Boar hunting gauges. Let's be clear. Have I ever told you why one fine day many years ago I decided to put aside my rifle and rifle for a moment to grab a pen and paper?
How did I start writing about hunting, ball hunting and in particular about calibers and ammunition? I did it because I was sick of reading all the nonsense that some specialized magazines on the use of weapons and calibers for hunting European game were giving us. Later I even learned that one of the most accredited authors did not even have a hunting license. The illustrious hunter (?!?!) - journalist wrote that to kill the big boars it took big and robust calibers loaded with heavy and hard bullets of at least 220 grains, but it would have been better to abound. In those days those articles were really beautiful, nothing to complain, if it were not for a small detail: while I was reading them I had already killed several large boars with the 243 Winchester with 95 grain ball and with the 270 W with 130 ball!
We welcome all the precious advice that is given to us free of charge by friends and acquaintances, those we read in specialized magazines and also those we see and hear on TV on the Caccia & Pesca channel, but at least that they are sensible advice and above all that they are given. really competent people! People who have built a healthy and solid reputation by spending thousands of hours in the woods and in the mountains with boots on and with a gun over their shoulder. I don't like to listen to those "experts" who give advice with both hands while sitting comfortably in a nice office to consult the Internet. Ok, forgive the little outburst and let's go back to the topic that interests us and that still torments us: i calipers for wild boar hunting. I decided to go back because recently I was lucky enough to take down a boar a good one hundred and fifty-six kilos! And I did it on the beat, so with the wild loaded with adrenaline and at the full strength. And, brace yourselves, I “electrocuted” him with a single shot from a 308 Winchester caliber carbine, from about twenty meters away, using a bullet notoriously soft enough like the 150 grain Hornady SST. Let's face it, such a felling gives a lot to think about, because if a "small" caliber like the 308 Winchester is able to cleanly kill such a beast, calibers like the 300WM, 300WSM, 338WM, 35 Whelens, 9,3 x 62 and similar what will they ever need? I have four Browning BARs in the rack, all in caliber 30.06, a Springfield M 14 and my trusty Heckler & Koch 770 in Xnumx Winchester. They are all weapons that I use assiduously for wild boar hunting and also for some "Monteria alla Maremmana", but would you believe it if I said that I do not have cartridges in the two aforementioned calibers loaded with bullets weighing more than 150 grains at home? So what are the 165, 180, 200 and 220 grain ammunition for? Maybe even to hunt down the King of the Stain, but they are certainly not ideal.
Jim Zumbo, well-known hunter and great American weapons expert, to hunt the Canadian deer Elk - Wapiti (350 - 400 kilos in weight) has always used a rifle in caliber 30.06 loaded with 165 grains bullets, and also the Canadian guides who I knew in British Columbia they used the same caliber and ball weight for the black bear and the moose. Returning to the European wild boar (at least I also include the Carpathian which is always present in the beltlai's speeches like parsley!), A good ball of 150 grains pushed to almost 900 m / sec. it is always decisive in any situation we may find ourselves chasing the hirsute. Not for nothing did the late president Ceaucescu use the 7 x 57 and 7 x 64! The 150-grain .30 caliber, given the high speed, are a little afraid of the vegetation they might find in their way (even the others though), but when they hit they produce highly disabling wounds even if no vital points have been drawn. Practically, I would recommend putting a fairly soft 150 into the barrel of our rifle such as the Rws TIG and T Mantel, the Nosler Balistic Tip and Accubond, the Hornady SST and Interbonded, the Swift Scirocco, the Remington Bronze Point and Core Loct, the Winchester XP3, etc ... and then in the magazine I would conveniently cram ammunition loaded with stronger bullets such as the Rws KS and DK, the Nosler Partition, the Hornady Spire Point, the Sierra SPBT, the Speer Grand Slam, the Lapua Mega, and the Swift A- Frame just to name a few. The latter are bullets capable of reaching the "black lightning bolt", which has jumped the road and which has already returned to the woods, even if they encounter foliage and shrubs on their way, but the shot at all wild animals should always be well aimed and try to make our ball travel a path as clean as possible.
The speech of the gauges suitable for driven boar hunting (but which are also very good for the shot and the appearance) will never end because in the ballistic-hunting environment there is too much misinformation and above all an average hunter kills too few wild boars a year to be able to have a decent practical experience. As that somewhat risque proverb says: "To make love well, you need experience or do you have to have the big deal"? In hunting it is much the same! Those with little experience in wild boar hunting invariably choose the large caliber! So (according to him!) At least he is on the safe side. With the right choice of the ball a nice one semiautomatic rifle in caliber 270 W, 284 W, 280 Remington, 7 x 64, 308 W, 30.06 and maybe even in 8 x 57 JS (like the new Merkel and Sauer) it has nothing to envy to a cannon in caliber 300 WM, 338 WM or 9,3 x 62, indeed it is lighter, it is more manageable, and given the lower recoil generated, it allows you to fire more shots in quick succession, remaining better in the tappet on the target. What about the semi-cars, and for the express? How many Express do they go around the Italian woods in caliber 7 x 65 R, 8 x 57 JRS or 30 R Blaser? Few! On the other hand, there are many in caliber 444 Marlin, 9,3 x 74 R, 45-70 or even in 375 H & H Magnum. The world is beautiful because it is varied (or spoiled as a dear friend says), but we do not give rise to erroneous beliefs, there are many myths still to be dispelled.
Eighty percent of the game bags that the teams I know have earned in a hunting season is almost always made up mainly of garments from twenty-five to forty-five kilos in weight !! Of course, some big solenghi and some notable sows are also slaughtered, but not in a significant number for the statistics. For this reason, when we fill the magazine of our rifle we will have to be very careful about the weight and the type of bullet that we will put inside. Reading the article you should have realized that I have a clear preference for light and fast balls rather than slow and heavy ones.. It is no coincidence that one of the main reasons that made us choose the rifled barrel to the detriment of the smooth one is precisely the speed of the bullets. So we will try to use within certain limits the calibers, or rather the ammunition, as fast as possible. The choice of the type of ball is a little more complicated. If we use one that is too hard we will run the risk that, perhaps crossing soft tissues and without encountering bones, it will "pass", causing little damage, while if we use a markedly expansive ball, especially on really large garments, it may not reach properly the vital areas. As already mentioned, for the choice of weight, stay in the middle of the range offered for each caliber, carefully calibrate the sights (metal, electronic red points or traditional optics varying from strike to low magnification) and resign yourself to consuming a few boxes of ammunition to train. Then you will be able to see with your own eyes that it is not the caliber that breaks down, but more the eye and the hand of those who use it.
Marco Benecchi