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Russian Boar with the 600 Overkill

I am a believer that when hunting Russian Boar, there is no gun to big.  Many boars have been hunted and harvested using the classic 30-06 or even a 270.  These calibers will do the job, but if you have something bigger or heavier, why not put it to use.  How often do you get the chance to pull out the 375 H&H or your .416 Rigby? 

Maybe you are fortunate enough to be hunting dangerous game on other continents on a regular basis, which means you should be using your big stuff on the Raging Russians to keep that gun in perfect form.

Biggest Gun at Bear Mountain

But to put into perspective just how big and powerful these boars really are, Joe Seidel of Iowa came to Bear Mountain with a 600 Overkill.  This is by far the biggest gun anyone has ever hunted with at Bear Mountain.  And there aren’t many bigger guns out there. 

Joe’s rifle was a custom bolt action built by American Hunting Rifles (AHR) out of Hamilton, Montana.  This rifle was a beast in itself.  It weighed about 13 lbs. and had a break on it the size of a Red Bull can.  Joe could carry and shoulder it no problem as he is a big man, well over six foot and built like an offensive linemen.

Joe was able to take a monstrous Russian boar.  He had fired a 900 grain Woodleigh soft into the beast right behind the front shoulder.  Surely this would flatten a 400 lb. boar.  Not a chance.  The boar took the hit and was able to run a ways before collapsing.  Upon inspection, there was no exit hole.  A 900 grain bullet was not able to completely pass through this boar.

Weeks later I received a call from the taxidermist mounting the boar and he had found the bullet lodged in the opposite grizzle plate.

Russian boars have exceptional protective plates that protect the vitals perfectly.  On old mature Herd Boars, these plates can be as thick as two inches.  This cartilage like matter absorbs shock and energy from even the biggest calibers out there.

After Joe’s hunt he called up Ed Plummer, who at the time was the owner of AHR and told him about the hunt.  Ed decided he should see for himself what these Boars were made of.

Round 2 for the AHRs

Ed and his son-in-law Mike flew into Bear Mountain with a 585 AHR, 500 AHR, and 416 Taylor.  Needless to say, they were ready to do battle.

Mike was the first one to strike gold, bringing down a superb Herd Boar with one shot from his 500 AHR.  He took a high shoulder shot, severing the spine and dropping the boar flat in his tracks.  The gun had performed exactly how Ed had hoped.

Next up was Ed.  He was hunting with his custom 416 Taylor using a 400 grain monolithic copper bullet.  We hunted 2 hard days before Ed was able to squeeze the trigger on a dandy Herd Boar.  At the crack of the barrel the boar dropped, 65 yards from us.  I looked at Ed and high fived him only to look back and see the boar getting up and running off.

Walking up to where the boar was, there wasn’t any worry as there was blood all over the fresh snow.  No problem, probably ran off and died within 50 yards.  We decided to wait and give him time to expire, just to be on the safe side.  I inspected the blood and figured it to be a hair back, most likely liver and lung, but there was a lot of it.

The tracking began and lead us all through the thickest areas of the swamp.  Blood was easily spraying out both sides.  This boar had taken quite a wallop from a big caliber, but was still moving. 

After 50 yards I was surprised but not worried, and after 150 yards, I was getting concerned, just a little bit.

After much more time and many more yards, it was time for a break just to be sure we were giving him enough time to expire.  But daylight was fading, and we were going to be short on light in a matter of an hour.

We set up a perimeter around where we thought the boar might be.  There were a lot of dens in this area and manuevering through there was going to be difficult. 

With only 15 minutes left of light the boar was spotted with his silhouette against the snow.  One large snort and grunt and he was on top of us.  Gun shots pursued and he crashed to the ground. 

This boar had gone 3 1/2 hours on a lung/liver shot from a .416 Taylor.  Remarkable.

Favorite Big Bores 

Some of my favorite big bore rifles include the .375 H&H.  This is the classic Dangerous Game Rifle and is a perfect combination of bullet weight and velocity.  A 300 grain Barnes Triple Shock  is a great round.

AHR’s 550DGRs are availalbe in great calibers.  You can get those from the .375 all the way up to the 700 AHR, with the everything in between.  Of course many of these calibers you can find in standard safari grade rifles like Ruger, Remington, CZ, etc.

Lever action big bores are great as well.  Starting with the 45-70 and 450 Marlin, these lever actions have proven dozens upon dozens of times on Russian Boar.  An old Winchest Model 71 in the .348 is another classic round with plenty of punch and smacking power. 

One big bore lever action I have yet to see and prove itself against the Raging Russians is the 475 Turnbull.  Everything about this caliber and rifle has Russian Boar hunting written all over it.  Hopefully in the near future I’ll get a chance to see it in action.

Russian boar hunting is truly a fun and exciting sport.  These animals are some of the toughest beasts put on the planet.  I have seen them absorb lead like a sponge and still go for hours, only to end up charging and succumbing to a hail of gunfire.