Boar Hunting: The different schools of thought and opinions on the effectiveness of boar cartridges lead hunters to prefer different brands. The intent of many is to find the perfect cartridge. through this article we will try to shed some light on this topic, which interests many hunters of the King of the bush.
In addition to the already known Italian cartridges for wild boar hunting, where the brilliant Gualandi, the excellent Baschieri and Pellagri and the Fier della Maionchi stand out, and American and German loads, there have been added excellent French, Spanish and even English bullets, such as the good Eley Anglia.
Weights vary from 11,83 grams of the small Dolomiti's Balls to 40 and more grams of the large Brenneke, Gualandi and Slugger Magnum balls.
The speeds reached by these projectiles, with the exception of some cases, very often reach and exceed the speed of 450 meters per second. Within the basic fifty meters, if well aimed, these cartridges fired in vital areas break down the "rapid of the spot" on the first shot. It is known that the boar he is a strong cashier, but he earned this fame against shotguns, because when a medium rifled caliber is aimed at the “King of the Spot”, the situation changes and a lot. Most hunters have been convinced for years that rifled barrel has multiple qualities and is more effective against wild boar.
For driven hunts the best weapons are in order: the semi automatic rifles, express, mixed action or two or more barrels and rifles with lever and pump operation. Semi auto rifles, with the exception of the Heckler & Koch which have a roller lock, all work with the classic gas recovery and rotating bolt system. Thirty years ago, only the Browning BARs, the Remington 742 Woodmaster, the Ruger Deerstalking and some rare examples of the Winchester model 100 and Harrington & Richardson existed, a few years later the wonderful H. & K. 770 were added to the list. and 940, the Valmet Petra and Hunter and the Voere 2295. Today Benelli also took to the field with its Argo, Verney and Carron, the new Browning Long and Short Trac models, the latest H. & K. SLB and an infinity of new models from Eastern Europe often of military derivation.
All the aforementioned guns are generally chambered in calibers ranging from the 243 Winchester to the very powerful 9,3 x 64 Brenneke, even if it is necessary to admit that even the automatic rifles are not free from some defects, the most important unfortunately is the poor balance.
Many hunters show a clear preference for light and fast bullets rather than slow and heavy ones. One of the main reasons that have made the rifled barrel more used than the smooth one, is precisely the speed of the bullets. If a ball that is too hard is used, there is the risk that, crossing soft tissues without encountering bones, it will cause little damage, while if we use a markedly expansive ball, especially on large specimens, it is possible that it does not reach perfection. vital areas. Fortunately, there are some excellent "middle ways", that is, those balls with controlled expansion such as the Nosler Solid Base, the Scirocco, the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, the RWS TIG, the Hornady SST, the Norma Oryx, TXP and Alaska and many others, which seem to have been conceived for this beautiful hunt.
Una Gualandi type ball o Brenneke weighing 28 g develops an initial speed of 500 ms.
With zeroing at 70 meters, the trajectory of the bullet will be above the line of sight by 3 cm at 50 meters, at 90 meters it will be below it by about ten cm, more than acceptable for such a distance, without scope. If, on the other hand, the weapon is zeroed at 35 meters, the bullet at 75 meters would be about ten centimeters lower than the targeted point which, at 100 meters, would have become about twenty.
The Sauvestre bullet, lighter and more aerodynamic on its part, with an initial speed of 580 ms, can be zeroed at 107 meters so that at 120 meters the deviation from the line of sight is only 5 cm. If it is fired with the weapon reset at 35 meters, the range at 100 meters is about 10 cm and at 75 m about 5 cm.
So with a over-and-under shotgun or semi-automatic with smooth bore, which has not been properly zeroed, you can shoot slugs with sufficient accuracy as long as the target is not over 60 meters: this means that these weapons are fine in the vast majority of situations that arise in driven hunts .
This is different if instead of bullets weighing less than 30 g, you shoot magnum cartridges with a ball of about 40 g. In this case, initial energy is gained, but the trajectory is more or less the same.
All the tests carried out agree that the Brenneke, Gualandi and Blondeau balls are practically equivalent; the Solengo bullets and those with sabot from Federal and Winchester were much less precise: at 50 meters, a 8-10 cm range, compared to the 4-5 cm of the previous ones. From this it is clear that in the shotgun the sabot is counterproductive, except in the case of the Sauvestre with arrow fletching.
The bullets for rifled barrels available are: the Golden Slug bullet by Brenneke which, however, is considered by many insiders only a makeshift, since it is in bare lead, albeit gold, has a front profile that is very little aerodynamic and therefore cannot take advantage of the advantages of the rifled barrel. The Remington Copper Solid bullet in copper alloy with sabot, which however is not the most suitable for shooting in smooth barrels and offers no aerodynamic advantage. Neither of them is therefore able to offer significant advantages over their use in smoothbore. A very recent production by Brenneke, however, seems to offer something new: it is the under-calibrated Super Sabot bullet (16 mm). The 31,8g bullet with a brass sabot should expand up to 25mm and, when fired with a rifled barrel, should have a 60mm shot pattern. at 100 meters. The only drawback is its price: 4 euros each cartridge.
Finally, we believe we are also talking about the Baby Magnum. The peculiarity of these cartridges is that by exerting pressures not exceeding 740 bar; if loaded in 70 mm cases, they can also be fired by standard guns, while for all magnums with .76 cases, magnum rifles are required. The baby magnums increase the range by an average of 4 m, the magnums by 6 and the supermagnums by 9.
With this article, we hope to have clarified this delicate topic. The hunt for the King of the bush is one of the most considered among hunters and one of the most complex.
Finding the perfect cartridge, connected to a good shotgun, is a difficult operation, but not impossible.
The important thing to keep in mind is that the personal sensations that will be felt when shooting will be fundamental: there is the perfect cartridge for every hunter, but the one for all hunters will never exist.