Which is the best caliber for wild boar hunting?

What is certain is that the emotions of a day’s wild boar hunting do not simply fade away once you return home, but accompany the memories of every hunter.

Very widespread throughout the peninsula, the sus scrofa can be hunted with various hunting techniques and choosing the most suitable caliber for hunting wild boar is certainly the first step for taking up this activity.

For the driven wild boar hunting you can use semi automatic or over and under 12 gauge slug shotguns for the smooth barrel, and semi-automatic or, more rarely, manual repeating rifles for the rifled bore.

Among the 12 gauge shotguns for driven wild boar hunting, Affinity Slug and Feeling Slug, are both effective allies for challenging this game.

60 cm barrel with rear sight for the semi-automatic, 55 cm with fixed choke Cyl./*** for the over and under. Both offer great ease of swing, thanks to the light weight and strong ergonomics, which make them two instruments perfect for the quick firing shots wild boar requires.

Hitting game like the wild boar – in motion and with a quick-off-the-mark, unpredictable run – is as challenging as it is fascinating. Precisely for this reason, good training in the art of swift shotgun shouldering can be decisive in being ready for the different hunting situations and distances we are able to spot it from.

On the other hand, for driven wild boar hunting with a rifled bore, particularly suitable calibers are the 8×57 and the 9.3. When it comes to selection and long range shots spanning between 100 yards and 200 yards however, there’s only one weapon of choice: the bolt action rifle.

Bolt action rifles and the best caliber for wild boar hunting.

The wild boar is very thick-hided sized game. Of the so-called “blacks”, male specimens with a dark grey-blackish coat, oscillate between 100 and 200 kg in the Alps, while they settle at 80-90 kg in central-southern Italy.

Also known as the deer hunting caliber, the .270 Winchester is the recommended minimum which you should not go below, with an energy of 3660.71 Nm, while all the 30 calibers are recommended and very suitable for tough-skinned quarry like wild boar.

Moreover, due to its traditional resistance and size, and regardless of caliber choice, it is very important to be at the right distance and to pull off a clean, accurate shot.

The shooter’s skill and ethical sense… always make the difference.

300 win mag, 30-06 Springfield and 308 Winchester are all an excellent choice for hunting from high seat, whether carried out from a hunting tower or else from other fixed blinds.

Wild boar hunting calibers: .30-06 or .308?

Very similar to each other, so much so that they could be called cousins, the 30-06 Springfield and the 308 Win are certainly the two most popular calibers among those who practise selection hunting with bolt action rifles. For this reason the preference of one or the other is very much a personal matter, reflective of the attitudes and feelings of individual hunters.

There is no wrong choice when it comes to the best caliber for wild boar hunting. Both have the right power required, excellent internal ballistics, may be used at good distances and with variety in the powder… in short, the advantages are many!

A .30-06 is a 30 caliber, with a 0.308 inch (7.62 mm) bullet diameter; likewise a .308 caliber for wild boar hunting, amongst other things, has a 0.308 diameter ogive.

Indeed, from this standpoint they are absolutely identical. You can literally use virtually the same bullets in both.

So… what exactly is the difference?

To answer this question, we need to take a brief dive into the past. The .30-06 Springfield has been around for more than 100 years and enjoys significant popularity worldwide. Created around 1903, it was completed in 1906, thus its name: a 1906 30 caliber… so the .30-06 was born!

The 308 caliber on the other hand is a more recent invention, developed by Winchester in 1952. Created for reasons of military logistics, while maintaining the same braking power as the .30-06, it features a smaller ammunition , using the same type of ogive and different types of powder.

The main difference between a .30-06 caliber and a .308 lies in the versatility of use when hunting. If in the .308 caliber only load ammunition ranging from 120 grains to 190 grains bullet can be loaded, in a .30-06, it is only bullet weight from 110 to 220 grains.

A quick bit of arithmetic is all it takes to see that there are 40 more grains of variation for the older of the two calibers, which therefore allows for a broader versatility of application. In any case, whether the choice lands on one or the other, a bolt action rifle in either .308 or .30-06 is excellent for challenging this particular game!

All the Horizon family rifles are available in these two calibers for a perfect day of  wild boar hunting, and more, with a large variety of configurations and finishes.

Available in wooden or synthetic versions, with fixed or removable magazine of 3 or 4 shots depending on the calibers, smooth or fluted bolt and Cerakote finish on barrel and action in the Horizon Elite Gray and camo Strata models, all Horizon are delivered with a certificate of accuracy M.O.A. on a group of 3 shots.

The choice of the best caliber for wild board huntinge and the right rifle is essential to fully enjoy a day’s boar hunt.

The rest is made up by the emotions felt… the rustle of the wind as it makes its way through the leaves, the breath of a nature that manages to surprise every time with the sensations it offers and then the pure adrenaline of being there when the king emerges from the vegetation and the perfect moment to take action is night.