XTP, I went boar hunting with some buddies on a guided hunt using dogs on a central Ca ranch a couple years ago. I used a 270 Win with 150 grn softpoints. My first shot on a 270# boar was in between several dogs that had cornered the boar at about 30 yards. I had a lot of difficulty using the scope because it was such short range and the boar was snapping and charging at the dogs. My shot grazed his cheek and penetrated the neck between his head and shoulder. The boar ran past me with the dogs in hot pursuit. I got a brief shot window (1/2 second) and shot the boar behind his ear while looking over my scope. The boar tumbled down into a creekbed and was still alive enough to bite one of the dogs in his hind leg. My buddy used a 30-30 Win with 170 grn softpoints and dropped his 275# boar with one shot to the head while facing him. A third buddy killed a sow trapped in a narrow creekbed with his knife. There is no way I' d want to take on a boar with just a knife, LOL.

We recovered 1 of my bullets in the boar' s heart and the other was in his head. Those animals can be very tough to bring down. The boars we got were black and had a lot of the Russian strain in them. I don' t know if they would have charged us or not since the dogs were keeping them pretty busy. I imagine a boar would charge if he thought you had him cornered. I know those tusks are razor sharp and would do a lot of damage if they got a hold of you.

After the hunt, we figured a 30-30 with iron sights was just the ticket for these close range hunts (all shots were under 50 yards). I found the scope on the 270 was hard to use at such close range and especially with the boar moving around. If I were to use the 270 again, I' d use some kind of trophy bonded type bullet designed for penetration and some kind of iron sights. Somebody else mentioned a 45-70. IMHO, that would be the perfect brush gun for hunting boar. Hope this helps in your hunting plans. If you have any q' s on what I learned, feel free to email me.