What caliber AR for hogs?

Cost-efficient caliber of 350 yd hog AR

  • 5.56 x 45mm

    Votes: 11 22.9%

  • 6 x 45mm

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • 6.5mm Grendel

    Votes: 8 16.7%

  • 6.8mm SPC

    Votes: 19 39.6%

  • 7.62 x 39mm

    Votes: 9 18.8%
  • Total voters
    48
R

rodwhaincamo

New member
I'm interested in a 16-20" AR that has the umph for hogs out to 350 yds. I'm on a mouse's budget. Eventually I'll be getting into reloading. I've excluded the WSSM's and the 30 Rem AR due to cost/availability of brass. I feel the 5.56mm is a little anemic but have included it anyway. So the choices are 5.56 x 45mm, 6 x 45mm, 6.5mm Grendel, 6.8mm SPC, and 7.62 x 39mm.
 
I definately feel the 223 and 7.62 are. Not so with the others. The 6mm has aboutn 900 ft/lbs @ 300 yds (w/ 20"). The others have more. I've read when I was a kid that 1000 ft/lbs is needed for medium game.
 
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I'm stuck between the 6 x 45mm and 6.5mm Grendel. The 6mm would have the cheapest/easiest to find brass, has a flatter trajectory, but doesn't have a whole lot of umph out to 350 yds. The 6.5mm has the most power with the ability to use a larger selection of bullet weights. I read here someone who stated they made brass from 7.62 x 39mm. If that's so I'd say that beats the 6.8mm SPC. Not to mention they are very limited on hunting bullets, which don't have as good of a BC as the 6.5mm's.
 
All the hogs I've taken have been between 75-100yds so an AR or SKS is my choice. I've used a .223 AR before but my favorite hog gun is my SKS "paratrooper". The 7.62x39 with a 154gr soft point works great for hog.
 
For hog hunting I'd most likely hunt over fields and dirt roads. So the distances could get extreme. That's why I don't like the idea of the 5.56 or 7.62 for anything beyond 200 yds. I'd chose the 7.62mm were it primarily for stalking.
 
Personally, I'd rather have an .308 for hunting pigs. Of the calibers presented, I'd choose 7.62x39....but I've never heard of hunting pigs at 350 yards.:confused:
 
Hogs can get really thick around here. It's possible in an open field to shoot that far. I think an AR with a good caliber for hunting style and proper bullet make an exellent rifle for 300 yd hog slaying. The lower recoil helps with next target acquisition vs the 308. There are plenty of farmers/ranchers that would allow you to hunt them on their property. Same with coyotes.
I wouldn't necessarily hunt them from 350 yds, but I'd like to be able to shoot 'em from that far.
 
Are you kidding? Shooting hogs at 350 yards with an AR? This reminds me of the olden days when folks who had 30 carbines thought they were adequate for deer. The large calibers, 458 SOCOM and such would be entirely adequate but of the calibers you listed, I would be reluctant to stick the muzzle behind the hog's ear and pull the trigger. Well, that's a bit of an exageration, I might shoot a small hog with a 7.62X39. You want to shoot a hog at 350 yards and actually kill him? 30-06. Minimum. If you don't care whether you make a clean kill or not, and you can hit at that range, and most people can't, any of the calibers you list will make a nasty wound. Use some common sense. Sheesh! I see you are a Texican. Get a Texican gun. A BIG gun. Forget the mouse gun.
 
Out to that distance I'd say that the 6.5mm Grendel is even with the 6.5 x 55mm with their older style bullets. On hogs that typically don't weigh much more than 200-250 lbs. The bullets are designed for medium game and there is enough momentum to produce DRT kills. I wouldn't say that's much of a stretch at all.
 
Typically it seems AR's are built to have that kind of accuracy at that distance. 30 Carbines make poor choices because it begins with little energy and they use conventional bullets of ultra light weight. They aren't even in the same class.
 
I have a suppresed 458 socom that will roll hogs but it's not a 350yd rifle. Then again I don't' have a spotlight that good either...
 
My dad just took his new AR hog hunting and it is a .450 thumper! stoped a 370lb hog like it was hit by lightning! it was DRT! I never knew they made an AR in a big bore 45cal but this gun is AWESOME and ive been trying to get him to let me buy it off him! he wont sell it! if yall havent seen one check em out! they are really called "the THUMPER"
 
I would get the 7.62x51. insted of the 7.62x39 or 5.56 if I were you. ive got a few texan boars with my m14. I wouldn't rely want to take a 5.56 for the realy good sized ones that grow out in texas backwoods, you'll need a heavy bullet with a lot of punch as well as range. it does help to have a s&w .460 mag at your side just in case.
 
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