Just got back from our annual southeast Texas hogfest. Had a great time. Thought I'd share some pics and videos of some misses, some kills, and some collateral damage. Our biggest hogs were 248 lbs, 232 lbs, and 218 lbs. Our group of 5 shot 13 total over 3 nights of hunting. I've come to the conclusion that a 5.56 and 6.8 spc are effective rounds if shot behind the ear, but don't have the energy to knock them off their feet if hit anywhere else. I'm sure others will disagree. You'll see in the videos several that were head and neck shot that ended up running off. We recovered most of them. I think next year I'll bring a .308 in an AR platform.

I made a post a few weeks back about a budget thermal/night vision setup. It worked better than I thought and I stand by that its a great alternative to higher priced thermals. The thermal monocular attached to my phone and mounted to a tripod clamped to a window sill worked awesome. It was nice to be able to sit back in the stand and have a wide field of view in thermal image. I was able to pick up deer and hogs with it at 500 yards. For $350 it was worth the risk. The budget night vision scoped work just as well. I viewed some deer at 500 yards with it. Zoomed in to 20 power and with the IR light focused, I wouldn't have hesitated to take a shot. Unfortunately, the recoil activated recording didn't work for the big boar I shot at night so I don't have night video with it.

Here was our biggest boar.







Here was my budget thermal/night vision setup



daytime shot through scope 5.56 to ear


thermal video of above shot with monocular (the quality is better than this but I was taking a video of a video)


video of a 218 lber that i missed.


Pic of the 218lber that made a mistake coming back after dark


a runoff with a 6.8 spc


another 6.8 spc runoff


first nights damage


dinner


ol dad

Way to go.Congrats

Good deal partner

Congrats on some successful hog killin'!

We always enjoy our trip to the south. Yall got plenty of fine hogs and feral women!

ol dad

.223 or 5.56 are fine for head shots 50yds and under. People laugh but my coyote rifle and hog rifle are .308’s. I prefer to make a shot and it drop or leak enough it’s an easy find. I get paid for pics of dead stuff, not stuff that runs off and not recovered.
That iPhone scope is pretty cool for sitting in a blind, glad it worked out for you.

Good stuff and I'm glad the cheaper thermal stuff worked well for you. I appreciate the review.

Thanks for sharing!

was great watching your video, thank you for sharing

I will be in the truck and south bound in 10 minutes!

I will give you $100 for the 6.8 and .05/round since it is junk

FWIW I don't think you hit the one in 2nd video, at least it didn't react like it was hit

But keep coming down here and killing pigs, we need all the help we can get

They sure are ugly critters

My experience with the 223 was about the same. Took two 223 uppers with me for hunting as thats what my night gear sits on but didnt really figure it was best medicine. Just didnt want to go thru the hassles of moving either the night vision or thermal to another gun for a couple week trip and then swapping it back to 223 when I was home. I didnt have much problem with shots at base of skull/neck working but most of the shooting was under 150 yards. Generally the 223 wasnt good at all for body shooting but seems that most everything I read about body shooting them suggested it wasnt the best option any way, I found that they could be held in place with high shoulder shots but they were still very much were full of life. For those of you that routinely are killing them, whats a bigger gun do on shoulder shot---generally just hold them in place or kill them? Not sure what I'm taking for gun in addition to 223 next trip but It'll be something.

I have probably killed close to 1000 hogs and I agree with the small caliber thoughts. I have killed a few hogs with a .22 LR and a ton with a .22 mag, but My go to is a .450 Bushmaster but sometimes the 7 round mag is a little short. By the way, a .500 nitro express will hammer them if you are man enough, can live with two shots and $250 a box of 20. I think the only calibers in an AR 15 that are really worthy hog killers are the .450/500’s and probably the .400 legend, although I have never shot a hog with a .400. I think the ruger .308 SFAR would be the ideal rifle if you can get it to work.

Those are big hogs - anything over 200 lbs is a big hog - especially now days with USDA trapping them and every other guy with a thermal. The biggest I have ever weighed was 338 and that is the only one over 300. Some of these guys around here that enter these hog tournaments will kill a few over 300, but they will get them on a feeder and pour the feed to them for three months

Great trip!

I've looked at getting 450 in AR platform over the years. Never really had much in way of critters I'd use it for so didnt. Maybe I should rethink that

I’ve had the 16” SFAR in .308 close to a year now with no hiccups whatsoever…I didn’t experience anything like the reviews I’ve read. Topped it with an AGM TS35 640 thermal and a Banish suppressor. I’m shooting 165gr Corlokts.

That looks like fun time. Been thinking of going somewhere like that before it's too late. I want to take my son on some kind of differrent hunt and fishing. We've only hunted and fished close to home, of course being in Montana I can't gripe. Been looking on the internet, some have pretty good looking packages. Just have to see about my son's vacation time. Need clean lodging so I can do dialysis and want to do hunting during the , night hunt looks like fun too. Throw in some fishing, bass ponds would be fine, one outfit had day trips out on the Gulf , never seen an ocean. Any recommendations ? Like to keep cost around $1000 each

Hay seriously if you wanna sell the 6.8....at least the barrel and BCG...

I'm looking at same rifle or the PSA gen III .308. PSA has blemish models for $699. What are the reported problems with the SFAR?

ol' dad