Black Powder Pistol for boar???

[Captain Hobo]

Anyone out there use cap and ball pistol for wild boar hunting? I'd like to hear about your experience. What kind of gun and load?

thanks!  :-)

[Graybeard]

Certainly not I. Just don't think that would be a real good idea unless you are gonna restrict yourself to smaller well under 100 pound pigs. The small round balls just don't have the weight or size to penetrate and kill cleanly. I'd place it more in the "stunt" category than in the hunting category.

Now a .50 caliber single shot with a heavy conical should do OK if you can live with the one shot you get.

GB

[Ditchdigger]

I'm with G.B. on this one, I've watched 44 mag bullets bounce off some of the larger ones. I am curious about trying it with my colt walker with about 60 gr. of powder.   Digger

[Oldtimer]

In the book, "Sixguns", Elmer Keith tells of a conversation with an old Union cavalry veteran, who killed a running hog with a .36 revolver.  It can be done, if you are well aware of the capability of the gun.  In the story as Keith related it, some foragers had flushed the hog and the cavalryman was trying to save them a little work.  In other words, he had several men with .58 Springfields backing him up.  Consider, the .36 shoots a round ball of about 80 grains at around 1,000 f/s, give or take.  This is the equivalent of a .380 Auto.  A .44 would be better, with a round ball of about 130 grains.  This gets us all the way up to .38 Colt Auto level.  I would be sure to be up a tree before the festivities started.  Oh, and carry some spare balls and powder.

[Dusty Miller]

I'd rather use a fly swatter!!

[HWooldridge]

The gristle shield is the problem.  My grandpa raised hogs and killed them all the time with a 22 but that was in a pen at point blank between the eyes.  Wild hogs under hunting conditions is another set of variables.  I prefer to hunt with a good sized ML rifle and use the C&B for backup.

[bigbore442001]

Last Christmas vacation, I went up to a preserve in Maine and killed a Russian boar with a 14" .50 caliber M82 Kahnke single shot handgun. I used a 250 grain TC sabot with 100 grains of Triple 7 underneath it.

The first shot passed through the rib and gut area. I am a lousy shot on running game and that was what was presented to me at the time. The pig was finished off with a 454 Casull.

I do believe that a standing shot in a more vital area would have brought a more abrupt kill. The BP pistol shot right through the animal so the issue of power wasn't the question. Just bullet placement.

[oso45-70]

CAPTAIN HOBO
I was always told if you look for trouble you will find it and i am afraid that is what might happen. Kinda like taking a knife to a gun fight if you know what i mean. I would darn sure have some one standing by that i trusted with a big enough gun to get the job done just in case. Lots a luck.
Joe

[Jeff Vicars]

I chronographed some loads with 3f 777. Using 40 gr. by volume and a 211 gr. bullet produced 1140 fps. 44 gr.(33.8 gr. by weight) with the same bullet gave 1165 fps.

[oso45-70]

JEFF
When i was 15 years old a bunch of us crazy kids were out on the mesa hunting rabbits, We all had guns of one kind or the other, This goffy kid let one go,, It was not ment to hit me but it did. I don't know what kind of bullets he was shooting but the gun if i remember rite was a 36 navy.anyway it hit me on the pocket of my levi jacket and it made one heck of a welt but did not break the skin. If memory serves me right it was a round ball, Don't know how much powder he had loaded in the thing
but that is what promted me to post as i did. Now i'm sure if it been a bullet with a little more powder in it i might not be posting on this site. I still would not take a front end loading pistol boar hunting, ROUND BALL
or a CONICLE BULLET. Take care,   Joe

[affordablehoghunts]

fellas the gun i carry when we guide trips is a 45 caliber old army,made by ruger.it is a cap and ball revolver. it has more than enough velocity to penetrate the shield of a big boar(300 to 400 pounds). I use just the 100 gr. round ball but conical bullets are sold for these guns in a variety of bullet weights. remember that its not the make . model, or caliber of gun but what kind of marksman you are. shot placement is the key to hunting.
if you cant take a hog down with a 45 black powder dont take a 357.44 mag,50 cal desert eagle. might wanna stick to the long guns. I load my old army heavy enough to shoot through a solid 4 by 4 wood post. plenty of power. have taken alot of hogs over 300 with it