The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Hunt

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old February 28, 2012, 01:58 PM   #1
parkerd
Member
 
Join Date: January 19, 2012
Location: Gainesville FL
Posts: 41
243 Question!?

Hello all.. I'm saving up money for a new rifle not 100% sure what caliber I wanna go with though.. I live in FL and I'm no fan of heavy recoil.. I like a gun that can kill and not leave bruises on my shoulder if I want to just shoot at the range.. Anyways back to the question would a 95 Grain bullet to the head on a hog kill it? I know that hog's have that very thick shoulder plate my dad killed one recently weighed like 250lbs and man was that a pain to drag out So would it kill or would it bounce off?


Thanks,Parker
parkerd is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:06 PM   #2
WV_gunner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 14, 2011
Location: WV
Posts: 938
I'm not a hog hunter, but I do know the .243 is a stout round for such a small bullet, and with almost recoil if that matters. I hunt white tail with it and it's my favorite caliber.
WV_gunner is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:09 PM   #3
Doyle
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 20, 2007
Location: Rainbow City, Alabama
Posts: 7,167
Even a .22 short to the soft spot behind the ear will kill a pig. A .243 is quite sufficient for both deer and pigs that are found in FL - as long as are good with shot placement. That being said however, I do tend to prefer a little heavier bullet than the light stuff that a .243 shoots.

If you are recoil adverse and want a more effective round, the felt recoil of a 7mm-08 (big brother to a .243) is only a tad more noticible and you get a much more versitile 140grn bullet.
Doyle is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:10 PM   #4
KBP
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 18, 2010
Location: Luthersburg, PA
Posts: 311
243 Question

Never hunted a hog. I have a friend that killed quite a few black bear with a .243 and he used Nosler partition bullets. Numerous videos of people shooting Hogs with .223 caliber rifles on youtube. Best bet is to ask someone that hunts hogs and find out what they use. Myself, if it was a big hog, I would opt to use my Marlin 35 Remington. It makes a big hole!
KBP is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:10 PM   #5
Scout
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 9, 2009
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 510
I've killed a number of hogs with the .243 now. It works great.
__________________
God bless the U.S. Cavalry
Scout is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:25 PM   #6
Saltydog235
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 20, 2010
Location: Pawleys Island
Posts: 1,563
I shoot hogs with a 90grn BT from my .243. Never had one go far at all and most drop right there.
Saltydog235 is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:36 PM   #7
rickyrick
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 15, 2010
Posts: 8,235
I do hunt hogs, and with almost certainty, I'm sure a 243 would do the job. I do it with .223 almost exclusively now. The neck is a large target on a pig and that's about the best spot.

Another good spot is real low just behind the leg, but that one can be tricky.
__________________
Woohoo, I’m back In Texas!!!
rickyrick is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 02:47 PM   #8
AllenJ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 11, 2009
Location: Northern California
Posts: 1,766
I think the 243 Winchester would do fine as long as you use a well constructed hunting bullet.
AllenJ is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 03:01 PM   #9
Hansam
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 21, 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 763
I've shot LOTS of hogs with a .243! Oh wait that's just wishful thinking. I haven't shot ANY hogs with ANY gun as of yet.

I have however shot plenty of deer with a .243 in my youth hunting years and honestly when I moved up to a .308 when I turned 17 I wondered why I hadn't started with a .308 period. To me the recoil on a .308 isn't too much more than a .243 and it certainly isn't too much to handle. I'm not a big guy either - 5'10" and 180lbs.

That said I'd say a .243 is good for hogs so long as you put the bullet where it counts.
__________________
This is who we are, what we do.
Hansam is offline  
Old February 28, 2012, 10:02 PM   #10
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
 
Join Date: November 13, 1998
Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA
Posts: 24,798
I've killed a couple of dozen deer with my .243, as well as a fair number of coyotes and prairie dogs. I'd have no qualms about doing in hogs with one.

Look around for good used reloading equipment to hold down the cost per shot, and the .243 is a good range toy as well as a superb hunting rig.

I like the 2X field of view with my 2x7 scope, and I've found that 7X is plenty of magnification for prairie dogs to 300 yards.

I've worked into some ten feet from hogs, down in the bottomland swamps along the Appalachicola River below Blountstown. I can tell you that the field of view of a Weaver K4 is nowhere near wide enough.
Art Eatman is offline  
Old February 29, 2012, 02:19 AM   #11
bamaranger
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 9, 2009
Location: North Alabama
Posts: 8,273
why not

Sure, plenty of rifle. Watch out for "varmint" bullets when you want "game" bullets. Some .243 rds are intended for fast, dramatic expansion and not really appropriate for bigger game. A varmint slug to the head or neck would likely work fine, but thats a pretty selective shot.

Bamaboy and myself have been using the .243 a bit on deer and I am much impressed with the round in general. We're shooting 100 gr Partitions. I would likely use the same on hogs myself, in case I got a shot a a really big one and could not spine or brain it.

Sure won't bounce off.
bamaranger is offline  
Old February 29, 2012, 03:33 AM   #12
BIG P
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 8, 2010
Location: North Georgia
Posts: 1,679
BOUNCE OFF NO, great round YOU'LL LOVE IT. Better hurry them hawgs are getting away!!!!
BIG P is offline  
Old February 29, 2012, 09:19 PM   #13
globemaster3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 28, 2006
Posts: 1,482
Parker, you can hunt with confidence in Florida with a .243. The first rifle I hunted with West of Melbourne was a .243. 250 yard shot on a 200 pound hog with standard Remington Core Lokts proved medicine enough for a clean kill with a round through the lungs.

When I bought my first rifle, I got a .308 because the deal was too good to pass up. I will tell you the recoil in a bolt action .308 with 150 grain bullets is noticably stiffer than .243 with 100 grain bullets.

When it was time to buy my oldest her first rifle, I went with a .243. She shot her first deer and hog with it, using Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. The deer was @ 85 yards and she pulled the shot and spined him right above the vitals. The deer dropped in his tracks. The pig was a 250 pound sow, shot at 30 yards behind the shoulder using the same bullet (type that is, no we didn't reload the used one ). The sow stayed on her feet for 10 seconds and flopped over.

After getting her an AR in 6.8 SPC, which my oldest likes to shoot better, I find myself shooting her .243 because it is so fun to shoot! To me, there is little felt recoil.

Good luck with your purchase! There are plenty of good calibers, light in recoil, that will do the job. 7mm-08, as mentioned, is one. .257 Roberts, 6.8 SPC, 6.5 Grendel, .250 Savage, .308, .300 Savage, .260, are all short action rounds, lighter in recoil, who will all do a suitable job. Some are more easy to find than others, but with internet buying these days, you can find ammo for any online!
globemaster3 is offline  
Old March 1, 2012, 09:25 AM   #14
phil mcwilliam
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 18, 2007
Posts: 573
.243 works well for pigs. In 30 something years of hog hunting, with many hundreds of feral pigs culled, I remember only a few instances of unprovoked charges by boars. One such occasion was in the early 1980's where I witnessed a large boar charge a mate that he dropped at his feet with a single shot from his Sako 243.
phil mcwilliam is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:23 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07816 seconds with 10 queries