The perfect hog hunting rifle!

Hunting wild hogs has become a mainstream sport in Texas due to the proliferation and destructive nature of this invasive species. Being a non-game animal, there are very few restrictions on how they may be hunted. They may be pursued year-round by almost any means necessary. So, what makes a good hog hunting rifle?

The answer to that question is dependent upon your intent. If you are a professional intent on eradication you have different needs than the weekend warrior who simply wants to have a good time and harvest some free-range pork along the way. In this article we will discuss hunting pigs for sport, not high-volume eradication.

First of all, despite all the hype and hysteria, most wild hogs are not all that difficult to kill. For decades, deer hunters have harvested plenty of hogs with whatever rifle they took to the stand that morning. I think much of this misinformation comes from people who come across a pig and blast away with 55gr FMJ ammo out of their AR-15. Bad ammo choice along with faulty bullet placement will lead to poor results every time. To be sure, a mean, old, full-grown boar is a formidable beast! However, proper bullet selection and accurate shot placement will drop most wild hogs dead in their tracks. I’ve done it many times. Dead Right There, as we say.

The perfect hog hunting rifle for me is a lightweight, easy to carry, accurate, suppressor-ready, 6.8 SPC short barrel AR-15. Mine is a premium build using the best components I could find:

  • Wilson Combat 11.3″ match-grade stainless barrel
  • Samson Evolution 10″ handguard
  • Magpul furniture
  • Geissele Super Semi-Automatic Enhanced trigger
  • PRI Combat Latch
  • FailZero Bolt Carrier Group
  • Crux Ark30 titanium suppressor
  • Magpul single-point QD sling

For optics, I run a Trijicon AccuPoint 1-6 Circle-Cross during the day and a FLIR ThermoSight PTS233 at night – both on QD mounts. My preferred method of hunting pigs usually results in shots of less than 50 yards to I don’t have any problems with accuracy swapping between scopes. The Trijicon AccuPoint 1-6 Circle-Cross allows for super-fast sight acquisition (put the hog’s head in the circle and squeeze the trigger) and excels in low-light conditions.

Thermal Hog
Thermal Hog
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Great weekend of hunting

Been kind of a slow year with about 97 trillion acorns dropping and the deer just don’t need to move much to eat..  While I still haven’t nailed my “trophy” we still were able to put a doe in the cooler, bag a good cull buck which I donated the meat to Texas Hunters for the Hungry program.  Good to get another clean kill on a new rifle project with the 7mm08, gaining confidence for sure.

David got a nice doe with his trusty 6.8

Hog hunting with thermal scopes

I love it when a plan comes together! Friday night we went out with Gary from the Silencer Shop and his son Zachary.
That boy was excited about getting on some pigs!
We weren’t out 15 minutes and right at dark ran across three groups of pigs.

Continue reading “Hog hunting with thermal scopes”

6.8 SPC II Custom Build Rifle

There have been countless wildcat cartridges over the years.  One recent trend has been the various efforts to modify the standard AR15 to shoot a heavier, more lethal bullet.  The crazy hype surrounding the 300 Blackout is but one example.  For my money, the 6.8 SPC is the best of the lot for general all-around use. Continue reading “6.8 SPC II Custom Build Rifle”