Choosing a .480 Ruger cartridge for hunting wild boar

[DPHunter]

I am going on a wild boar hunt in October and need advice on a good bullet(brand and weight)to use in my .480 Ruger.  I have the Hornady 325 grain hollow points.  I've noticed there seems to be a much better choice of bullets now than there was when I first purchased the gun.  These boars should range in the 250lbs to 400lbs range.  Would I be better off with a lighter weight bullet with better speed or a heavy bullet with good penetration and energy?  If someone could give me some good advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Redhawk1]

If you are a reloader, I would go with a Cast Performance 370 gr.  Penetration is what you want in my opinion.

[MS Hitman]

First off, you need to throw energy out the window.  What you need is penetration and that is more easily acheived with the heavier bullets.  Also, hard cast bullets usually penetrate more effectively than jacketed bullets.  The 370 grain bullet loaded to around 1000 fps will give you a good load to tackle a big hog.

[Lloyd Smale]

if you insist on using jacketed step up to a 400 grain bullet

[Dusty Miller]

I'll second the motion to go for penetration.  If you are forced to shoot a pig head-on you'll need a good penetrator to puncture the grisle plate.

[drdougrx]

Boys, boys, boys.....really.......

Just use anything above 300gr that isn't a hollowpoint.  Really...as long as you shoot a well constructed bullet...hardcast, jacketed, or even...a hornady XTP (which is a hollowpoint), you'll have enough gun.  The .480 has enough diameter to penetrate almost everything imho.

Yes DP...the guys are right and I'll always defer to the wisdom of Redhawk!  Do as he advises, he'll never steer you wrong.

Have a great hunt and don't forget to give us the details and post the pics!!!!!

Good Hunting!!!

[Troggy]

250-400lbs? where the heck are you hunting?

[DPHunter]

Ha Ha.  I mean't the boars are upwards of 250lbs to 400lbs.  Didn't mean to be misleading.  This outfitter is in North Alabama near the Tennessee line.  A friend I hunt with has a ten or eleven year old son who killed a 400lbs boar at the same ranch earlier this year.

[Troggy]

400lbs ...Holy Cow...eeerrr Boar!!

[Tom W.]

My son shot three  last year with his .480 using 325 gr. JSP's with a handload of 25 grains of H110. Two were pass throughs on smaller (200 lb) pigs, and the third was a frontal shot that lodged somewhere deep inside the big hog.