10MM AUTO Pistols for Hog Hunting

It was just before dusk when the wild boar popped out of the brush line to my right and trotted into the cut-over corn field. I sat on a low hunting chair along the edge of the  field, concealed behind brush, my FN 510 Tactical pistol chambered in 10MM AUTO on my lap.   I’d arrived here mid-afternoon and saw one hog across the field a couple of hundred yards away. Way too far for my pistol. But hogs were in the area, and I figured my best chance for one would be the half hour before dark.   And that’s when he showed up, a good 200 pounds of Oklahoma wild hog, maybe 75 yards away. He dug at the hard ground with his nose. When he turned and made his way in my direction, I eased the safety off my 510 Tactical made by FN America. 

It seemed like it took an hour, but it was really about two minutes, and the hog was within 35 yards, his wide body standing broadside. I put the red dot of my optic onto his heart-lung area, let out my breath and squeezed the trigger.   The 10MM Honey Badger round, from Black Hills Ammunition, made a “Whomp!” The boar jerked up very straight for a split second. I fired again, in the same area, and he started to run. But both bullets had hit home, and his run soon turned into a wobble, then a stagger and he dropped.   Another hog taken with my favorite hunting handgun, a semi-auto pistol in 10MM AUTO.

10MM Hunting Ammo

There are dozens of 10MM AUTO rounds available today for hunting, self-defense and range purposes.   The aforementioned Honey Badger hunting round is one of my favorites. It pushes a 115-grain solid copper bullet out of a pistol barrel at approximately 1,600 feet per second, for 654 foot-pounds of energy. It’s an impressive hunting round.

Other first-rate 10MM rounds I’ve used for hog and deer hunting include:

• The Barnes Bullets VOR-TX loaded with a 155-grain hollow point copper bullet.
• DoubleTap Ammunition’s 200-grain hardcast load. 
• Fusion, from Federal Premium, with a 200 grain softpoint bullet.  
  
• Hornady Manufacturing’s Handgun Hunter launching a 135-grain Monoflex bullet.
  
• Remington Core-Lokt, and a 200-grain jacketed hollow point. 
  

True, the 10MM AUTO doesn’t have the power of the .44 Rem. Mag. and other “hand cannons.” But it’s more than stout  enough for deer-sized game at handgun hunting ranges of 40 yards and under. Plus, pistols chambered in 10MM carry more rounds than most hunting revolvers. The FN 510 Tactical, for example, sells with a 15- and a 22- round magazine. And, these pistols don’t slam back into your hands with the harsh recoil of big caliber revolvers. 

Pistols

I started my journey into the world of 10MM hunting a decade ago with a PARA Elite LS Hunter 1911 pistol. It was manufactured by the (now defunct) Remington Outdoor Company which had purchased PARA.   A long-slide 1911 with a 6-inch barrel, the Elite LS is an all-metal pistol, and which makes it heavy but also able to nicely absorb 10MM recoil. I took my first wild hog with this pistol, on a hunt in South Florida, and still use it.   Another of my hunting pistols is the Remington R1 Hunter FDE, also manufactured by the previous Remington Outdoor Company. It features a six-inch-long stainless-steel barrel and match-grade sights, and pistol grips that really grab my hands.   I review as many new 10MM pistols as I can and that was the case with the FN 510 Tactical. Styled after FN’s popular FN 509 Tactical, the 510 Tactical sports similar enhanced grip texturing, interchangeable backstraps, and slide serrations. Poly-framed and striker-fired, the 510 Tactical weighs in at just 32 ounces unloaded. It is also optics ready.

Other notable 10MM pistols I’ve had the good luck to review include the Springfield Armory XD-M OSP. Polymer-framed, the XD-M OSP holds a hefty 15+1 rounds of ammunition, is very accurate and is also optics-ready.   Among the newest 10MM’s to launch is the Smith and Wesson Model M&P® 10MM M2.0™ with an Optics Ready Slide. The striker-fired pistol features an impressive 15+1 ammunition capacity, a 4.6-inch-long barrel, and a sight radius of nearly 7.0-inches. I shot and tested an M&P 10MM M2.0 recently and was impressed with the pistol’s accuracy, functionality, and how well it felt in hand.   More 10MM pistols hit the market every year, too, as 10MMs continue to gain popularity. 

Holsters

When hunting with a 10MM pistol, I prefer a good leather shoulder holster, and my go-to holster is the Falco Forester. Pistols chambered in 10MM AUTO are heavier and larger than many other pistols, and a shoulder holster like the Forester nicely balances the weight of the pistol. I can hunt with my R1 Hunter and the Forester all day long and the rig remains comfortable. 

But there are certainly many other options to carry your 10MM AUTO while hunting.  The important thing? Try 10MM hunting!