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Thread: 35 Remington Hog hunting load help

  1. #1
    Boolit Lady wrench's Avatar
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    35 Remington Hog hunting load help

    I've been invited to go hog hunting in Florida later this year. I've shot a lot, but am not a hunter, so could use a little guidance. I have searched and read, but am interested in any input you'd be willing to share.
    First the specifics: I'd like to use my Marlin 336SC, 35 Remington, standard rifling. It has an older Bushnell 4x scope on it, just a classy older rifle.
    I have the NOE version of the Ranch Dog 359-190 RF, gas check mold.
    I have brass, and lots of different powders to choose from.
    I'd like to minimize recoil, but still have a clean kill on a hog. My goal would be to shoot a smaller one, and yardage would probably be limited to 50-75 yards.
    Any advice on a velocity goal, or loads would be much appreciated.
    If I'm all wet on the suitability of the rifle or bullet, feel free to tell me that too.
    Thank you

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    If you want to keep recoil down, then load that 190 grain bullet to 1800-1900 fps. Could probably go down to 1500 and still get good results. At 1500 or more your main goal should be reliable feeding and useable accuracy.
    Spell check doesn't work in Chrome, so if something is spelled wrong, it's just a typo that I missed.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master
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    You have a fine rifle for the task at hand. That 190 would be fine, just work toward accuracy and reliability. One of the all time go-to boolits for that round is the RCBS 35-200. If this were an industry, that would be the industry standard. Recoil depends on your load. I wouldn't cast it hard. Maybe in the 12 -14 BHN range. Lube it with Ben's Red and size it a couple thou over the bore size.

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy SoonerEd's Avatar
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    If smaller means around 80 lbs or less. Anything in a 35 Remington will work. If you get up closer to 200lbs, need a tough bullet that doesn't fragment easilly. Make sure you study a hogs anatomy. You don't shoot them like a deer with double lung shots, stay away from the gut and badder. Their heart is also almost dragging the ground between their front legs. If your going to heart shoot make sure you know where to aim and can make the shot accurately. If you get excited and forget everything in "the moment" just shoot where you would a deer in a lung shot but shoot into the off shoulder in an attempt to break it.

    I'm comfortable using a 35 Remington if it's under 100 yards on anything under 200 lbs. Above that I go to a 45-70 or a high-powered rifle with jwords and a tuff bullet.

    If you want to eat it, and it's a boar, I've found making a good shot that puts them down quickly is important. It seems if they get adrenalized, especially if for a while like being run with dogs, that can give the meat a wierd, almost metallic flavor.

    You can kill even big hogs by shooting in the side of the head with a 22 mag at close range. But needs to be well placed at or behind the ear. But don't try to shoot a big boar from the front especially if his head is down and the bullet impact could be above the snout, might glance off.

    You'll be fine with a 35 Remington if you can make an accurate shot and know where to aim.

    I've actually had better luck putting them down fast with a big calaber slow moving bulltets. It seems they bleed out and leave a better blood trail for traking. I've had pass throughs with a 270 that the wound channel sealed with almost no blood trail to track even though the insides looked like jello when I cleaned it.
    Last edited by SoonerEd; 07-21-2023 at 10:45 PM.

  5. #5
    Boolit Lady wrench's Avatar
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    Thank you, I appreciate the input!
    My desire would be to eat it, I might think that smaller hogs should be better eating??
    Very nice to hear that my choice of rifle/bullet seems OK, I'll get on this to work some loads up.

  6. #6
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    I’ve killed fair chase feral hogs with .38 Special, .223, and 22-250 with no problems.
    For pigs in the trap; .22LR is perfect.
    The last one I killed was with a 44-40 rifle with 200 gr/1400 fps - one shot at 80 yards.
    That .35 caliber bullet will put them down if you do your part.


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  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    Shot placement is key. If they are standing still, forget about a heart/lungs shot. They can run a long way before dropping. Draw a line of from the base of the ear to the front shoulder. Any point on that line will drop them in a heap. Check on line for pig anatomy. Their spine goes along the line I described and it's a bigger target than the heart.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master Rapier's Avatar
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    The bullet designed for the 35 Rem is the 200 gr Rem RN. It works well in a 35 Rem. This the 200 RCBS FN bullet or a copy built by everyone else. I prefer the Plain base version now made by Saeco, powder coated.

    FL has some big hogs, temperatures and food source. Smaller hogs eat better, 200 pounds or less. Big swamp hogs can be real nasty.....you actually smell them before you see them, kind of nasty. They taste like they smell also.
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  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    Neck shots with a 45acp carbine drops them like a rock, and my BIL has the same results with his 35 rem with the lee 200 over 4895 to about 1800 fps. Click image for larger version. 

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  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    the rcbs 35-200 is hard to beat in 35 rems

  11. #11
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    I'm big on Cast Boolits but in that cartridge for what you want to do I'd say a 200gr Jacketed Round Nose Flat Point pushed up to about 2000 fps would be a better choice. Depending on how big the Hogs are where you are going to hunt. Maybe even a 12 ga Shotgun with slugs if your shots will be under 75 yards. See my thread in the Shotgun Section "What I did to my shotguns"

    I also have been working up a Cast Boolit Load for my .35-303 Enfield Sporter. I cast some Lee 358-200's but they are too short to feed right so I got a 250 gr. RNFP mold from Accurate. I could run those up to 18-1900 fps easily and have a pretty effective load. Also doing 225Gr Sierra Game Kings for that gun, but those will be up to 2200 fps. So they might be a little much unless the pigs are 300lbs +

    My .02

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  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy nockhunter's Avatar
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    The one hog I killed, was with my Bisley Blackhawk .45 Colt. I hit it right behind the left shoulder and the bullet exited behind the right ear (quartering away). It went down like it was hit by lightning. The Speer 300g JSP with a case full of W296 did a great job. If you do the same with your .35 Rem, you will have similar results with either cast or jacketed bullets.

    Mike

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by wrench View Post
    I've been invited to go hog hunting in Florida later this year. I've shot a lot, but am not a hunter, so could use a little guidance. I have searched and read, but am interested in any input you'd be willing to share.
    First the specifics: I'd like to use my Marlin 336SC, 35 Remington, standard rifling. It has an older Bushnell 4x scope on it, just a classy older rifle.
    I have the NOE version of the Ranch Dog 359-190 RF, gas check mold.
    I have brass, and lots of different powders to choose from.
    I'd like to minimize recoil, but still have a clean kill on a hog. My goal would be to shoot a smaller one, and yardage would probably be limited to 50-75 yards.
    Any advice on a velocity goal, or loads would be much appreciated.
    If I'm all wet on the suitability of the rifle or bullet, feel free to tell me that too.
    Thank you
    Only suggestion I could venture, no matter what bullet and load you settle on, would be, go with soft lead in your bullet, pure lead and keep the FPS down to 1200 FPS or a little less. Pure lead bullet will transfer all energy immediately, so hogs drop, like right now..

  14. #14
    Boolit Man
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    If it is a big one its better to have three people to load it.

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  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    Most any 35 bullet with a flat nose from 190 grains to 220 grains should work just fine, I would go with 1700-1900 fps. A 25-1 or 30-1 for hunting would probably work best, but I keep the really soft bullets for actual hunting and use the 'everyday' mixes for load development, fun and practice. The 35 Rem, mine is Marlin 336, works fine on most game under 150-200 yards.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master Good Cheer's Avatar
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    What? No black powder loads?!


    Seriously though, I'm always happy to see what people do with .35 Remington's.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master 35 Whelen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wrench View Post
    Thank you, I appreciate the input!
    My desire would be to eat it, I might think that smaller hogs should be better eating??
    Very nice to hear that my choice of rifle/bullet seems OK, I'll get on this to work some loads up.
    You're basically shooting a very souped-up .357 Magnum. If you want to lighten your loads it won't hurt a bit. If your rifle will feed them, you might consider a SWCHP such as these from Matt's bullets.

    Where we live in Texas where there are an abundance of hogs and I've long since lost count of how many I've killed; three in as many months last winter just here around the house without even hunting them! They're not particularly difficult to kill, it's just that the large ones have very thick skin. I've killed them with handguns, 130 year old revolver cartridges and .22 caliber centerfires, among others.

    If you truly intend to eat one, I strongly suggest finding a mature gilt, that is a female who has yet to have her first litter. Invariably they have much more fat, their meat is more tender and they taste better. I'd avoid boars at all cost.

    35W
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  18. #18
    Boolit Lady wrench's Avatar
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    All advice gratefully taken, thank you!

  19. #19
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
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    I am loading Lee’s copy of the rcbs 200 flat point gas check lead bullet with unique powder and getting about 1500 fps. Very accurate out to 200 yards as I am ringing steel plates at that range. I have no doubt it would go clean through So. Indiana deer and the few hogs I killed in TX. Recoil is acceptable enough to shoot as much as I want at the range.

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy nockhunter's Avatar
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    If you can find them, Hornady .357, 180g XTP pistol bullets work well in the .35rem, if you want to go the jacketed bullet route.

    Mike

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check