with them and make another video about their impact. The bullets are supposed to be bonded like the PowerMaxs are, so hopefully they will perform the same.
 
I agree, but what my video shows is both useful for deer and hogs.
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No, since your video only deals with deer, then it shows nothing for hogs. You are making a recommendation for hogs based on deer data and that isn't exactly germane. If you had shot your deer ammo at hogs and then made a recommendation would be more warranted.

On a hog, bullet penetration and retention are very important. These factors even more important when it comes to smaller calibers like the 223. I can say with great confidence that the .223 64gr Winchester PowerMax Bonded, will be an excellent round for hogs.
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And that is based on never having shot a hog with it, right? Right.

Shoot some hogs with it and then tell us how well it works.
 
Thanks all for the advice.

Will test out a few loads when i can and see what groups well.

Not sure when I'll get to try it out, but still plan to take at least one hog with the Ar. After that who knows might go back to my 243 deer rifle, or get crazy and bring out the Czech Mauser.

Plus now I have a reason to pick up that Glock 40 i've been looking at ;)
 
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