What .223 load for hogs!

What’s a good factory bullet for hog hunting? My STW would blow one up it seems a little to big. LOL Head/neck is the plan never hunted hogs before so I’m new to it.

When I’ve known I would be shooting hogs, I load up 55 grain PSP. I will say that XM193 has impressed me with unexpected results, even though it’s a FMJ, at least at close range. Dropped a few large hogs with it with surprising exit wounds. I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it, and I do have pictures.


It is my opinion that pointed soft points are a safe bet with pretty much anything. Monarch (PRVI Partisan) 55 gr PSP is my go-to. My mini 14 groups it very well, and AR seems to like it as well. Considering it’s a good hunting round, I have little reason to buy many others, even though I have tried quite a few different types

In my experience you hit em in the red spot and get the spinal cord deal it don't matter much as long as it's not FMJ



Drops em like a sack of bricks

I’ve have a lot of choices to choose from HP, SP, FMJ . Varmint type lead to soft on a hog?

I would never, ever choose varmint rounds as my first choice on hogs. Personally I’d choose SP, HP, FMJ in that order. They’re tough animals.

I’ll dig around and see what I find then.

Thanks guys

stw is a smokin round.... id load em up as light as i could and shoot it

I'm with wolf dog, head shots.drops them in their tracks, no meat damage and no blood in the body cavity makes for cleaner field dressing. Law dog if you've never been, hog huntin is a blast!

Do you bleed them like a regular hog?

Most of the time we want them to run off when we shoot them. Every once in a while we will drop one and then have to drag him off.

Yeah, I figured back a little on the ribs would be good enough to get him away from my stand, but no, that joker fell on the shot! Last rib will get them going though.

My advice is 1. STAY OFF THE SHEILD especially with smaller calibers I've dug out .22lr up to what send to be .223 bullets out the shield in really big hogs. Crap might as well be body armor.and Avoid Deer shots on big hogs if you wanna eat the meat without alot of hastel been around alot of big bores that had been shot by deer hunters and it didnt kill them on the spot and let them run a bit and the meat is just
You can make it eat but it's a good bit of extra work.

I have some FMJ and 45gr HP out in the shed in ammo cases I’ll look at tomorrow this is what I had in the cabinet now.

Wolfie is right IMO, hit them in the right place most of them flop over right there. That being said, they are herd animals and because of that one of them can come out of the woodwork and cross your line of sight of make your target move. Because of that my buddies and I keep a .308 or my 25-06 close by and God forbid if you wound a bad hog it is your job to put it down once and for all. I don't believe in passing it off to the neighbor or endangering his family. For those I like a large caliber on my hip and another one in a short carbine.

FYI I never found a way to kill pigs I didn' enjoy and I do bleed them plus sanitize the hide (scalding is best but bleach water will do at the far end of the pasture.

are you having hogs in SD or are you visiting south?

My young grandson makes one shot kills on whitetail doe with 60 grain Nosler through a 26” #Contender bull barrel. Think he is five for five, and all shots have been at about 135 yards. No tracking necessary.

Having said that, we have zero hog experience. The partition bullet usually passes all the way through. You need a fast twist rate for a much heavier bullet.

When I lived in ga we just used soft points off the shelf, like what Law Dog’s picture shows. Neck shots drop them, rib shots they run off into the brush. The shot we took would depend on if we were getting paid by hog or by the job.

I use 50gr Barnes TSX in my 22-250 and 70gr TSX in my AR. I’ve also shot plenty with 55gr ballistic tips. Drops em dead when you hit them right.

Before i got a Grendel when was using 5.56 for hogs ,my go to was M193. I killed a bunch with 55gr soft points, but in my observations the 55gr fmj at frag velocity was better at anchoring hogs. Outside 150 yds or so the performance drops off and you really need a soft point.
The heavier otm match bullets work well too.

The hunt is in OK buddy set it up he’s been there before I think 5 of us are going I’m just going to hunt with my buddy if I don’t get a pig no big deal, if I do I have the arrangements made at the locker then. The local locker makes a great breakfast sausage I’ve not found anything better so that’s the plan for this pig.

good luck jerry take lots of pic, and share them

Sounds like a blast

I have never shot a pig but I do know that 60 grain nosler partitions are a good deer medicine. I would not be afraid to try them. They expand some and still hang together.

If you can find a box. Not easy today.