The Top 10 Guns for Hog Hunting
OutdoorHub Contributors 06.17.14
Wild pigs are tough, surly, and currently running out of control across the country. Here are 10 rifles suited to quell the swine rebellion.
Any bullet and rifle combination you’d use for deer hunting will kill a hog deader than dollar gas, but then again, you can pound a nail with a monkey wrench if that’s all you have. Since surly wild boars can weigh 300 pounds and grow tusks the size of small Soviet sickles, I prefer a firearm of adequate caliber—.260 or better—that’s capable of delivering multiple rounds in rapid fashion. In short, some hog guns are better than others. Here’s my top 10, starting with number 10.
10. Remington 7600
You may not realize how fast Remington’s venerable 7600 pump rifle can lay down lead, but Pennsylvanians do. Because semiautos are banned for big game hunting there, and because the state 1 million deer and bear hunters routinely drive thick cover where shots at running animals are commonplace, the 7600 is the ticket. Chambered in .270 and .30-06 with a 4+1 magazine capacity, it’s plenty for pigs and then some. It swings like a bird gun, drops pork chops like hot potatoes, and is reasonably priced at about $700.
9. H&H Royal Deluxe
Big wild boars can be dangerous, yet most states don’t even mandate the purchase of a license to hunt them. For that reason I’ve deemed boar hunting the “poor man’s dangerous game hunt.” In lieu of dropping $150,000 on a full bag safari for Africa’s big five, drop what you’re doing and hunt five big boars instead. With all the money you’ll save, you can buy a Holland and Holland Royal Deluxe Flanged Double Rifle to get the full-safari effect. It is, quite simply, the best firearm money can buy. Every bit of it—the hand-engraved, hand-detachable side plates, the fully-figured deluxe walnut stock, the ivory express sights, the precisely regulated .300 H&H caliber bores—is handmade to your exacting specifications. While all other guns can jam or a trigger can break, the Holland’s dual trigger mechanisms all but guarantee two fast shots. If you can’t kill a charging boar with two, well then, it’s time to cash in your chips anyway.
Speaking of cash, did I mention this work of practical art costs $173,000? If you really want danger, Ole’ Chap, charge the deposit to begin building yours on the Visa without first consulting your wife, and prepare for dangerous action as she morphs into a snarling lioness.
To read the author’s top pick for harvesting hogs, click here.
