Shorter range or heavy cover:
I can’t picture anything more fun than a lever action in .44 Mag. Well, maybe a Ruger 44 autoloader might be more fun...
Open country:
A Remington 760 or 742 in your favorite deer chambering topped with a 1-4X duplex scope.
Fire up the grill.
I have shot feral pigs with .223s, 22-250s, 220 Swifts, 7-08s, 7mm Rem Mags AND if you want SPECTACULAR kills, .300 R.U.M.! To be very honest, the .223s (ALL 22 centerfires) should only be used with TXS pills and the like. Then you really need "close-up", as in 150 or less, HEAD shots to immediately and consistently put them down. The 7-08s on up kill cleanly. But the "crazy" spectacular kills were taken by my .300 R.U.M.! It is amazing what this thing will do. I will share a "real" story. My rifle is a custom job with a 26" 1-10 Pac-Nor barrel. The excellent 200 grain Accubond is powered by 96grs of Retumbo at 3200f.p.s. I was on a hunt and the land owner wanted the "pig / pests" cleared out! One of the bigger ones, about 275-300 pounds was out at 326 (Bushnell Yardage Pro rangefinder) and broadside, feeding. I put the crosshairs about 2" high from dead center shoulder and touched her off. FLOP! We went up to get the old boar and what we saw was unreal! Bone, hide, meat and "internals" strewn all over! Hunks of meat about 6" long>>20 or so feet away! When we turned him over, he had a hole out the side so large that BOTH sets of lungs were hanging out the "gaping hole"! I never witnessed anything like that! Unreal!
The cases go in and out like butter! However, you can only get 4 firings before the primer pockets are too loose to really be used after that. But as a hunting rifle, 25 cases will last thru load development and a few years of hunting. T-Rust me, the devastation that the Accubonds rain on an animal when sailing out at 3200f.p.s. is something to behold! I honestly believe that if the proper bullet was used, it would anchor a Cape Buffalo!96 grains of Retumbo? That’s a dang artillery shell!![]()
The hunt was canceled and we went Redfishing instead.
I have two 45-70s, love them, but you have to understand the limitations of the big thumpers. A 45-70 pushing 405s at ~ 1600 to 1800 or 350s at 2000+ drops close to 16 to 20 inches at 200 yards from a 100 yd zero, and if you're a little aggressive loading 350s to close to 2400 will leave your shoulder so bruised up that you can't shoot for 2 weeks if you shoot it half a dozen times, and that is with a shotgun butt with a recoil pad. You might be permanently injured if you try that with a metal plate.
After 200 yards they start dropping even faster, like 6+ inches per 25 yds or something like that. Awesome for short range, people have taken the Big 5 with them. You can load the 45-70 into the lower realms of the 458WM in a Ruger No.1, I'm not saying it's a great idea, but it will do it. If you plan to shoot further or want any kind of a chance at a followup there are better options.
...I haven’t loaded for that gun, yet! It’s so lite! I’m scared to shoot it with “near 458 loads”!!![]()
I still say a 168gr A-Max with 40gr. benchmark,,kills them damn deadView attachment 1064722
Everyone who shoots should watch this video at least once a year.You might want to check with this dude on what he uses to hog hunt?