"Sus scrofa" or wild boar.... found almost everywhere on this planet of which a large specimen is always a challenge for a handgun hunter... I have used every caliber and bullet type in my battery and realized its been a very longtime since I used a .38 or .357 on any game... a real long time. With that said my interest in the well made Dan Wesson revolvers has peaked with the purchase, off Gun Broker, of their model 40 in 357 Maximum. It came in their top selling silhouette version with an eight inch barrel and weight reducing slotted shroud. She was topped with a Redfield 2-6X in Leupolds purpose made combination base and ring made for DW`s vent rib. I used three different make bullets for my 180gr JHP handloads, Partition, Swift and XTP. The bullets were crimped over 21.0 grains of H110 and sparked with a Remington 7 1/2 primer. I did not clock the velocity but would think the 180 was running in the 1600fps area. At the 100 yard range it was the XTP that gave the best accuracy so that was what I took to the field.
The guide and I were just kicking along in the woods talking about life when we spooked a herd or sounder with close to 30 good boar that circled around a pond into a large open area where they stopped and began to feed. We sat with backs against a log and glassed across the 200 or so yards to try and read their intentions. After 30 minutes, as luck would have it, they slowly started feeding in the direction they came from. More time passed as they reached the pond causing me to remove my short shooting sticks from my bag and setting them up with the Max barrel resting in the V and the edge of my hands on my knees. I have yet to find a more steady field rest. Closer and closer they came at an undisturbed walk in a long black line. Judging which one to shoot came down to the last four boar of the group. All were good size.. My crosshair stayed on the second from the last as he walked up an incline at a slight quarter toward angle. At 66 yards I squeezed the trigger sending the 180XTP to that sweet spot just in front of the shoulder. What happened next was amazing as I expected a flat out dash since I was using a .357 bullet only to see him go about ten feet and fall, flop a bit and expire. The real eye opener came when he was opened up to see the damage done. After the bullet entered it took out one lung, blew out the top half of the heart and punched a hole through the liver and exited. Shot placement and some added velocity turned a .35 caliber handgun bullet into a real killer.