Yeah easiest way to find the spot is to imagine an X from each ear to the opposite eye and the lines cross on the sweet spot. When I worked at the butcher shop we used a .22 all the time for pigs and also for cattle that were at times HUGE, even the one so big she broke the steel bars of the cage going in, and as long as we used the round nose ammo then it was never a problem if you hit on or even close to the spot but when we accidentaly got a box of hollow points once about half the animals had to be shot 2-3-4 or even 5 times to get one to penetrate the skull. The rest of the hollow points would just go through the skin and flatten out on the skull and have had the same thing happen with the larger cal stuff just the same, annything without a hollow point gets it done first time if you hit where your supposed to but the hollow points to often just flatten out on the skull and stop. Its basicly a matter of just from the results I have personaly seen I woul MUCH rather have a .22 with round nose ammo that a .38, .44 or what ever with hollow points -for head shots- since its just more reliable that it will penetrate the skull.
MonkeyMan, Might be the reason I'd sometimes have a pissed off pig was, I used the CCI Stingers. I should have been using something like the CCI Mini-mags. The Stingers worked fine for goats as I could put the gun right on the spot with them. Goats are a little more trusting then any pig I ever dealt with. I have a lot of faith in the .22 rimfire long rifle, even more in the .22 Magnum. While trapping, I used the CBs for anything I felt I had to shoot. That is, except for coyotes, CBs seemed to just not penetrate the skull of the coyote. Of course they jump around a lot and make a little harder target than say a skunk. With a skunk, ya just don't want to get too close. For home defense I keep my snub nose .38 loaded and handy, it's also my main carry gun. I handload with XTPs, thinking center of mass in home defense. One thing about home defense is, you are not going to be shooting an attacker in the back of the head, in most cases, so I'm thinking less penetration, more tissue damage, more shock, bullet not as likely to pass on through and hit an unintended target.
I'm definitely going to pick up some .22 solids for this purpose. I've noticed that some guns, especially the Rugers will return to a new zero if you've counted the clicks from one zero to the next. Perhaps if you pick something like a 158 gr. FN or SWC for penetration and adjust the sights before heading out... I've also thought about shooting the different load and see where the POI is relative to your defense load zero is and just do a hold off to compensate. jim
I keep the house 45 loaded with original Black Talons. I know that I could sell the things for a small fortune but I'd rather have them here with me. As far as carry goes I use Gold Dot or Golden Sabers. Lastly I figure sorta like SC says. two to the chest and one to the head makes any man forget his evil intentions. Take care Be safe Poacher.
I load my own Hornady XTP's for my 45's and 357's kinda hot and have no pigs to worry about , for home defense I think two to the chest and I can forget a head shot with these bullets , pushed at close to 1,100 fps and 1,500 respectively .
