Hog rifle suggestion

Best AR caliber for hunting hogs?

  • 5.56

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6.5 grendel

    Votes: 3 8.6%
  • 300 blackout

    Votes: 6 17.1%
  • 6.8 SPC

    Votes: 26 74.3%

  • Total voters
    35

Whosure

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
I am new to Texas and hog hunting, we just did not have them in central Indiana. I am interested in helping some landowners cull down their hog population, and I was curious what would be the best rifle platform for it. I plan on sharing the meat with friends and those who have been asking for some back straps at work, so I don't wanna blow a foot wide hole in them.

My first question is this, is the AR still the best all around hunting platform for hog hunting day and night or will a bolt action rifle do just as fine.

If you say AR, what caliber, barrel length do you recommend (unsure of shot distances so I can't provide). Is a suppressor a must or a nice to have?

Does a normal scope and a red lens light suffice for night hunting or should I think about investing in NV gear so I can make the biggest impact on the culling efforts?

What gear other than the rifle should I look at getting to hunt hogs?

Thanks for all the advice!
 

RattlesnakeDan

San Antonio Texas
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I spent my life mostly in the west, Colorado, Montana. You use a good bolt gun, make one accurate shot to the vitals and let your animal expire.
Well, hunting hogs was a game changer. Multiple shots on stupidly tough hogs that can refuse to die can be the norm at times. Getting on target quick with the AR platform was really crucial when getting into groups of hogs. Eradication is top priority with food being low on the scale of importance here. I like the 6.8spc, works well in the AR platform. I don't night hunt, I like to sleep at night but the thermal guys sure like their world and their kills have increased dramatically.
 

bar-d

Head Wrangler, Chief Manure Manager: Bar-D Cattle
I don't think there is a "best" caliber for hog hunting. I have killed hogs with a .204 Ruger to .308 Win. with several in between. Shot placement is always the key but when the first shot flies and the sounder scatters the AR platform is your friend. The 6.8 SPC is a great hog killing caliber and is my dedicated night hunting rifle but certainly not the only caliber to consider. Brian Shaffer here on the forum shoots the 6.5 Grendel and has great success with it. Also Todd Huey, Lone Star Boars, has videos whacking hogs with all sorts of different calibers. Heck, just to be safe, buy all four you listed. By the way, welcome to Texas.
 
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Curly Shuffle

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Buy once and cry once. If you are serious about hog hunting get either a Grendel or a 6.8SPC and a thermal unit. Either one of those two rifles are a great choice and that way you can hunt anything you care to in the lower 48 and not worry about not killing it. I think either one of those two rifle has killed every type of animal in the USA!! Stick with an AR platform because you can get many many shots at them! Thermal?? you should stick with an IR Hunter/ (Trijicon), Pulsar, or Armasight those are about the best choices and come in a reasonably priced range all the way to "Look at this expensive thermal I have and NO you can't touch it because it cost a fortune!!" GOOD LUCK. BANG BANG!!

And if you need some help whackin pork just shoot me or anyone else a message!!??:)
 

FrankT

Destin FL
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LoneStarBoars Supporter
The 6.8 SPCII 16" is the best all around AR15 caliber for deer and hogs. If you want more the AR10 in 308 12.5"-16-18" would be the choice. Good Luck and welcome to LSB
 

hdfireman

Blackstone Arms
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Vendor
LoneStarBoars Supporter
My first question is this, is the AR still the best all around hunting platform for hog hunting day and night or will a bolt action rifle do just as fine.

A bolt action will work just fine but in my opinion an AR platform is better but this depends on the type of hunting you are doing. Shooting 1 maybe 2 pigs pigs from a stand or thick cover or trying to get numerous hogs. The AR platform allows faster follow up shots which in return allows you to shoot at more of them.

If you say AR, what caliber, barrel length do you recommend (unsure of shot distances so I can't provide). Is a suppressor a must or a nice to have?

If you are wanting to stay in the AR-15 platform for weight then my first choice is a 6.8 SPC and the 6.5 Grendel being second. They are really close inside of 200 yards but the 6.8 is doing it with a 16" barrel and the Grendel is 24". That being said the long range ballistics are better on the 6.5. Here are links to Hornady's 120 SST 6.8 and 123 SST 6.5
6.8mm SPC 120 gr SST® - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc
6.5 Grendel 123 gr SST® - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

Your hunting distances and preferred barrel length should weight in your decision. A suppresser is not a must but is a want.

Does a normal scope and a red lens light suffice for night hunting or should I think about investing in NV gear so I can make the biggest impact on the culling efforts?

The red or green light will work for a little while but pigs are very smart and will soon learn to scatter when illuminated with it. In my opinion a thermal scope to shoot is the way to go. Thermal is also great for spotting and NV for navigation but you can spot with it to some extent. It all depends on your hunting style.

I can help you with all your needs or just give you info so feel free to contact!!
 

FrankT

Destin FL
LSB TURKEY BUZZARD PRESERVATION SOCIETY
LoneStarBoars Supporter
if you have to poor boy it without thermal get an atn x-sight 3x digital night vision for $400-500
 

Whosure

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Bar-d I would love to have all four but my couch is not that comfy to sleep on so, I will unfortunately dwindle my initial rig to one caliber. I will have a variety of uppers of course over time.

Curly Shuffle, thanks for the info on the thermal and the response in the PM I sent ya. I will probably have to hold off on IR, but you gave me alot of good info to digest so when I start going that route I am educated on what I need to focus my attention on, and to get a hold of Big Red Dog

HDFireman man, that was alot of info and I appreciate you sharing it with me. I am in San Antonio, so I will probably swing by Sons of Liberty Gun Works to see what they can do for the AR. If I don't like what they have to offer, I will give ya a shout.

FrankT thanks for the cheapman's option for optics. While I would love to have thermal, I don't want to sleep on the couch! LOL.
 

Curly Shuffle

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Shopping

Primary arms always has sales this is just one of one they had. They have them in 16 up to 24. In Grendel and 6.8s of one kind or another. All makes and models and calibers. Some people have liked the radical some have not. But they have other options. BANG BANG!!
 

Whosure

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
You are such a bad influence!!!!
 

der Teufel

Livin' the Dream …
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I have an AR-10 (.308 caliber) and it packs a punch on hogs, but it's heavy. I really think a 6.8 SPC II or a 6.5 Grendel are the best choices, particularly if you're hunting at night where the shots are typically not all that far.
 
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jglass

LSB Member
I'm also new to hog hunting and rifles as well. I spent my life hunting duck and geese on the upper Mississippi R. My first year hog hunting in Florida I had a compound crossbow, 12 gage slug, and an M1 carbine. I thought the M1 was a perfect hog rifle in Florida but buying an M1 carbine was a different story. I ended up building an AR-15, 223 from a kit. Then I built an AR-15, 300 blackout, and now I have an
AR-15, 9mm, all have 16" barrels

Keep in mind hog hunting in Florida is usually short range of 50 yards or less. The 300 blackout has demonstrated to be very effective.
But if you hunt at night, as I do, you will need some kind of night vision.

Below is a night vision scope I hunted with last winter made by "Firefield", I bought it for $280. I works fine for short range night hunting in the area of 75 to 100 yards max. I never missed with this scope. Night vision with the inferred light if very effective for seeing the hog's eyes. Once you see the eyes the hog body comes into view. It is a great help at night.


The next step was a thermo imaging scope made by Pulsar, XQ38. Thermo imaging is costly but the step is greater than going from
no night vision to having night vision. Thermo imaging can be purchase for under $2000 these days but it is not required for the beginning hog hunter. I justified the thermo scope because I hog hunt almost everyday during my winter stay in Florida. I killed 4 hogs in November.


What thermo imaging looks like:


One of the my first challenges was overcoming my fear of the jungle hunting alone at night. Always best to hunt with a buddy but I often hunt alone and like it. I started out purchasing a "Night Owl" night vision monocular for $150. I over came my fear of the jungle
with this monocular because I was able to see at night. Now I love the jungle at night.


Got to run, more later
 
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jglass

LSB Member
Whatever you do keep your wild hog equipment simple. After you hunt for a couple of years you can up grade. Another thing that is a must have is a trail camera. You need to know what critters are eating your bait and at what time of day. I have been using a
Moultrie 880. They run around $125. Just about all trail cameras take good daytime pictures but only certain ones take good night time pictures. I like the Moultrie 880 so well I bought a second one.

night time picture of hogs. Notice the eyes, inferred light does that.


I'm fortunate to have leased property in Florida to hunt on so I have tree stands and blinds on the property. I built blinds for duck and goose hunting for 40 years. Below is a blind I built single handedly. It is lashed to trees with ratcheting tiedowns. Didn't want to injure the trees with screw or nails. The present blind has one side lowered 12" so we can sit up there in lawn chairs and watch and shoot the hogs. Present blind has better camoflauge although I'm not sure the hog really care. Notice the stairway up to the blind. It was engineered for the senior citizen hog hunters in mind.


Inside of blind:


Here is a tree stand with a camo curtain to keep our legs and knees hid. The support tubing also doubles as a rifle rest.


Picture of me trying to look cool with my second hog kill in 2016. Notice the M1 carbine that I borrowed from my brother. Even though it has a 30 round magazine the shell extractor was broke so it could only be used a single shot. Ya, that was my first hog gun. It was interesting getting the second shot off.
 
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jglass

LSB Member
One more post. I exceeded my 5 photo limit per post. Someone is bound to get a kick out of this one.

This is over the top but it actually works quite well. We had trouble with guns leaning against the side of the blind would tip over or we couldn't find our guns when the hogs showed up.
These guns are already pointed toward the hogs, all we do is grab the gun, point and shoot.
These gun mounts rotate and have adjustments for elevation. We like to be comfortable.
This is my 223 shown without a scope. Has one of those 80% lower receivers.
 

Whosure

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Thanks for the info. I am seeing that this will be an expensive hobby, but as you said get a good platform and then go from there afterwards with fancy optics.
 

GlocksInMySocks

New Member
Are you guys recommending the 6.8 over an ar10 in 308?

I will say I'm currently running a 300blk out of 14.5" barrel... it leaves a lot to be desired. Because of this, I've been leaving heavily toward a sr25
 

hdfireman

Blackstone Arms
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Vendor
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Are you guys recommending the 6.8 over an ar10 in 308?

I will say I'm currently running a 300blk out of 14.5" barrel... it leaves a lot to be desired. Because of this, I've been leaving heavily toward a sr25
No Sir! I recommended the 6.8 if you want to stick with the lighter AR-15 platform. If you don't mind the weight the AR-10 in .308 0r 6.5 Creedmore will do the trick. Some do a lot of walk in stalk or in and out of a vehicle so they want to keep it small and light.
 

Jhop

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
While I shoot a 6.8 I'd love to shoot a .308 if they just weren't so heavy like HD fireman said. I know there is a couple lightweight AR10 out there but just too expensive
 

der Teufel

Livin' the Dream …
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I use an AR-10, but as I stated above it's heavy!

I think both the 6.5 Grendel and the 6.8 SPC II are quite adequate, particularly for night hunting where the shooting distances rarely exceed 250 yards, with 100 and less being most common.

I got the AR-10 because I have a bolt-action rifle in .308 and didn't want to deal with yet another caliber.
 
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