Hog Hunting: 308 vs 300BLK

[FlyingHunter]

As a very experienced hunter, there is no magic bullet or caliber that guarantees 1 shot stops. Great shot placement is where the solution is. Smart selection of purpose driven bullet design and construction is next for example. I own both 300BLK and 308. Ballistically they are very different. See my charts below. Note the average ft lbs at the muzzle for a 308 is around 2800 and the 300BLK 1400. Yes, you can split hairs with this grain of bullet or powder charge, but the 308 has a large and undeniable advantage over the 300BLK for terminal performance on game. That said, the 300BLK will certainly take hogs just fine at reasonably distances with smart choices for bullet design (my favorite is 110r TSX).

http://www.ballistics101.com/308_winchester.php

http://www.ballistics101.com/300aac_blackout.php

[KUSA]

My uncle is looking for a sub $1000 rifle (not including optics) for hog hunting.

He says that his Mini 14 is not enough, and wants something that will potentially drop them with one shot.

He's been looking at the DPMS 308 (Gen 1 I believe).

I was thinking a 16" BCM 300BLK may be a better choice.

What say ye?

I can't imagine how a 300blk could be a better choice than a 308. It's not even in the same ballpark.

[bzdog]

You have to define "better". The 300BLK can be lighter, cheaper, shorter and still get the job done. But it also will have less range, etc.

-john


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[w squared]

I have never hunted hogs with a .300 BLK, but I'll share my experience with .308 and .30-30. I know that nobody asked about the .30-30 but I'll still offer my thoughts because it's total muzzle energy is almost the same as a 6.8SPC (and thus not too much more than what the .300 BLK offers)....and hey, it's the interwebs. This is the home of unsolicited opinions of questionable relevance.

For my money, both .308 and .30-30 are 100% effective at anchoring medium sized hogs at ranges under 100 yards if you shot placement is acceptable. I do not mean perfect shot placement - I mean acceptable. I try to put rounds halfway up the hog's body, halfway between the front of their front leg and the back of their head. This gives you a very good chance of a "DRT" spine hit, and if the hog is quartering and your shot placement is less than perfect you'll end up putting it right in the boiler room. I choose this shot because it the best way I know to maximize the chance of a humane harvest even when conditions are less than ideal.

Even if your shot isn't perfect, a well selected bullet in either caliber is very likely to still do the job. I run the Barnes 168 grain TTSX in my .308, and the Barnes 150 grain TSX in the .30-30. Only once have I needed to put a second round into a hog with either rifle - and even that follow-up shot was into a hog that was effectively anchored by the first round.

Based on what I've seen, I would not have an issue with shooting a hog with a .300 supersonic - but I would definitely choose a premium bullet, and I would not take the shot unless I was sure of good shot placement. I would probably limit my shots on hogs with the .300 to a maximum of 100 yards until I had some more first-hand understanding of effectiveness. Then again, keeping your shots under 100 yards is not a big issue for most of the hog hunting I do.

[Fullretard]

my own experience is 300 blackout 110gr leupold 3-9 on 3x at about 50 yards I would love to try it at 100 or 150 but the opportunity has not presented itself...

Barnes 110 grain black tip vortex is amazing if you shoot the piggies in the face, and of course 308 works if you shoot them in the face.

if you go 300 blackout think about addding another 1K for a suppressor, so you can plink with subsonics.

actually but a 308 caliber can a way