Doc, a semi-auto rifle for hunting boar is sort of comforting if you are hunting them in thick brush at short ranges. If you are hunting in the usual California terrain of rolling hills, oaks and walnut trees, I am not so sure that I would agree that a semi is really an advantage. Most of the boar that I've seen in the wild were spotted from a loooong way off, and had to be stalked. I've not jumped too many that were close up. I took a nice boar (ok, it was a sow, ~220 lbs or so) 3 weeks ago, and I was quite happy with a bolt action, since I was able to spot and stalk from a safe distance. One well placed shot will usually do the job. In my most recent case, one very poorly placed shot at a ridiculously short range[:@] resulted in a second shot at 100yards, right behind the ear, that settled the job without further problems.[&o] SHOT PLACEMENT IS ALWAYS THE KEY.

I used to hunt in thick manzanita with a Remington 742. While I've never had it jam on me, I HAVE had the action load up with brush to the point where I had to stop and do some quick stripping and cleaning in case I did have an opportunity to shoot. I eventually came to the conclusion that the advantages of a semi-auto, i.e. a quick second shot and recoil reduction, were not worth the trade-off in accuracy or reliability.

If you have your heart set on a semi, you've certainly picked the right one. The BAR is a fine weapon whose accuracy potential is far better than the Remington 7400. ABout the only disadvantage that has not already been pointed out, is that semiautos tend to be hard on brass. If you reload, this may bother you, because you will have much shorter case life than you'd get in a bolt action. If you just like to hunt and aren't interested in reloading this is not a consideration.

Good luck, whatever you pick, and let us know if you bag a boar!