Too much gun?
 

the other day while i was in the ammo store i heard a guy getting extremely upset about nothing. i mean this guy's blood pressure was getting up there over nothing! he was in heated a debate that hunters these days use way too much gun for the kill on game. he stated that all you need for hogs is a little old .222. he said all you have to do is hit them in the eye. lol. i wanted laugh out loud when he said but this old timer might of whooped me. LOL. i hunt every chance i get and do a lot of hog hunting. i've shot them with a rifle as small as the 6 mm up to a .338-378 weatherby. i do prefer a 30 caliber bullet on most game. I believe in such a thing as not enough gun. when all you find is a blood trail and cant find the animal.... not enough gun. i've hit 250+ lb hogs in the ham with a 30 caliber bullet and it might not have killed on the spot but they didn't move far. so is there such a thing as too much gun?

RE: Too much gun?
 

Too much gun? Nope, no such thing. Dead is dead. Better too much, than too little.
Now, having said that, is a 338cal. needed for hogs? No. A bum shot/hit in the hams with a 30cal. or any other is just that, a bad shot. Hey, we all make 'em on
occassion. The real advantage in the bigger calibers is the heavier bullets for penetration, and the bigger holes for blood trails. And, sometimes it's just plain more fun to use a "bigger boomer". At the same time I can understand some folks aggravation when they see folks thinking they just must have the latest & greatest, and biggest magnum available - to hunt a deer that might weigh as much as 150lbs., and often less. Makes no sense, but then does it make any sense to own/drive a Hummer to go cross town, run the kids to school, etc. None of it worth getting worked up over.

Hey, I was once sighting in a 300Win.Mag. when a cottontail made the mistake of coming out into the field. I took his head off with a 180gr. Rem. Core-Lokt. Too much gun? I don't know, it did the job, and the rabbit was tasty later that evening.;)

RE: Too much gun?
 

In my own deservedly humble opinion, any gun that the shooter cannot shoot well due to excessive recoil or muzzle blast is "too much gun." Better to hit a hog behind the ear with a .243 than to miss a hog with a .416 Rigby, or worse yet, wound it and lose it.

Better still, however, to hit it squarely where you want to with that .416 Rigby! If you can manage the recoil of a big boomer, power to ya. I've never tried anything bigger than the .30-06 to 8x57 class rifles, but someday I'd like to try one of the big calibers.

I do feel very strongly that the NEED for magnum calibers is overstated by gun writers who need to put shoes on their kids feet, and by arms manufacturers who need to do the same. I see nothing at all wrong with accumulating a variety of different and interesting rifles in a variety of different and interesting calibers, but I do feel it is wrong to insist that you NEED a magnum rifle when we've taken millions of head of game with boring old calibers like .243, .25-06, .270, .30-30, .308 .30-06 etc. and so on. Shot placement is always the key to a humane kill. A more powerful gun is just a bit more forgiving for a slightly misplaced shot.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, at least until I have saved enough for my .458 WinMag.;)

RE: Too much gun?
 

I only think the phrase too much gun applies if you can't handle it (weight and/or recoil) or if it's not matched to what you're hunting (.300 on a rabbit!? lol) and you waste meat. If you ate the rabbit, then that must've been a good shot to not blow it to chunks.

RE: Too much gun?
 

NO!! Good luck.

RE: Too much gun?
 

I believe to a certain extent guns CAN be too big. I feel that if the person cannot shoot the gun accurately enough to do the most immediate damage needed to kill an animal, then the gun is too big. Also if a certain cartridge gives a person too much confidence to take shots that are simply just not practical, then the gun is too big. Outside of that, dead is dead, isn't it?

RE: Too much gun?
 

I have to agree with the irate person you talked to to some extent. But it is nothing to get worked up that much about.

I guess there is never too much gun as far as the actuall killing of the animal goes cause dead is dead but there can be too much gun than a person can handle accurately. No sence in sending a small framed woman or young person out there to hunt wihtetails with a 338 magnum when a lite recoiling 260 or 243 will kill deer every bit as effectively.

However, a person can most definetly use way more gun than is needed like the 338-378 for hogs. A person hunting anything on this continent will never need such a gun for anything but I am not going to be the one to tell a person that he's wrong for using it. Hey, it's your gun, ears, shoulder, and money. Shoot what ever makes you happy. The person shoting the gun just needs to be sure he or she can shoot it accurately.

RE: Too much gun?
 

Speedgator: Darn right that was a good shot! Me make a bum shot - NEVER (ha,ha).
Actually, it didn't quite take off the whole head, just the lower jaw, a piece out of the
skull. I had just finished sighting the rifle for +2" @100yds.. I held a bit low of the eye, and let 'er rip. Want a real laugh - that was the only game I ever shot with that rifle:D
I had to sell it following a layoff, and never got to go deer hunting with it.:eek:

RE: Too much gun?
 

I couldn't have said it better myself...

RE: Too much gun?
 

Now days no gun is to big. its nice after the kill though if there is enough of the animal left to idenify and tag. Soon if the trend continues the 338 Win Mag will be minumum for small game up to the bigger rabbits. Its rather amusing as a life long hunter to see where we are going firearms wise. The guns I used to use for elk and moose with good succuess are now a laughing stock. Good thing for me that the animals had not read all the hype especially the bears.:D If you can carry it yourself and the blast does not start forest fires then by golly its not to big. Here is to a 577 T-Rex in every cabnet. At least until they come up with something really big.:D