Advice on 12Ga load for hunting pigs

[Am88]

In that case IMO the 9 pellet 00SG's would be a good option, they are a fair size pellet, from memory about 8mm diameter, and they hit pretty hard, I have some #4 Buck shells at home, 16 pellet, and although good, they don't hit like the 00SG's on 20l of water. If your only 20m away use cylinder or improved cylinder bore choke too.

[pumaguy]

we have a bernadelli O/U in .308 and 12G. works well! easy calibres to feed it. have seen a few O/U,s for sale. BRNO 12G 7x57R on used guns. a comprise but if 12 gauge doesnt centrefire will!

[Ferrisweil]

I’lll throw in my two cents for what it’s worth.
I’ve shot a LOT of pigs in many situations. I’ve tried your method of the “German Flak Gunner” and it’s rare that it works well. Pigs are tough critters and using the tactic of throwing lead in the air, you’ll either miss or just wound pigs...
Shotties are great during the day, waking the brigalow, lime bush or the thick stuff when you’ve got quick shots in thick scrub. Also good chasing them on quads and we always have a shotty on the ute roof at night. I really only run 00SG and sometimes I’ll do as mentioned above and run OOsg, OOsg, Ssg, SSG or some sort of combo that suits the terrain. What you’ll find also works well is that if you’re out with a mate, one runs a shotty and the other a rifle. There’s one mate of mine that when I’m out on a walk, I’ll always run shotty and he runs a pumpy Remington. Deadly combo.
At night though, it’s a rifle mate. Either run a really good torch like and Olight or get yourself a thermal. Finally, and above all else, just get better at running shots. Pigs are one of the easier things to hit on the run. They’re long and don’t bob up and down. If you’re stalking out to them as you say, you should get enough time to bop 3-4 within easy enough range if you’re on song. We use thermal and a few little tactics can make a difference. If you can spread out a bit with your mates, the initial boom of two firearms can disorientate them and they’ll run in circles. Another trick is to shoot the one at the back first. This leaves a closer one as your follow up shot and I’ve head some blokes say that the sound of the impact on that pig at the back (think broom hitting rug) makes the pigs think they’ve gotta run away from that sound (towards you).
The thing that’s consistent about pigs though mate is the inconsistency of every mob. They all react differently but I’d just get better at shots on the run...

[Patriot]

00 buck

[TassieTiger]

This might well be a stupid as, thing to say - being me I’ll ask regardless...IF your plan is eradicating as many as possible, as quickly as possible - can you trap them with a feed trail into a pen and drop them the next day ? Thinking pressure plate / door on a pen.
Can you load a quick action rifle hot for speed and try for 2 in the first shot - pencilling first pig? Would the akkar triple barrel be a possible?

Just throwing suggestions around really. If you have Netflix, there’s a meat eater episode where the trap pigs...shows you how.

[Blr243]

I know a bloke who shot two dingoes with one arrow. I try not to have pigs lined up behind each other because I don’t want to wound one of them . My pigs are always on the move browsing never standing still ...in the right situation I will be able to do it now that I’ll be useing the 308 instead of my old 243 and v max ......I See traps but I don’t set traps because if I catch ten pigs in a trap I have to shoot them and that means there’s ten less pigs for me to hunt next night. I can understand why land owners trap pigs .....I see evidence of pig traps not being checked regularly and I know they die of thirst and I hate the thought of it ....whenever I see pigs trapped for human consumption I always bring them water ever day .....and I know they are really grateful because every day the pigs thank me by trying to bite my fingers off

[on_one_wheel]

I has great results on pigs with 00 SG

[boingk]

Sounds like you need a powerful lever action rifle. Quick shots in hard hitting high calibre goodness.

Something like a 30-30 or 44 mag.

- boingk

[targetshooter900]

Try slugs instead

[mchughcb]

Never shot pigs before with a shotgun but have shot goats and there that almost makes me highly qualified.

Like every animal with 4 leg can run about 50km per hour or 13 metres per second. Therefore if you get to 30m to target and get one shot off then in one second the target can be 43m and right on the limit for a full choke 00 buck. Within 2 seconds it is at almost 60m and out of range.


If you are going to shoot i use 3" magnum loads 000 buck 10 pellets or 00 buck 15 or #3 buck 20 pellets. But past 30m you have a high probability of wounding which will require a finisher.

[womble]

All relevant to terrain, size, age of feral pigs. I guess. But generally i don’t think a shotgun is the right tool for the job.
Because it has limited use. Not much good spotlighting at night.
If it’s all you have then I think only slugs. Because slug = being hit by a kenworth truck. So essentially you are sending kenworth trucks down range.

Ideally a semi auto rifle. Second choice would be a pump action rifle. Third choice would be lever action, but it takes more practice to be fast and accurate with a lever action.
I’d probably even choose a semi auto rim fire over a scatter gun with pellets. Or maybe a spear... or a sword..

So in summary, if you really do have a feral pig problem. And you do want to rid yourself of that problem. A shotgun is not going to mange the problem very well. You will not eradicate the problem without 30 cal semi-autos, or less humane means.

[womble]

And you will need a permit for a sword too

[womble]

Because in Australia our laws are f***ing gay

[womble]

Which incidentally, answers most of the questions you will have.

[mickb]

Learn to reload 12ga buckshot and you can get a lot more out of them.

A standard 2.75" case 12ga can actually handle 12x 00/SG pellets at full power.
Or 20 pellets of the US 's no. 1 buck. Devestating load, much heavier pellet than SSG and two extra pellets to boot.(Our SSG for the record is between US no 2 and 3 buck in sizes. No 4 buck is smaller as you know)
A 3" case ,which many shotguns chamber, can handle 15 x 00/SG.
A 3.5" case( which are available in some double barrels, I think Hatsan does an affordable one off the top of my head) can handle 18 pellets of 00/SG or 50 pellets of No.4 buck.

You also used to be able to get winchester and raytrade(remington) to do special orders of the american loaded buckshot if you order a case or more( 250 shellls) through your LGS. I have brought in factory loaded 12x00, 15x00 and 18x 00 in the past from them and the 1 buck load mentioned above.

http://www.ballsticproducts.com in the US are great to deal with and have all the components for loading.

[Blr243]

Mick I had no idea we could improve on our big ball loads. I wonder why the yanks have it and we don’t

[mickb]

yeah mate, our factory loads are quite moderate for 12gauge. If you get the right wads and hulls etc you can stack a lot more buckshot into cases. I often wondered myself why winchester/olin back in the day settled on making/importing all the pedestrian stuff. I guess it did the job and as Aussies could still use pumps and semi-autos if you wanted more buckshot you just pulled the trigger more often. Also the heavy cases are more expensive compared to US so maybe they thought it wouldnt be marketable here.