500 S&W Hog boolit?

[Scout308]

G'day,

Im about to buy a Thompson Katahdin in 500 S&W for use on hogs here in Australia. Would like some thoughts on which mould would be suitable for hogs and the 500 S&W?

[Lefty SRH]

I think any mold for the 500 S&W would be suitable for hogs. I mean a light weight boolit for the 500S&W is still 350gr.....LOL Thats a beast!
Seriously, I'd look for something in a WFN or LFN and BIG Meplat. More than likely have to use a rifle type alloy if you want to push it hard. I moved to a rifle alloy in my .480 Ruger and it made a world of difference.
Thats my .02 cents!

[stubshaft]

I've shot a few hogs with the Lee 440 cast at 15BHN (16 to 1). Don't really care about expansion as the boolit is a half inch going in! I can drive it as fast as33.5 grs of Lil Gun will push it (1650) out of a 15" pistol barrel and use Felix lube. Never needed a second shot...

[wlc]

I've got a MiHec .502-440 Keith Cramer mold. Its a PB and has a big meplat. can also be cast as hollow points if that floats your boat. Should really make a hog seriously sick. I also have that same rifle with the 500 S&W barrel. So far I really like it. Haven't had time to really get to shoot it much, only function testing, no accuracy testing yet. Shoots nice and tames the recoil of the 500 really well.

[Scout308]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I'm sure any 50 cal boolit is going to do the job, I guess I'll have to try a few and test em out

[Revolver]

Not to hijack, but I'm curious... what's with all the hog shooting? Are these wild animals that are a pest? When you shoot them are they good for anything or just buzzard food?

[texassako]

Not to hijack, but I'm curious... what's with all the hog shooting? Are these wild animals that are a pest? When you shoot them are they good for anything or just buzzard food?

I don't know about Australia where the OP is from, but here in Texas they are a nuisance, can be fun to hunt, and good to eat usually. It is pretty bad when the TPWD has this to say about controlling them: While it is possible to keep the population in check with continuous control, it is highly unlikely to eradicate a hog population within an established range (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/) Basically you can shoot and trap them all you want, but they are not going away.

[375RUGER]

They are destructive. It is some of the best meat I've ever eaten.

[stubshaft]

I do eradication hunting at a couple of local sites, and do enjoy eating them.

[S.B.]

Most hog hunting is close so, I'd opt for something moderately heavy with a wide front end. My eldest son and I took Russians up in Vermont, mine with a S&W Mountain Gun in .44 mag.
[img]http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Me_and_the_hog_Dec_2
Steve

[S.B.]

Most hog hunting is close so, I'd opt for something moderately heavy with a wide front end. My eldest son and I took Russians up in Vermont, mine with a S&W Mountain Gun in .44 mag.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Me_and_the_hog_Dec_2008.jpg
Steve

[grumman581]

Not to hijack, but I'm curious... what's with all the hog shooting? Are these wild animals that are a pest? When you shoot them are they good for anything or just buzzard food?

They breed faster than we can kill or trap them. When they attack a field (https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1366&bih=666&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=hog+damage&oq=hog+damage&gs_l=img.12...0.0.0.126497.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.ck p...0...1..27.img..0.0.0.6puNlQWPaYk), it looks like a tractor with a set of discs came through there and plowed it up. They destroy crops and if they get in residential areas that adjoin their normal habitat, they will basically roll up your lawn like it was carpet trying to get at the grubs or whatever that are under the turf.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A7KaQwBVgkk/UYfi3NyPYaI/AAAAAAAAAEk/nquwK2xoGAo/s1600/Urban2.jpg

http://media.bradenton.com/smedia/2013/03/22/23/59/X0VgQ.AuSt.69.jpeg

According to this TAMU study (http://plumcreek.tamu.edu/media/10192/feralhogpopulationgrowthdensityandharvestfinal.pdf ), there are between 1.8 and 3.4 million wild hogs in Texas and they will increase at a rate of around 28% per year if they are not hunted / trapped. That means 504,000 to 952,000 new hogs per year. There's probably around 1.1M licensed hunters in Texas, but many of them only hunt deer or ducks and would not even consider harvesting a wild hog. Personally, I prefer hunting hogs since I'm not limited by daylight hours or time of the year.

[Tatume]

Wild hogs are as big a problem in Australia as they are in many parts of the U.S. Personally, for culling I would not pick the 500 S&W. Just about any bottlenecked rifle cartridge would be better, in my opinion. The 30-06 does a great job on hogs from 0 - 300 yards.

[warf73]

According to this TAMU study, there are between 1.8 and 3.4 million wild hogs in Texas and they will increase at a rate of around 28% per year if they are not hunted / trapped. That means 504,000 to 952,000 new hogs per year. There's probably around 1.1M licensed hunters in Texas, but many of them only hunt deer or ducks and would not even consider harvesting a wild hog. Personally, I prefer hunting hogs since I'm not limited by daylight hours or time of the year.

Saddly everytime I've tried to hunt in Texas for while hogs (northern areas) I've alway been told it will be $$$$ per gun. My uncle tried to get a hunt gathered up on private propery were hogs were destroying a field, the farmer told him $250 per gun.

Been on 2 hog hunts in Oklahoma for FREE because the farmer needed the hogs thinned out. I would love to go hunt hogs Texas since you can hunt them at night but I'm not going to pay someone to kill a nuisance.

Sorry for the rant.

[Tatume]

The farmer needs to make money somehow. He's lost his crops and has nothing left but hogs. Let him feed his family too.

[S.B.]

The farmer needs to make money somehow. He's lost his crops and has nothing left but hogs. Let him feed his family too.
I'll bet in Texas just like everywhere else, the government subsidies them? I know they do in Illinois. Mind you, I'm not anti farming but, they are on a FREE ride(IMHO).
Steve

[Tatume]

I don't know a single rich farmer. I know lot's of farmers who own millions of dollars worth of land and equipment, but who have as much trouble as any of us buying a tank of gas to go into town. My family used to save all the money from the sale of butter and eggs just to buy shoes, which we couldn't make ourselves. We never received one dollar in subsidies.

If you don't want to pay a farmer to hunt on his land, then don't. But don't criticize someone for trying to keep the bank from taking the farm.

[RobsTV]

I don't know a single rich farmer. I know lot's of farmers who own millions of dollars worth of land and equipment, but who have as much trouble as any of us buying a tank of gas to go into town. My family used to save all the money from the sale of butter and eggs just to buy shoes, which we couldn't make ourselves. We never received one dollar in subsidies.

If you don't want to pay a farmer to hunt on his land, then don't. But don't criticize someone for trying to keep the bank from taking the farm.

As in most things, all it takes is a few to make them all look badly, unrightly so.

Take a drive through the Corn/Ethanol belt of Illinois/Indiana/Ohio on a motorcycle. Not uncommon to see farms with nice shiny new Silo's, driveways lined with Escalades and Hummers, yet a mile down the road at the convenience store, some of the poorest, roughest looking out of luck people you will come across. A very few getting ultra rich with the help of subsides, while the rest suffer on. Defintely not spreading their wealth throughout the community or helping local economy.

[S.B.]

I don't know a single rich farmer. I know lot's of farmers who own millions of dollars worth of land and equipment, but who have as much trouble as any of us buying a tank of gas to go into town. My family used to save all the money from the sale of butter and eggs just to buy shoes, which we couldn't make ourselves. We never received one dollar in subsidies.

If you don't want to pay a farmer to hunt on his land, then don't. But don't criticize someone for trying to keep the bank from taking the farm.
Do you still have chickens and milk cows or, do you go to warmer climate as soon as you can after havest(winter in Florida or Arizona or Texas)? How much realestate taxes do you pay on that majority of realestate, is it more than a city lot?
Steve

[warf73]

If you don't want to pay a farmer to hunt on his land, then don't. But don't criticize someone for trying to keep the bank from taking the farm.

Not sure how many acres the farmer had.
With 3 of us hunting $750 would put food on his table, but keep the bank away NO WAY.
I was a farm hand in the late 80's threw the early 90's we had just over 5,000 acres of wheat we farmed every year.
Not a large operation compared to Texas or Oklahoma but it kept us busy. If he would have charged $250 a gun (which would have been unheard of in 1990) and had 100 people hunt it wouldn't cover the cost to prep the fields and plant the wheat in the fall. Let alone pay the taxes on the land or any equipment bills that happen when farming. So to say that $750 was going to save their farm from the bank is rubbish.

If it was an outfitter then I see the cost because of rent on the ground, hired hands, licensing and whatever else it in tells to be an outfitter.

None the less the 500 S&W should make a fine handgun for hogs. Pig's boiler room is lower on the body compared to a deer.

[Tatume]

If you don't want to pay the fellow to hunt on his land, then don't.

[grumman581]

For me, it's not so much the fact that a landowner wants to be paid for the use of his land. It's the fact that they are complaining that the hogs are destroying their land and want *something* to be done about the infestation, and when you offer to help, they want to charge you for helping them. Just seems a bit two-faced...

[S.B.]

grumman581, I concur!
Steve

[Magana559]

im glad i finally secured some land.....and it only cost me time, fuel, primers, powder and bullets.

[kevindtimm]

For me, it's not so much the fact that a landowner wants to be paid for the use of his land. It's the fact that they are complaining that the hogs are destroying their land and want *something* to be done about the infestation, and when you offer to help, they want to charge you for helping them. Just seems a bit two-faced...

I agree with this, but with the following modification - if you charge a 'reasonable' amount - like a dove day hunt, say $50-$75, I'm all in. The smaller amount reflects the fact that I'm tromping across his property and benefiting him at the same time.

Back on subject - yes, it would seem any bullet in a 500 S&W would be sufficient :) I'm actually thinking about using my 357 magnum next time I go looking for hogs.

[michael30.06]

83867
Lee Minie 360gn @ 1100 fps.
I will find a photo for effect

[warf73]

For me, it's not so much the fact that a landowner wants to be paid for the use of his land. It's the fact that they are complaining that the hogs are destroying their land and want *something* to be done about the infestation, and when you offer to help, they want to charge you for helping them. Just seems a bit two-faced...

Thats what I wanted to get across, thanks :)

[David2011]

For me, it's not so much the fact that a landowner wants to be paid for the use of his land. It's the fact that they are complaining that the hogs are destroying their land and want *something* to be done about the infestation, and when you offer to help, they want to charge you for helping them. Just seems a bit two-faced...

Roger that! Hunting hogs, especially on winter nights, is no picnic.

David