32 H&R Mag for piggies

[Redd508]

Can it be loaded up enough to cleanly take medium sized hogs? Lets say up to 150 lbs at handgun ranges. Has anyone done it?

[Olevern]

So long as you don't value your hide, no problem, they will eventually die when shot enough times (or one time in exactly the right place). If'n you're good enough to hit that 'exactly right place' on a hog on the run or one intent on immediately doing you personal harm, have at it!

(I would recommend you buy a suture kit or medical staple gun if you are hunting any distance from a hospital)

[gunfan]

While I enjoy the cartridge, I believe that it's far too light (lack of penetration due to sectional density and velocity) to be suited for the task. The .357 S&W Magnum loaded with hard cast 158-200 grain bullets ahead of a stiff load of WW-296 would provide a measure of safety and security when you attempt to stop a porker of any size.

Scott

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Why not? Many people have long taken all sorts of wild game with minimal/marginal, loads or cartridges. Some lucky, some highly skilled, some experienced.

Ever read (in the old days before pc and when real hunting magazines existed) of far northern Native Indian peoples taking every sort of animal in their remote wilderness vastness with 22's, & etc. How about the Early Jordan buck (Hole in the Horn Buck) taken by the little 25-20. That was a record class whitetail taken by a fellow that could hunt, shoot, track and knew his quarry.
I have a friend who routinely executes trapped wild hogs in the drop door cage from 10 feet away with 22 short headshots. What if you could duplicate most of that except the cage and firearm, while insuring your safety?

BvT

[Hickory]

So long as you don't value your hide, no problem, they will eventually die when shot enough times (or one time in exactly the right place). If'n you're good enough to hit that 'exactly right place' on a hog on the run or one intent on immediately doing you personal harm, have at it!

(I would recommend you buy a suture kit or medical staple gun if you are hunting any distance from a hospital)

Sounds exciting.
Would be nice to see a video of that.

[EMC45]

I know folks who hunt them and kill them with a .22 Mag. Actually just got invited to go hunting hogs and it is knife only. No gun. Using dogs to "ground" them and then you stab them. Shot placement is key.

[9.3X62AL]

I think a warmly-loaded 357 Magnum revolver is about as light as I would go for game of this size and attitude. I'm quite fond of the 32 Magnum, but good-sized coyotes seem like its reasonable upper limit in terms of game size. JMHO, though.

[Larry Gibson]

If I was safely in a stand and could really pick and choose the shot and had a pack of good tracking dogs handy I might try it. However, I think my 313631 105 gr SWC at 1300 fps or the 311316 FP 118 gr bullet at 1200 fps out of my 6 1/2" Ruger SS (original run) might be a little light. Even out of my 10" Contender I'd consider them a bit light for stand in the open and shoot a pig at handgun range..........the minimum I prefer for that is the 358156 at 1450 fps from my Ruger Security Six with 6" barrel. Truth be known I'll have either my Ruger Bisley 7 1/2" barreled 41 Magnum or either my Colt 4" Anaconda or Ruger 6 1/2" BHFT 44 Magnum............will have my runnin' boots on too...........

Larry Gibson

[popper]

suture kit or medical staple gun

Just use super glue.

[Olevern]

Just use super glue.

super glue won't work on a series of evenly spaced, deep, bleeding gashes.
If the hospital is far a person could bleed out before getting to help.
Much of the range of feral swine (in Tx, especially) can be many miles from the nearest medical facility.

Getting down on the ground and hunting the hog, especially w/o dogs, who often unselfishly take the slash for their masters, is a serious enough enterprise to at least start out with adequate caliber.

Those who would persist in taking obviously underpowered centerfire or rimfire calibers, in my experience, will not be dissuaded.

Ergo my recommendation not to do it, but, if you are bent on being on the receiving end of a world of hurt, have at it.

[Fishman]

Can it be loaded up enough to cleanly take medium sized hogs? Lets say up to 150 lbs at handgun ranges. Has anyone done it?

As I recall, Ranchdog took a nice 70 ish lb piggy with his boolit designed for the .380 out of a Ruger LCP I believe. I think the info is on his website.

For that size pig (<150 lbs) , I don't think I would feel undergunned with a Ruger single six and warm loaded .32 mag. In fact, my son has carried it as a backup when pig hunting and he is eleven. I bowhunted them a lot on public land with only a knife as a backup.

A lot also depends on the situation. If you are going to be in a treestand or a boxblind, and your shots are going to be 30 yards, why not?

Of course, we are talking about your hide here and not mine

[Olevern]

Unfortunately, when you set out on a ranch on foot to chase hogs, you don't get to put in an order beforehand ie: "I'll take a half dozen 150 lbs or less pigs, please and thank you".

Them pigs you are wanting to take often travel with other pigs which might not fit your order (unless involved in a "pen" hunt, where they can, indeed, drive into the pen just what you want to kill; however, that is not hunting so we will dispense with that possibility for the purpose of the present discussion)

When you're down on the ground and you bust your 150 lb. pig and all hades breaks loose with pigs running in every direction, (some possibly directly at you) I think I would want something more than a .32 in my hand. (but, that's just me)

[Freightman]

Bring enough "GUN" your choice!

[MDC]

I shoot A LOT of 32H&R. Olevern has made very valid points. Pigs can be dam tough.
I hit one in the neck just behind the ear this year. He locked up as if he was struck by lightning then fell over like a plank, kicked a few times then lay still. I racked another round into the chamber and looked up just in time to see him make it back into the brush and down the draw. Oh, I should mention this was a 230gr solid Mihec 41mag over a full dose of H110 from a Marlin lever action at 56yds. He was hit so hard, there were specks of mud sprayed all over the ground and trees just behind where he was standing.
If all I had was a 32H&R, preferrably it would be one of the Marlins also, I'd be trying hard as I could to hit the earhole. If it were a single six, I'd probably climb a tree before pulling the trigger.

[Wolfer]

One of my sows bit me on the butt cheek once. I had 2 punctures just below my belt and 2 more at the bottom of the cheek. The pressure is unreal!!! While I'm sure I could brain one out to 30 yds with a good standing shot with my 32 mag my personal minimum is the biggest gun I own.

[geargnasher]

It's better than a small rock, but not much better than a brick.


Gear

[DIRT Farmer]

Bad medical advice there. Pack the wound with pressure dressing and get to a facility to have the work done professinaly. One of the local farmers dressed a gash from one of his hogs and almost lost his hand. The wound had to be surgicaly reopened and cleaned then left open with wound gauze packed in it for several weeks. Hog teeth and tusks get in some nasty places.

[Wal']

Old story, but one forever engrained in my memory, hunting far Nth Queensland Australia many years back when a feral pig came up out of a dry river bed with me as his target..........backpeddling at a decent rate I got off a shot, Lee Enfield .303 looking straight over the sights at him.

After picking myself up from the ground & running to the river banks edge I put another into it as it dissapeared into the dried up riverbed reeds & foliage.

Talking with the locals after, was told many stories of pigs taking down a stock horse with rider aboard as they charged through the horses leg's.

So no, would not recommend a 32 H&R Mag for pigging, not down here anyway.



A photo stolen from our websites of our pigs up North.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1225719292110

[btroj]

Could it work? Yea.
Would I use it? Never
I want enough gun to be certain of a quick, clean kill. A 32 mag doesn't meet those standards for me in a hog gun. For a little hog maybe, get a 250 lbr and what do you have? A pissed off hog and pants full of stink.

I prefer a 44 special as a minimum. I don't like being under gunned when the target may bite back.

[EMC45]

I don't adovcate the knife and .22 Mag thing, just relaying what I have seen. I have kiled hogs. 30-30 factory Jacketed 170gr. and 300 Win Mag 180gr. reloads. They are tough! I know if you do make a clean shot they will quickly comply with death and give up. I have seen them break loose every which way like Olevern said, once they hear a sound like gunfire.