rickt300

I have been hunting an area of 1200 acres surrounded by roads and houses. It has a big hill in the middle of it and I set my stands and feeders up so that my shooting will be toward the hill. My rifles are usually a 223 or a 308. Bullet choices lately have been the 60 grain HP from Hornady in the 223 and the 150 grain SST in the 308, both pushed to top velocities with BLC-2. I do head and neck shots with the 223 with high shoulder shots added to the 308 shot selection. The SST generally exits on hogs under 200 pounds but since I am shooting from 20 feet up I can find them in the dirt if I look for them. Usually over expanded on not very deep. But I am thinking of switching to Speer's 130 grain HP, anyone use this bullet on hogs? A long shot is 40 yards.

Finepoint

The 130 Gr Speer HP is a pure varmint bullet ( soft lead core and thin jacket), so is likely to shatter in the first 6" of animal. Not a good choice for the tough woody structure of a hog's skeleton. If you want a light 308 bullet, I have had good results with the 125 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip because the heavier base will often continue to penetrate even when the core is gone at impact velocities in the 1800-2900 FPS range. My favorite medium game bullets in 223 are the 53 gr Barnes triple shock, the 60 Gr Nosler Partition, and the 60 Gr Hornady SP. Another thought for the 308 is to use 150 gr flat point bullets intended for the 30-30 and reduce the velocity to 2400 fps since you are at such short range.
Planning your kill zones to ensure a controlled backstop is always important and shooting from an elevated position is very wise.
At 40 yds consider a rifled shotgun or maybe a pistol - caliber rifle

MudderChuck

At the distances you are talking velocity is IMO a non issue. I consider anything under 200 yards to be a flat shot out to 200 yards +/- a couple of inches, with the 308. The .223 has very similar ballistics at close ranges.

It is always a compromise with a Hog, tear up a bunch of meat with a bullet that expands well or fragments. Or use a bullet that expands less, make a poor shot and have no blood trail to follow.

My main concern is being able to track them in the dark. A Hogs hide can seal up a bullet hole quick. IMO you want a bullet that penetrates all the way through the Hog, but expands enough to do some serious damage internally. This year I'm trying 165 grain Accubond, haven't popped a hog with it yet to see the results.

I'v been using 165 or 180 grain Core Loks. Not ideal but good enough. I rarely have a hog run more than 30-40 yards after being shot.

Silver tips in 150 grain will definitely bleed well, but can tear up a bunch of meat.

Remember most of a Hogs vitals are low in the chest cavity and pretty well protected by the shoulder. Took me while to figure out to hold a little lower on a Hog than you would a Deer.

My preferred shot is when the Hog is quartering away from me, bullet entering behind the sounder and exiting either through the off side shoulder or in front of the off side shoulder.

I've shot some small hogs high on purpose to save the whole hog for a BBQ. I've had some dismal results trying that shot. They go down and then pop back up to never be seen again.

Double Naught Spy

I think I would go with MudderChuck and go with a heavier bullet instead of lighter given your short shooting distances. I would go with the heaviest bullet your gun will stabilize properly and cycle properly.

Just curious, if you can shoot them in the head with a .223, why can't you do that with the .308? No need to change bullets then.

rickt300

The point is to minimize exiting bullet mass. Recovering the hog is secondary to killing it safely. There are times when getting a good head or neck shot is tough, especially when there are 5 + hogs milling around a feeder or hog toy, you often get high shoulder shots on the larger hogs but the neck and head are hidden by smaller hogs. The SST has been getting the job done, I would just like to see less bullet mass exiting on the head and neck shots I take with the 308 and want what does exit to be just fragments.

MudderChuck

Hollow points?

I've used Silver tips, all I've seen offered lately is 150 grain. They will tear some meat up. I usually only use them when I'm near the border of a hunting area. A little edge on killing power, but less usable meat.

A lot of bullet choices now on days. It is all a little overwhelming.

Finepoint

I do have one stand on my place which is a bit tricky because of a road, not heavily traveled, about a mile downrange across thick cedars no more than 30 feet high and moderate rolling terrain. This is hunting deer, which offer less resistance than a typical hog. I've positioned my stand so the angle from stand to feeder base is about 30 degrees down at 50 yards. My usual tools are a 44Mag rifle firing a Remington 240 gr hollow point, a famously squishy bullet or a 223 firing a 60 gr Hornady soft point, technically a varmint bullet but heavy enough to not blow up before penetrating to vital structures. Both lose enough velocity to be easily stopped by the soil or brush. Fragments are barely stuck in the cedar bark and the 44 bullets are stuck in the offside hide on angles shots. Exit wounds are small usually indicating a large drop in velocity. I still think the 125 gr Nosler Ballistic tip would be the best choice for the 308, keeping the velocity below 3000fps.

rickt300

The 130 gr. HP sure is a good expander! Shot some into damp clay and they penetrated 8 inches with a 4"+ diameter hole and just pieces left. Gallon water jugs are the next test. Hopefully this bullet will stop in 2 of them.

rickt300

I loaded 18 of the 130 grain Speer Hollow points on top of a mild load of BLC-2 getting around 2900 fps out of my 26 inch barrel. Took them and the Encore out to my hundred yard range, got them hitting 1 inch high with 6 shots and then ran one into 2 1 gallon milk jugs full of water. Absolutely flattened the first jug, opened up the second with only one fragment going through the back side of it. I think I found a soft enough bullet!