Hey all! Soonish, i'll be going on a boar hunt in Central California. It'll be one of my first hunts, and my first time hunting boar. My main question here, as usual, is about which firearms to use. My dad and I have quite a few, so there is a decision. I know that I should take a primary gun and a sidearm (in case they charge). As a sidearm, the 3 most suitable weapons I have in mind would be a Glock 23, a Kimber Gold Match II or a Colt Python. As a primary, the 3 most suitable weapons I've narrowed it down to would probably be a .30-30 Winchester lever action, an M1A in .308 Winchester with a great scope (the make of which I can't recall), or a .44 Magnum lever action.

Finally, I'm guessing I should use a fairly heavy grain round for hunting these bad boys, but I'm not sure which. I recently checked out what basically is a cartridge bible from my local library, which has great information about all cartridges, ever. It has a table for each cartridge listed that shows velocity and energy for each grain of the bullet. I'm thinking that I should be looking for the higher energy loads, not necessarily the heaviest bullets. Is this a good strategy to selecting hunting rounds?

Thanks a lot guys, I'm really looking forward to hunting for a lifetime. These first hunts with my dad should be great

I have taken many hogs with a 30-30 with 150 gr bullets, and very few needed a second shot. My Python has also made many trips into the woods. Good luck on your hunt.

Alright, thank you.

Go with the .308 and the python. I know there will be people that will argue with me, but I personally know people who've shot boar with a 30-30 and all it did was piss them off. One even took a second bullet right off the forehead during a charge and it just bounced off.