Your opinion on 300 fireball for hogs

[worksalot]

I am going on a hog hunt in Feb to Alabama. The guys I am going with are recommending no less than a 308 rifle for hunting them. I would like to take my 300 fireball as this was the reason for building it(and I wanted one). I will not be hunting suppressed and will be using it supersonic. I have several loads worked up. 150 spitzer @ 2000, 125gr spitzer @ 2300, 130gr barnes ttxs @2300, 110 nosler bt @2400. What opinions do you have as far as 300 fireball(supersonic loads) for hogs. I am using 16inch m1a upper Ar. Of course anyone can chime in but I would like some real world experience answer from folks that have done it. Thanks. I will be taking my 308 along also but rather use my 300.

[LouBoyd]

Are you going after 100 pound hogs or 1000 pound hogs? Annoying a hog instead of killing it is a bad idea.

[worksalot]

The biggest hog these guys have seen and harvested to my knowledge has been a 300lb hog. I would rather not annoy one either. So I figure 300lb or less...I don't know this will be my first time. I read about guys using the 300whisper with subsonics o hogs I figured the super sonics should work??

[tdale4]

Originally Posted by worksalot

I am going on a hog hunt in Feb to Alabama. The guys I am going with are recommending no less than a 308 rifle for hunting them. I would like to take my 300 fireball as this was the reason for building it(and I wanted one). I will not be hunting suppressed and will be using it supersonic. I have several loads worked up. 150 spitzer @ 2000, 125gr spitzer @ 2300, 130gr barnes ttxs @2300, 110 nosler bt @2400. What opinions do you have as far as 300 fireball(supersonic loads) for hogs. I am using 16inch m1a upper Ar. Of course anyone can chime in but I would like some real world experience answer from folks that have done it. Thanks. I will be taking my 308 along also but rather use my 300.

Shot placement is the key. what ranges do you expect to shoot? If under 200 yards I think your fine with the .300 Fireball

I have taken large hogs (300#) with 5.56 so I'm sure supersonic .300 fireball, which is essentially equivalent to 7.62x39, will work just fine

Last year I took a decent sized hog with my .45ACP Carbine at 50-75 yards, it was a DRT shot. I built my .300 whisper to do the same job, but do it quietly

[TexAgBQ81]

I have harvested hundreds of hogs of various weights from 10# to 440# with everything from 22lr to 7mag the most critical is shot placement. Most were harvested with a 223 loaded with a 40grain nosler balistic tip (prior to my 300 whisper). I would have no problem with the whisper with good placement. i would suggest shoulder shot quartering away or in the ear.---- but i would not like to upset my host in case i wanted to be invited back.
good hunting and take pictures.

[Rikky Lee]

125 BT need good bullet placement and can fail on shoulder shots - the Barnes X 130 grain is worth the money for supersonic shooting.

[worksalot]

Hey guys thanks for the input and it is all well received. Tdale4 nice pic and very cool 45 rig, btw i have been told it will be nearly impossible to get a shot over 125yrds that puts my slowest load at about 17xx fps and 9xx ftlbs of energy with the 150 sst...the 130 barnes look abit better but all are close. Texagbq81 point well taken, I don't want to upset the apple cart, these guys are nice enough to let me tag along. I am going to ask if it would be a problem, if so no problem I will take the 454 rifle and my savage 308...But I would really like to be able to see and show some terminal ballistics with my 300. Rikkylee, I have the 130 barnes and they shot fine, I have about 30 left should be plenty to take with me, I also have the hornaday 150 sst that push 2000 fps 10ft from my muzzle I thought that might be a possiblity also. I had read on a hog hunting sight that the recommended shot placement was an area from the top of the front shoulder into the center on the neck up to about the back of the head, I believe it was to take out the spin, does that sound like a good shot placement for the 300 fireball? I shoot alot of paper and red coat targets and have laid waste to a couple hundred prairie poodles but am really looking forward to this hunt with my 300. Thanks for all of your input ...keep it coming

[snipecatcher]

Pigs aren't as tough as people make them out to be. I see no problem with using super or sub-sonic 300W loads for them. I've seen poorly placed "spray and pray" type shots from an SKS drop 4 large pigs out of a herd (10 shots total). This was with wolf FMJ. A well placed shot to the head, neck, or just behind the shoulder will kill a pig, even with no expansion. It's not ideal, but it will work.
-Dan

[worksalot]

Thanks for the input Dan. I have thrown the question out on a couple other forums also. I have done some load data work-up, and chronyed my load at 100 yrds to see the actual velocity(did make me abit nervous about flinching with my chrony sitting out right at my target). i am getting 2000fps from the 130gr barnes ttsx @100yrds so that should put the energy at 1000ft/lbs+-. The game/ballistics charts show max animal size around 215lbs...And here is a pic of the jewell fresh from my redneck camoflage closet.

[Fritzcat]

That is a nice job on the camo. Your ballistics match up to the 762x39 that I use on hogs, Wolf Military 124gr HP. That round will do a number on them. You can look over a AR15.com, outdoors, hog hunting, and look at the 762x39 hogs and see what this round did to one shot square in the shoulder. It never moved.