Is A 44 Magnum Big Enaugh?
 

Is a 44 Magnum, a rifle big enaugh caliber for hogs?
I have a Winchester 94AE in 44 Magnum, with a 16 inch barrel.
What gr bullet would you recomend?

Thank You.

.22 is big enough with proper shot placement...Right behind the ear= dead piggy

.44 Mag is more than big enough. People make far too much out of caliber when it comes to pigs. A hit behind the ear and down they go. My son has taken several with a bow, .223 and a 12ga SST slug all dropped on the spot, I took one at 20 yds with a 30/06 slug right thru the shoulder and it took off like it wasn't hit. Dropped about 40yds away. The average pig you see in the woods isn't the monster we all hear about. 220 lbs would be at the large end. Are there bigger ones yes, on ranches definately but in the wild they are harder to find.

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Got to agree with the rest. Shot placement is boss.

Now if you are set on the .44 then 240 gr RNFP Cowboy HC lead. Depending on how much speed you are wanting ya can go with (off my head) about 10 gr of unique for about 1700 ft/s. If you want something a little speedier then you can go with a compression load with a slower burning powder without spiking your chamber pressure.

Always consult your books before making a load.

Plenty

I too would tend to agree with everyone else. People tend to make too big of a fuss over caliber vs. game taken. You can do just as good, if not better, with a smaller caliber and a well-placed shot as you can with a larger caliber. The animal taken will not be more dead with the larger caliber than it will be with a smaller caliber. Dead is dead!!

We're hunting hogs, not elephants..

Hunting hog and wild boar here in NC is very different from that in TX. Often times you will not get a head shot, and there are times when you are not allowed to run dogs, in some counties you aren't allowed to at all. So sometimes you need something that can reliably punch through their armor.

With all due respect Sir, that's about like saying that Deer hunting over there is very different than it is on this side of the country. Either way, shot placement is key. A larger arrow weight accompanied by a heavier draw weight on a bow is not needed on one side of the country for a specific animal versus another side of the country. If you can place your shot and put it in an effective area on the animal, it shouldn't make a difference what side of the country you're on.
If you're hunting a pig, it's just the same. Shot placement rules wherever you're at.

Now dont take that the wrong way. What you just said is totally ignorant (remember there is a difference between ignorant and stupid). There are people down here that are taking deer with .38 spc. Try that on one of those big corn fed Iowa deer I grew up on. General deer behavior (or for that matter animal behavior) does not change too much. But when you talk about the intricacies of the behavior region to region, coupled with the changes in environment from region to region, and the differences in state laws hunting state to state is very different. Am I going to take my M92 in .357 mag to hunt in OK? No, Id never get close enough for a shot because of the great open land. Am I going to take a 7mm ultra down to Florida? No there wouldn't be any meat left. Smell what Im stepping in?

And as there are counties where you can not run dogs on hogs here like you can in TX I would once again say your statement is totally ignorant. As many places will not allow you to run dogs, and a lot of times your shots will be further than a few feet like when you run dogs you need something that can punch through that gristle plate on their back. Come on down here and hunt in the Carolinas before you talk please. I wouldn't dream of telling you that hunting in your home state is the same as mine, because I have zero experience hunting in your state.

My thoughts are that pigs don't differ much, key word being 'much'. I wasn't saying that the hunting was the same, I meant the animals are pretty much the same. If you place your shot well, you can do it with something smaller than what is typically thought to be needed for the animal.
WDM Bell hunted elephants with the equivalent to a .30 Caliber rifle and figured any rifle in .30 Caliber that would shoot a bullet over 200-grains was perfect for elephants. My point being, there is no need for a large caliber rifle if a person can place their shot well. I look at like this: I hunt with a .308 rifle. There is nothing in the United States as far as wild game, that I would feel I couldn't effectively take with that rifle and that caliber if I do my job and place the shot well.
My point being, it's all about shot placement. Regardless of what you're hunting and where you're at!! All the knockdown power in the world ain't gonna make a bit of difference if the shot isn't going in an effective place!!

(By the way: "(remember there is a difference between ignorant and stupid)"... Now you're talking to me like I'm stupid. I would be willing to bet I'm a little older than you think!!)

No. I am not talking to you like you are stupid, ignorant simply means you don't know. Age has little to do with it. Ive met men twice my age that know half as much, and kids half my age that know twice as much.

And yes, shot placement is key, and if you can get proper shot placement you can kill em dead. However because of our terrain, and lack of dogs, often times you will not get the shot placement required when using a .22. A .22 lr can kill a man dead during a defensive shooting. But given the choice, and knowing that you likely wont get the perfect shot placement required would you rather carry a .22 or a 9mm?

Also, yes, animals are different state to state.

And while you can kill an elephant with something that small, most found it best for the big bore deep penetrating stuff.

A .44 mag might sound like overkill, but really it isn't. It just has good penetration, and using good HC lead there is very little meat destroyed with the shot. A good 80% of the hog hunters Ive spoken to in my area say most of their shots are from 50 yards or more, though moderate to thick bush, and a body shot, not a head shot. Very different from running dogs in a wide open field, or what not.

I've shot competition .22 for years. Most of that at distances twice what you mentioned here. 50-yards was where we'd start, shoot a few warm-up shots and then move out, engaging targets at 10-yard intervals starting at the 50-yard line and going all the way to 100-yards. Being able to put about 10-rounds in a group approximately the size of a ping-pong ball while kneeling, sitting, prone and if we're lucky, offhand. It's not easy. I'm not trying to be argumentative but rather trying to show that it's easy to make a shot with something smaller if you practice. Although you mentioned taking shots through brush, which is sometimes required during hunting. If a shot like that were to be taken with a .22 the bullet likely wouldn't hit the target due to deflection.
I guess I just don't see the need for all the large calibers when it can be done with less. Hell, people spear pigs and from what I've been told, will take them with nothing but a knife (now this I've got to see... while sitting out of reach of the pig) and they do it successfully. Why do we need something big to do it? The head of a pig isn't that small, I guess I just don't understand why something smaller can be used.
Is this anything like my enjoyment of shooting gophers with a .223? Actually probably not. I do that at distances farther than my Anschutz will shoot.

And how much energy do you think those bullets have at that range? Even using the hottest standard load I could find, it only has 204 ft.lbs at the muzzle. Or about 120 ft.lbs at a hundred yards.

I would highly suggest that you read my previous posts again. As I said, accuracy is but one factor that changes things.

The wounding mechanics of a spear or knife are completely different from that of bullets. Also those folks that spear, or knife their hogs also run dogs. Ya see, your bay dogs go out first and chase and circle the hog, keeping it in one spot, then you send your catch dogs in and they latch on. Then the handlers will either tie the hog to a tree and stab it, or hog tie it, and then make the kill.

Because as I said earlier, without the use of dogs, the hog is free to move as it pleases, the brush is very thick here, just like when deer hunting, you are more likely to get a body hit than a head hit, To get through the gristle plate, even at 0 range, you need more than the .22 can offer. My son's pellet gun offers 160 ft.lbs of energy at the muzzle. So as that is close to many standard loads in .22 would you recommend that I use that when most of my shots on hog are 75 to a hundred yards and a head shot is more often than not, not an option.

Nope, it is being an ethical hunter that wants to reduce the amount of suffering my game will feel, and reduce the chances of loosing an animal.

hehehe, the shield is fat and muscle, not iron.. :confused0024:

Yup, and Id reckon its a bit much for 120 ft.lbs of energy wouldn't you?

Yall act like we are talking about hunting hogs with a .50 BMG. We aren't. We are talking about half the energy of a .308, and lots of folks up here hunt them with that. There is nothing super impressive about the .44 mag.

M92 i agree with you, the 44 mag in a marlin or winchester 94 is perfect for hogs in heavy thicket, also 30-30...and 357 is marginal.

Yes, shoot placment is the key BUT if every time a hunter have a perfect shoot everything you would need from squirrel to elk is .22

A 44 mag with the right bullet and shot placement will kill anything in North America. Check out Garrett Cartridges on the web, you will se what they are capable of.

Having grown up in So. Tx and shot hogs with everything from 22LR to .338 Lapua and .300 Win Mag to bow and arrow. I have have to agree that placement IS everything. I have shot well over 500 hogs all over the US and carried a Ruger 3 Screw 44 mag as back up with 250 grn Keith Style GCLSWC over 2400 powder and they CRUSHED hogs!! More times than not, they blew threw them.
I now have a 460 S & W and am planning on a hunt in So. OK in Feb and will take some pork then and my son will be shooting my .460 and 7mmBR pistols.

Shot one not long ago with a 45 acp. Ive killed tuns with a 44 mag. Hell, ive shot them with 22 longs. Its all in shot placement.

That 250 hard handcast is a beast on those porkers!!!!! End to end or side to side, its a critter getter!!!! Not too good for deer for they don't open well on thin skinned critters unless you hit bone.
As for the 44 not being all that big, not compared to the 460, 480 or 500. It is to many people who do not shoot pistols regularly.

Since I live in KS, we don't have hogs locally, so I'm not much of a hog hunter, but I've been on a few trips while visiting friends/family. I have hunted hogs in both regions in question, in TX and OK, and in NC and SC. On my SC trip, I used a .44mag Ruger Super Blackhawk, in NC I used a .223rem AR-15. In OK I used the same .223, and in TX I used a .30-06 Ruger M77... Granted I've killed less than a dozen hogs in my life, but in each trip I HAVE made, I've never used dogs, and I've never had a hog argue with the .44mag or .223.

Moral of the story, the .44mag has PLENTY of punch out to at least 100yrds on hogs. I've used that .44mag Ruger Super Blackhawk for over a decade on Kansas whitetail deer, and my experience on hogs with the .44mag was very similar to my whitetails, your accuracy is the limiting factor, not the power. A rifle is a different story, since it offers improved velocity/energy, and improved accuracy, but it will have PLENTY of punch for hogs, without a doubt.

I didn't read through all the post on this topic as the ones I did read are about the same as I hear everywhere else when this question is asked.
To start with, the 44 mag is plenty gun for the job. So many people comment on shot placement and they are right, but one is not always given the chance at the perfect shot behind the ear and even less when you are using iron sights. There are many different shots that will kill a hog. Your 44 will kill large full sized hogs with shot placement to the vitals, you may have to track it a bit but that's hunting. Heart and lungs, it will die with a 44 mag.
Good hunting

check out buffalo bore bullets. I use them in my 45 long colt lever gun for everthing from turkey to hogs, and have had great succes with them. I also have used them in several pistols too.

I have killed 36 this month with a 223