The Occasional Observer

Here's the latest on shooting hogs, from Russ Chastain:

Best Shots

Ideally, a shot on a broadside hog should be placed in the shoulder area, and lower is preferable. Just be careful not to aim so low that you shoot under the swine. If the animal is quartering towards or away from you, you'll want to place the shot so the bullet will end up in the vitals between the shoulders. Naturally, this requires a bullet that will penetrate well.

Much talk has been put forth about shooting hogs in the head, and that can definitely be a killing shot, provided you hit the brain. Make note of the fact that a hog's brain is a small target, and is well protected by its thick skull [N.B.--is that why everyone keeps calling me "pig headed?"]. Here again, a tough bullet with good penetration is key.

Use Enough Gun

How much gun is enough? Hmmm. That depends on the hog and bullet placement, mainly. As a rule, I would start with any cartridge in the class of the old reliable 30-30 Winchester. This offers plenty of oomph for most hogs, especially with 170-grain bullets of suitable construction. Smaller hogs can be killed with lesser cartridges, and larger boars would be best approached with something heavier. I would not hunt hogs with any rimfire cartridge, unless I were dealing with very small young pigs.

Overkill

As far as how much gun is too much, there's pretty much no such thing, [How good is that?] in my opinion. You can't kill a critter deader than dead, so claims of "overkill" are usually just so much BS, and should be ignored.

Looks like .375 H&H all the way, right C.E.?