When hog hunting with a 10mm I would either carry a heavy expanding bullet (180gr Trophy Bonded, 180-200gr XTP) or a 200-220gr hardcast. I have some beliefs I would like to run past the more experienced hunters here.

I believe this question is only relevant regarding very large boars. On medium pigs around 150lbs I do not think their hide or bone could stop any of the hunting bullets mentioned above.

With the 220gr hardcast I would aim to break bone, trying to break the shoulders or spine. I expect the hardcast to break the thickest part of the shoulder bone on hogzilla.

With the expanding bullets I would trust them to defeat the lower leg if I attempted a heart shot, and no matter how big the boar was or tough the shield was I would expect them to penetrate well for a double lung shot. Then might break the shoulder but I would try to avoid it for an ethical kill.

Do you agree with my assumptions?

With 200-220gr hardcast, you can shoot just about anywhere you want depending on range.

With expanding bullets, I would suggest tucking them in behind the shoulder and preferably at a quartering away angle.

As in all things....YMMV.

10mm hardcast likely to leave two holes (entrance and exit) at most angles on just about any wild hog.  They are super tough animals and absorb a bunch of punishment but hardcast blasts through and penetrates like crazy. 

Bluebird, the expanding projectiles you mentioned are each excellent choices.  I'd also add 155gr Barnes Tac-XP, 200gr Nosler JHP, 180gr Gold Dot, and the Extreme defender/penetrator lines to your list of acceptable options.

I've taken a number of feral hogs & wild boar ranging in size all the way up to about 325lbs which is pretty dang big (at least for Texas) with 10mm pistols.  Harvested larger pigs with rifles but legitimate 400lbs & 500lbs wild hogs really are super rare in my experience.  Never personally had a 10mm JHP fail to make it through the shield but it's a question about how far the animal will run and you'll have to track it. 

Tracking wounded wild hog can be dicey proposition with numerous potential issues. For that reason, when possible I'm prone to go for CNS shots where possible.  Directly behind and below the ear is an excellent lights out, drt choice.  Another fine area to focus on is neck vertebrae which is located directly between the point of the shoulder and the ear of the hog. 

Here is a good link to familiarize yourself with hog anatomy. 
https://huntingheart.com/anatomy-of-wild-hog/

Best of luck!

@Rojo27

after reading that link it got me to thinking, my 10mm isn't going to cause the massive hydrostatic damage that my .308 does if I hit the lungs. Where I hunt there are low bushy trees and the terrain is pretty rough ... Tracking a pig 200yds without dogs is not going to be very reasonable.

So I'll look for that neck shot and the heart shot. I will be starting it next week and report on my results once I get a pig.

I did let a piglet go a few months ago, I bet that 200gr xtp sure would have worked on him haha!

Quote from: Bluebird5000 on January 23 2021 03:21:54 PM MST
When hog hunting with a 10mm I would either carry a heavy expanding bullet (180gr Trophy Bonded, 180-200gr XTP) or a 200-220gr hardcast. I have some beliefs I would like to run past the more experienced hunters here.

I believe this question is only relevant regarding very large boars. On medium pigs around 150lbs I do not think their hide or bone could stop any of the hunting bullets mentioned above.

With the 220gr hardcast I would aim to break bone, trying to break the shoulders or spine. I expect the hardcast to break the thickest part of the shoulder bone on hogzilla.

With the expanding bullets I would trust them to defeat the lower leg if I attempted a heart shot, and no matter how big the boar was or tough the shield was I would expect them to penetrate well for a double lung shot. Then might break the shoulder but I would try to avoid it for an ethical kill.

Do you agree with my assumptions?

just my 2 cents, theres a company in Alaska called Kodiak bullets and they make a true bonded bullet, I buy the lead round nose flat point in 155 grain for my reloads for hog and deer hunting, I cannot drop a pic as the format is too large however one hunt I hit the hog in the face just under the right eye about 15 yards and the bullet went through the head, shattered the spine and neck and exited near the left lung area shattering ribs as well, that shot was made with my 10mm handloads with those bullets, I'd recommend Kodiak but remember they are a little spendy

10mm shot placement on boars/hogs.

I have taken my share using a MechTech CCU on my Glock 20 frame.

I started with 180gr XTP bullets at about 1500 fps.  My shots were half way between the front shoulder and behind the ear.   DRT.  Any body shot and they run.   I would trust the 180 XTP.

I have begun using cast lead bullets which are powder coated.   Lee 401-175-TC.   These bullets fly 1600 fps and same POI is deadly.   I use a mix of alloy that yields around 11.3 BHN, so they don?t go thru, usually.   Same thing, same POI, DRT.   I took about a 150 lb boar at 120 yard a few weeks ago and shot him high on the shoulder.   DRT.

You want to hit that CNS.   

Thanks for that video Rojo.

Thanfully, the area where I'm at, doesn't have wild hogs.  So, I'm 100% ignorant when it comes to hunting them.

Though, we used to do either ear shots or between the eyes shots with a 22 when we would butcher our hogs when I was growing up.

I don't recall ever needing a followup shot.  So, the ear is probably what I would be most comfortable with since I lost my x ray glasses when I was in the 3rd grade and I don't want to risk missing the spine.     I prefer a sure thing when pulling a trigger on something.

My dad shot many feral hogs up to 350 lbs with a 38/40 wheel weight cast Keith type bullets and most shots just behind the shoulder would go completely through and leave a nice blood trail. His load data was from the Lyman book high velocity load data. Don?t recommend it he was shooting it in a Colt new service.