.357 a good hog gun?

Whether plinking or chasing big game, tell us about your day outdoors!
lonestarjeff
Posts: 39
Joined: 18 Sep 2014 18:36
Location: NE Texas
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

.357 a good hog gun?

Post by lonestarjeff »

Well, maybe not, but my 92 goes with me every time I go out on a tractor or the Mule since the last six months. Our farm is near Paris, TX which is up near the Red River. All the counties along the river have been reporting hog damage for years, but somehow our little place has been spared up until recently.





Haven't had a shot at one yet, but they are mostly nocturnal, so no big surprise I haven't seen one other than on game cams, or the evidence("plowed" ground). I have a few other rifle choices(30-30, 300blk, 5.56)but the 92 loaded with .357 is my usual choice. Hard to leave the lever gun at home. :D

Jeff
golfish
500 Shots
500 Shots
Posts: 795
Joined: 23 Oct 2012 17:25
Location: Alta Loma, Ca
Has thanked: 26 times
Been thanked: 166 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by golfish »

Nice :) I mean sorry about the hog infestation but glad to see your going to put the lever gun to work.
lonestarjeff
Posts: 39
Joined: 18 Sep 2014 18:36
Location: NE Texas
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by lonestarjeff »

No major damage to complain about so far, in fact it's kind of strange...I've anticipated their arrival so long it's a bit underwhelming. They seem to come through maybe one night every six weeks or so.
User avatar
GRV01
250 Shots
250 Shots
Posts: 322
Joined: 14 Jan 2017 15:59
Location: Miami FL
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 47 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by GRV01 »

Mm, mouths watering at the prospect of bagging 50+lbs of free pork!

Good luck out there, and have a few chops for me

Whatre you keeping it loaded with? I tgink a 158gr JSP would be a good bacon-maker
No thin chicks
Currently reloading: 38 SPL, 357 MAG
Rossi's Owned: M92 .357 20"(Owned by Wifey: M92 .357 16")
User avatar
Ranch Dog
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9398
Joined: 23 Jan 2012 07:44
Location: Inez, TX
Has thanked: 1837 times
Been thanked: 2281 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by Ranch Dog »

Down in my part of Texas, we have our fair share of them. They have been inactive as of late, but I try to kill everyone I run across. I have one boar working in the back, but he is cutting across my place between 10 at night and 1 in the morning. If the weather clears up and I have some moon illumination, I will go out to incept him this week.

As to you question, honestly, it is not my favorite of the 92 choices. Years ago, for my cast bullet mold business, I came up with a 175-grain whitetail bullet for 357 Mag rifles, but when I applied that to hogs, I wished I had something even heavier. What I ended up doing was using a 190-grain, 35 Rem bullet of my design, and the additional 15-grains of weight made a big difference. I'm using hard cast bullets with a 72% meplat, so I depend on velocity coupled with the flat nose to accomplish three things; knock them off their feet, cut a 3/4" hole through them, and exit. Only because of my location and interest in doing it, I've killed thousands of hogs, and if you want to recover them, I've learned those are the keys to success. So, if the 357 Mag is what it is, use something that produces results across those points.

I have a topic about my work on this but what I have to do with my 190-grain bullet and its long nose is to load it in a 38 Spl case. That works out very well as the crimp groove against the case mouth works out perfectly. I do load the case to 357 Mag pressures using a volatile powder, Lil' Gun, for maximum velocities.

Image
Michael
Image
User avatar
Ranch Dog
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9398
Joined: 23 Jan 2012 07:44
Location: Inez, TX
Has thanked: 1837 times
Been thanked: 2281 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by Ranch Dog »

Here are three topics from back in 2015 when I was asking myself if the 357 Mag was a good hog gun.

Rethinking my 357 Mag as a hog rifle?

357 Mag on the road to redemption as a hog rifle!

Testing the R92 357 Mag & 190-Grain Bullet

I'm going to move this topic to the " Field/Hunting Stories, Tales, & Topics" forum.
Michael
Image
User avatar
Missionary
Founding Member
Founding Member
Posts: 588
Joined: 21 Mar 2012 15:47
Location: Peru
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 145 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by Missionary »

Greetings
If I ever get the opportunity to get to Texas and wack a few rooters I plan on using the 50 Alaskan or a 375-06. I am getting to lazy to be chasing critters about I want to knaw on.
Way down south in Arequipa, Peru till June 2020.
User avatar
GasGuzzler
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2745
Joined: 02 Nov 2015 19:54
Location: Cooke County, TX
Has thanked: 310 times
Been thanked: 451 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by GasGuzzler »

I have a NOE .360 I size to .358 and with grease and gas check weigh 186-ish. They'll just load short enough to fit in my Blackhawk and SRC. I'd guess they'd work well with a big load of H110, 2400, or ..... another powder I got but haven't tried (escapes me right now).
__________________________________________________________________________________________
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane.
lonestarjeff
Posts: 39
Joined: 18 Sep 2014 18:36
Location: NE Texas
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by lonestarjeff »

Thanks RD for the interesting read on your hog hunting experience. Lots of hogs under your belt. Even though it sounds like the.357 will get the job done, you've given me an excuse to get another Rossi lever gun in .44 mag. :-)

Jeff
lonestarjeff
Posts: 39
Joined: 18 Sep 2014 18:36
Location: NE Texas
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: .357 a good hog gun?

Post by lonestarjeff »

GRV01 wrote:
Whatre you keeping it loaded with? I tgink a 158gr JSP would be a good bacon-maker
I load it with JHP 158gr from Freedom munitions. The rifle seems to like cycling their rounded profile better than FP. After reading RD's research & ballistic work it looks like my "off the shelf" loads won't have enough velocity to do the job.

Jeff
Post Reply