[masraum]

Originally Posted by otto_kretschmer

I want to go pig hunting next year. I have two places in mind. The first will be in Arizona and I'll be hunting javalina and the second will be in Texas and I'll be going after feral hogs.

I have two rifles I'll take. Both are bolt action and have scopes and they are chambered in 30-06 and 223.

I want to carry a sidearm for "just in case". I have a choice between a Browning Hi Power with 10 rounds of 9mm or a standard Colt 1911 with 7 rounds of 45 acp.

For ammo I'll be running my reloads in the 45, 180 gr lead SWC going about 850 fps and for the 9mm I'll be using factory ammo of a mix of 115 gr hollow points and FMJ. I'll load the magazines by alternating between the hollow points and FMJ.

Feral pigs can be dangerous so if I have to use a sidearm I'm in trouble. I shoot the Colt the best and only fair with the Hi Power.

I'm not going to buy a sidearm for this, so 44/357 mag, 10mm is out. I'm just going to stick with what I can have on hand now.

I'm undecided right now. A 9mm will penetrate better than a 45 and some hogs have a really thick hyde. I have two magazines of each, so 20 rounds of 9mm and 14 of 45.

any suggestions?

Paging Jeff Higgins for someone with LOTS of experience.

But my arm chair opinion (and I think it's a pretty good/valid opinion) is that the 115g 9mm is going to be inadequate. My thought is that you need heavy bullets with lots of momentum vs light weight bullets.

My vote is for 230gr .45 FMJ.


If you go with the 9mm, then I think you'd be far better off with 147gr flat nose rounds.


The flat nose acts like a semi-wad-cutter according to Jeff and creates a better wound channel than a round nose while also maximizing penetration depth. I wouldn't trust 9mm JHP to penetrate appropriately, especially in 115gr.

Other folks make flat nosed ammo besides Speer. They may be hard to find in 147gr right now.