Getting Zach ready for the give away hog hunt.

[Fugaloo]

On the 23rd and 24th of this month Zach will be going on the hog hunt he won from Just for hunting. I am taking him to the range tomorrow to get some trigger time on the gun he will be using. It is a single shot 44mag. It has a 3-9 power scope on it and I plan on using Remington 180 gr. JSP's. I have a decent stash of Hornady 240gr JHP's but I'm not sure if they would work better on a hog. I have never used a 44m on a hog. I am thinking that with penetration being the biggest challenge, the soft point traveling faster and not giving up as much energy to expansion would do a better job on a tough hog with the possibility of only being able to hit him once. I would like any input on that.

Also I plan to do drills with him at the range. Maybe make him run a lap before shooting, and also how quick he can hit a target from picking up the gun, that kind of stuff. Any good ones would be appreciated.

I can't wait to go on this hunt with him. It will be real interesting to be behind a camera instead of a gun.

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

Sounds like you got it all down. I admire you for taking on this and makin this hunt happen. Just curious though, why are you using a single shot 44 mag vs a bolt action .243/.270/Etc?

 

[Caninelaw]

I think you are right for picking the JSP over the JHP however I think you'd be better off going with a 240 JSP. Since the 44 mag, even out of a rifle, will be a little weak as compared to almost any "regular" rifle cartridge, I'd go with a heavier bullet so it would hit a little harder. A JHP, especially in a pistol bullet which this is even if you're firing it out of a rifle, will tend to come apart pretty easy and you may not get the penetration you need to get into the vitals. That being said you might want to consider getting a rifle caliber to use for this hunt. Even the little old .243 has twice the energy of a 44 mag although you will get a little more out of the 44 from a rifle barrel vs. a pistol. I'd use a 7mm-08 or .25-06 as minimum (but that's JMHO).

 

[freezer]

Fugaloo, What kind of rifle? NEF? How big is this kid can he handle a little recoil?

 

[Fugaloo]

Recoil is not really an issue. He has shot my bigger rifles before. More it is an issue of size, and I would rather him make a well placed 44m shot than a poorly placed .243. He comes from "shorter stock" and at 12 years old he hasn't quite reached the height legacy his 5'6 dad and 5'5 mom left for him. I have a .243 but it is pretty big for him. I would also love to get him something different, probably a light rifle cartridge, but this is what we have and it is well capable of doing the job. Ideally we want to get a medium sized sow that will eat real nice. At 30 to 60 yards the 44m will be well within it's range to put the pig down.

The gun itself is a Rossi three barrel youth set. It comes with a .22, .44m., and 20g shotgun barrel. Single shot break action, I think the rifle barrel is 22". It was very windy today so I couldn't say what it normally groups because today was the first time I'd really shot more than a few rounds out of at a time. It seemed to be a little wild, but I think it was the wind. I have an entry level 3-9 bushnell scope on it. I'm not sure what I think of the ammo, but I can't get much else locally, and I don't like buying a new kind of ammo right before a hunt without time to adjust the sights and see how it compares to what I'm using.


Today at the range he did real good. Stellar trigger and muzzle control, kept his finger off it until ready to shoot, and I could see he was trying real hard to handle the guns safely. We were shooting at 8 inch targets at 50 yards for most of the day. His first ten shot group he landed 9 of them inside the 6 ring with one flyer that he felt he pulled on. Then after that he held pretty good groups all day. Out of 150 rounds maybe only 8 or 10 shots would have missed vitals on a pig. Didn't really get the chance to do any thinking/shooting drills, the wind started picking up when we got there, and I just thought letting the kid get real comfortable on the gun would be better for him.

 

[BigSurArcher]

We always used .44 mag revolvers (7 1/2" barrels) for hunting with dogs and got the best combination of penetration and expansion with 240 grain JSP's. My dad whacked one with his Super Redhawk from about 40 yards and that bullet worked excellent. Plenty of penetration at that distance from a 7 1/2" barrel and lots of knock down power. I would go with that bullet over the 180 all day. 180's work great out of a 30-30 for pigs, but the velocity and BC of that bullet is on another planet compared to that of the .44 180 grain. Contrary to most things, slow and heavy wins the race in this application.

 

[freezer]

Nice starter gun. stocks are cheap enough to get and cut down. I have an NEF, that's why I asked. I could have lent you a 270 barrel.