Hi all
Ive taken a lot of game with trad bows and was recently asked by a landowner to take as many pigs as I can next time I head to his property.

Im thinking I should take my shotgun because thats the firearm I am most practiced with and am confident I can get with 25 yards. Its an 870 with an 18" barrel. With slugs Im getting 2.5" at 50 yards. I tend to shoot Federal FC 00.

Typically the pigs are no bigger than 150lbs and in sunders of 5-8 animals. Ive got them pretty well patterned also.

So my question is should I stick with slugs or load up with 00? Like I said Ive never hunted with a gun before but Im thinking I can hit 2 pigs once I get under 25 yards... Is this realistic or am I dreaming??

I really dont want to leave any wounded animals out there and I know this is quite a gift to be given.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Use the slugs, if you don't want to have any hogs run off leaving little or no blood trail. Buckshot generally doesn't penetrate well on adult wild hogs due to their thick hide, heavy bones and gristle shield. It is not a good choice, in my opinion.

Rifle would be better, but if limited to a shotgun, use slugs

This !!!

Agree with you both that rifles would be best, but the OP's question was about a shotgun...

I was thinking about using the shotgun for two reasons. Im much more comfortable with it. Ive taken numerous courses and I train with it regularly. I dont feel nearly as confident with my 270 when it comes to hitting multiple targets.
I know I can get really close to the pigs. Those are my only reasons.
Ill start practicing faster target acquisition with the 270.
Thanks all

I'd take the .270 and concentrate on killing one hog cleanly. The rest of them will flush at the shot, but one or more might stop within range and offer another good shot. Shotgun or rifle, I would not "spray and pray" at a bunch of running hogs as the odds for gut shooting or otherwise wounding them are high. Take one cleanly first and work on other clean kills from there. They're only hogs, but still deserve to be put down humanely. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

I've taken a bunch of pigs out of a mob with buckshot with a little running, but I have taken 3 in a short space from where they were flushed, that was with 7 in the gun.

Chasing them on quad bikes we have cleaned up whole mobs with the scatter gun.

But either will serve you, however my favorite pig gun is a Ruger 77/44 with a couple spare mags in my pocket.
What I use depends on where and how I hunt, if I'm sitting on a dam waiting on pigs to come in then I like a rifle either a 45mag or 308win, same with open country but in the thick stuff flushing pigs from cover then the scatter gun is king.

I've taken deer and boar with rifles. I've seen deer taken the slugs. 12 ga Winchester 1 oz rifled to be exact. 100% 1 shot kills for 4. I wouldnt feel under gunned with a 12ga and if i go hog hunting again it will be with a 870 and Federal Truball Deep Penetrator slugs.

In very little time, unwounded feral hogs can be out of shotgun slug range. I wouldn't plan on wiping out whole groups of hogs unless you're really good at hitting moving targets with slugs.