Long Range Pig Calibers

[Harrison S]

Have just started running my livestock on a new agistment property... evidence of pigs everywhere and dogs everywhere... the issue is that this particular field that the pigs seem to live is impossible to get close to... we are going to have to shoot these blighters from an overlooking Ridge, and will be shooting 300-500m shots with thermal...

What are the opinions on the best calibers for this Range? Im looking for a fast hard hitting round that is consistent... Definitely want them dropping on the spot... I feel like a 303, 308, and 30-06 will be a bit out of their depth at these ranges, so some people are saying 7mm-08, 6.5 PRC, 270win, 7mm rem mag, I've even had the 300 winmag and 338 winmag recommended... and of course, the ever present recommendation of the 6.5 manbun...

Let the conversation begin... keen to get some unbiased opinions, especially experienced ones...

[deye243]

First question I have ...... are your skills up to the task and if it we're me I would be using a 7 rem mag but others will recommend a 7 PRC Amo probably twice the cost with anything from a 160 to 180 grain projectile as you've listed maximum range of 500 a vld type projectile isn't necessary but would be good to keep wind drift down and as for dropping them on the spot really doesn't have much to do with Calibre but everything to do with your skill level if you cannot consistently hit a 2 liter milk bottle laying on its side at 500 yards don't bother next is the cost reliable scope reliable gun you're going to be looking at five plus thousand dollars how big is the problem if it's only 10 or 15 pigs that's a lot of money to spend just to get rid of them how long you're gonna have the access to the property

[Harrison S]

Hoping to be on the property for many years to come... im yet to know the full extent of the pig invasion but it looks pretty significant... in terms of skills... I can hit a target a fair way off if it's sitting still.. I normally will always go for a head shot (on pigs) at longer range if I've got the visibility... I havnt taken many over 200m, but in this case, I dont have an option... sorry, I tend to talk metric instead of imperial...

[Wapiti]

Here we go, im going to upset some people.
This is completely from doing this, myself, for 40 years. I'm not quoting anyone else.

My opinion is there's no excuse for not being able to stalk up on them from downwind, day or night. The is no impossible, only no skill.
Even if they're in the middle of a crop paddock a km wide, they come in on easily identifiable paths, where they can be hit downwind from 10m away sitting quietly.
Pigs have hopeless eyes if you aren't moving around of talking, or stuffing about on a phone as some people can't stop doing during stakeout where you need to learn to focus, sit still or stalk with 100% silence into the breeze with the suitable clothing and quiet footwear.
Pretty good ears and brilliant noses on these things.
I learnt a lot from stalking difficult boars, big fellas that has escaped everyone else including dumb dogs, and from rearing feral pigs into very interesting and loyal pets. In fact one boar ended up finding pigs hidden in huge flood rubbish piles and windrows for me.

On the long range energy side, the wider and faster the projectiles, the better. Not looking for the cheapest or least recoiling cartridge, or from watching long range metal gong competitions. Again, not giving living animals respect, they didn't ask to be pests, they were just born like you, and need to be removed without stress, pain or worse, running off from some wannabe sniper.
But having tried and being sucked in to this mainly city-dreamer-rangepest-craze myself, and realising animals move after you've tripped the shot, it's all bullsh*t and a wounded animal will result in a "find somewhere else to experiment" ban from me.

Calibres? Yeah I sarcastically cane the 6.5 Manbun/6.5 Tampon because a few clicks less drop is all this craze is, and paper punching using long projectiles going slow is not hunting, period. If using a bit more powder in a bigger cartridge breaks the bank after you spend $500 on fuel, tyres, vehicle wear and tear hours and time off work for a hunt, you're kidding yourself. I don't fall for that rubbish excuse either. OK, yes on a shooting range doing some match with 50 cartridges, fine, but thats holes in paper, not animals. Recoil? FFS.
Does a 300WM perform better than a 6.5? That's a given. 300 RUM? 338 Lapua in a 1/2 MOA rifle with a 25x scope and suitable bullets? Yes the difference is there, but the animals walking off during projectile flight, or your wobbly rest, or wind, or you f**king up your rubbish phone app ballistic chart, is why you learn to stalk.

[Blr243]

Why the distance problem? I have just switched from noisy quadbike to a silent electric scooter. Now I can ride to within 100 and then stalk in to 30 or less . Then I can do ethical shots on at least 3 pigs

[No1Mk3]

All the calibers you mention will work perfectly at those ranges. The 303 needs a good rifle and experience with it, but it will work. The 308 &30-06 would be easier to shoot. But as others have stated getting up on pigs is not that hard, to the point where even the 22-250 drops them.

[deye243]

Here we go, im going to upset some people.
This is completely from doing this, myself, for 40 years. I'm not quoting anyone else.

My opinion is there's no excuse for not being able to stalk up on them from downwind, day or night. The is no impossible, only no skill.
Even if they're in the middle of a crop paddock a km wide, they come in on easily identifiable paths, where they can be hit downwind from 10m away sitting quietly.
Pigs have hopeless eyes if you aren't moving around of talking, or stuffing about on a phone as some people can't stop doing during stakeout where you need to learn to focus, sit still or stalk with 100% silence into the breeze with the suitable clothing and quiet footwear.
Pretty good ears and brilliant noses on these things.
I learnt a lot from stalking difficult boars, big fellas that has escaped everyone else including dumb dogs, and from rearing feral pigs into very interesting and loyal pets. In fact one boar ended up finding pigs hidden in huge flood rubbish piles and windrows for me.

On the long range energy side, the wider and faster the projectiles, the better. Not looking for the cheapest or least recoiling cartridge, or from watching long range metal gong competitions. Again, not giving living animals respect, they didn't ask to be pests, they were just born like you, and need to be removed without stress, pain or worse, running off from some wannabe sniper.
But having tried and being sucked in to this mainly city-dreamer-rangepest-craze myself, and realising animals move after you've tripped the shot, it's all bullsh*t and a wounded animal will result in a "find somewhere else to experiment" ban from me.

Calibres? Yeah I sarcastically cane the 6.5 Manbun/6.5 Tampon because a few clicks less drop is all this craze is, and paper punching using long projectiles going slow is not hunting, period. If using a bit more powder in a bigger cartridge breaks the bank after you spend $500 on fuel, tyres, vehicle wear and tear hours and time off work for a hunt, you're kidding yourself. I don't fall for that rubbish excuse either. OK, yes on a shooting range doing some match with 50 cartridges, fine, but thats holes in paper, not animals. Recoil? FFS.
Does a 300WM perform better than a 6.5? That's a given. 300 RUM? 338 Lapua in a 1/2 MOA rifle with a 25x scope and suitable bullets? Yes the difference is there, but the animals walking off during projectile flight, or your wobbly rest, or wind, or you f**king up your rubbish phone app ballistic chart, is why you learn to stalk.

Don't worry you have not upset me but how far will animal walk in 0.58 of a second

[Damo300]

If you've got to take shots at that distance.
7mm rem mag, or 300wm.
Don't worry about the PRC rubbish.

At that distance you're going to need a pretty decent scope.
Leupold make some nice ones that you can have a custom turret cut for. Basically you give leupold your ballistic data and they lazer cut a custom turret to your liking. I personally have one and can say that they work extremely well.
Look for the CDS models.



You're only going to get one shot at the sounder, the rest will be leading shots as the pigs all split up, sone will stop again, but at that range it will be like a spray and pray scenario.

Put some time into finding their trails.
I'd be trying to get in close and hit them with an open sight 30/30 or 308 or similar.
Cheaper than buying an expensive deer rifle to hunt pigs.
Each to their own though.


You can also advertise with SSAA farmer assist.
Blokes will come out and clean them up for you. Save you the hassle.

[Zach]

Here we go, im going to upset some people.
This is completely from doing this, myself, for 40 years. I'm not quoting anyone else.

My opinion is there's no excuse for not being able to stalk up on them from downwind, day or night. The is no impossible, only no skill.
Even if they're in the middle of a crop paddock a km wide, they come in on easily identifiable paths, where they can be hit downwind from 10m away sitting quietly.
Pigs have hopeless eyes if you aren't moving around of talking, or stuffing about on a phone as some people can't stop doing during stakeout where you need to learn to focus, sit still or stalk with 100% silence into the breeze with the suitable clothing and quiet footwear.
Pretty good ears and brilliant noses on these things.
I learnt a lot from stalking difficult boars, big fellas that has escaped everyone else including dumb dogs, and from rearing feral pigs into very interesting and loyal pets. In fact one boar ended up finding pigs hidden in huge flood rubbish piles and windrows for me.

On the long range energy side, the wider and faster the projectiles, the better. Not looking for the cheapest or least recoiling cartridge, or from watching long range metal gong competitions. Again, not giving living animals respect, they didn't ask to be pests, they were just born like you, and need to be removed without stress, pain or worse, running off from some wannabe sniper.
But having tried and being sucked in to this mainly city-dreamer-rangepest-craze myself, and realising animals move after you've tripped the shot, it's all bullsh*t and a wounded animal will result in a "find somewhere else to experiment" ban from me.

Calibres? Yeah I sarcastically cane the 6.5 Manbun/6.5 Tampon because a few clicks less drop is all this craze is, and paper punching using long projectiles going slow is not hunting, period. If using a bit more powder in a bigger cartridge breaks the bank after you spend $500 on fuel, tyres, vehicle wear and tear hours and time off work for a hunt, you're kidding yourself. I don't fall for that rubbish excuse either. OK, yes on a shooting range doing some match with 50 cartridges, fine, but thats holes in paper, not animals. Recoil? FFS.
Does a 300WM perform better than a 6.5? That's a given. 300 RUM? 338 Lapua in a 1/2 MOA rifle with a 25x scope and suitable bullets? Yes the difference is there, but the animals walking off during projectile flight, or your wobbly rest, or wind, or you f**king up your rubbish phone app ballistic chart, is why you learn to stalk.

Don't worry you have not upset me but how far will animal walk in 0.58 of a second

Not far, but enough to turn a lung shot into a gut shot, or a quick brain death into a blown off jaw

[deye243]

Here we go, im going to upset some people.
This is completely from doing this, myself, for 40 years. I'm not quoting anyone else.

My opinion is there's no excuse for not being able to stalk up on them from downwind, day or night. The is no impossible, only no skill.
Even if they're in the middle of a crop paddock a km wide, they come in on easily identifiable paths, where they can be hit downwind from 10m away sitting quietly.
Pigs have hopeless eyes if you aren't moving around of talking, or stuffing about on a phone as some people can't stop doing during stakeout where you need to learn to focus, sit still or stalk with 100% silence into the breeze with the suitable clothing and quiet footwear.
Pretty good ears and brilliant noses on these things.
I learnt a lot from stalking difficult boars, big fellas that has escaped everyone else including dumb dogs, and from rearing feral pigs into very interesting and loyal pets. In fact one boar ended up finding pigs hidden in huge flood rubbish piles and windrows for me.

On the long range energy side, the wider and faster the projectiles, the better. Not looking for the cheapest or least recoiling cartridge, or from watching long range metal gong competitions. Again, not giving living animals respect, they didn't ask to be pests, they were just born like you, and need to be removed without stress, pain or worse, running off from some wannabe sniper.
But having tried and being sucked in to this mainly city-dreamer-rangepest-craze myself, and realising animals move after you've tripped the shot, it's all bullsh*t and a wounded animal will result in a "find somewhere else to experiment" ban from me.

Calibres? Yeah I sarcastically cane the 6.5 Manbun/6.5 Tampon because a few clicks less drop is all this craze is, and paper punching using long projectiles going slow is not hunting, period. If using a bit more powder in a bigger cartridge breaks the bank after you spend $500 on fuel, tyres, vehicle wear and tear hours and time off work for a hunt, you're kidding yourself. I don't fall for that rubbish excuse either. OK, yes on a shooting range doing some match with 50 cartridges, fine, but thats holes in paper, not animals. Recoil? FFS.
Does a 300WM perform better than a 6.5? That's a given. 300 RUM? 338 Lapua in a 1/2 MOA rifle with a 25x scope and suitable bullets? Yes the difference is there, but the animals walking off during projectile flight, or your wobbly rest, or wind, or you f**king up your rubbish phone app ballistic chart, is why you learn to stalk.

Don't worry you have not upset me but how far will animal walk in 0.58 of a second

Not far, but enough to turn a lung shot into a gut shot, or a quick brain death into a blown off jaw

Gee I must be good then

[Die Judicii]

OK,, Harrison,

Besides all the long distance stuff and various rifle/ammo choices,,,, let's cut to the chase and tell us all,,,,, Why is the block/field/paddock
impossible to get to ?


When we all know the reasonings,,,,, then you might get some really useful info.

And, Why on earth would you try for head shots on pigs (that are nearly always moving) at longer distances beats the hell out of me, when
heart/lung shots are also pretty lethal and much easier come by.

The wind, scent, and vision can be your worst enemy or your bestest friend ever.
It just depends on how you apply them.

And STEALTH, PATIENCE, and CUNNING will always win the day or night.

[bigrich]

Have just started running my livestock on a new agistment property... evidence of pigs everywhere and dogs everywhere... the issue is that this particular field that the pigs seem to live is impossible to get close to... we are going to have to shoot these blighters from an overlooking Ridge, and will be shooting 300-500m shots with thermal...

What are the opinions on the best calibers for this Range? Im looking for a fast hard hitting round that is consistent... Definitely want them dropping on the spot... I feel like a 303, 308, and 30-06 will be a bit out of their depth at these ranges, so some people are saying 7mm-08, 6.5 PRC, 270win, 7mm rem mag, I've even had the 300 winmag and 338 winmag recommended... and of course, the ever present recommendation of the 6.5 manbun...

Let the conversation begin... keen to get some unbiased opinions, especially experienced ones...

if you've got a thermal , do some recon , find out where their coming in , and set up down wind mid afternoon 100 meters away , be very quiet , and wait for night . 308 with a thermal will work fine . work out their habits, and trails their using and set up accordingly . long distance shooting is more difficult than it would appear if you haven't been practising .
the best long range cartridge is the one you can shoot most accurately whilst having reasonable energy at distance . hand loaded 7mm rem mag would be my pick , but in reality i'd use a 308 or even a 243 and get closer . cheers

[Fester]

I would pick a 7mm mag cartridge in a good varmint rifle with a scope to suit.
A .270 would also do it fine.
It is within the manbun's capability, with the right projies.

Chest shots are the obvious aiming point and practice at 600m to shoot critters at 400 is my theory.

I practice at 500m by going for the smallest 6" plate and seeing the close misses as well with my non-breaked Fagmoor.
I always put a paper target at 300 and see the wind drift using the .223 .

My aim is to try for critters at 300, and work to 400, likely with a bigger rifle.

[tuknal]

if your really concerned about the pigs being a problem with your stock then free feed and bait/trap them,then clean up whats left by the methods of what others have posted ,,cause youll get more that way
or if your just looking for an excuse to buy another rifle ,,STOP ,,,just go buy it and be happy

[Willie]

I think the longest I have had a crack at pigs was about 500m with a hot loaded 270. Just my two bobs worth.

[Wapiti]

Pig traps are a great way of sorting out these animals, but of course it's in no way sporting or satisfying but extremely affective.
Issue for most is that they aren't that well versed on making one.