Freedom Munitions had a large presence at the Northwest Shooting Sports Expo, showing off their relatively new Boar Buster line of ammunition as well as a limited edition rifle purpose-built for the task.
Boar Buster is currently available in 64 grain .223 and in 168 grain .308, with more options planned for the future. In either caliber, the Nosler bonded soft point projectiles are made primarily for — you guessed it — feral hogs, black bears and other animals “with thick hides and strong bones.”
Boar Buster’s marketing is aimed at semi-automatic ARs: “…we saw a need in the market for a modern sporting rifle-specific hunting load…” However, Freedom’s Boar Buster rifles are bolt guns [ed: this turned out to be incorrect. See correction at bottom]. The “limited edition” firearm is a run of five guns, through a collaboration with lifestyle brand EraThr3 (that’s “era three”). I believe these will be a version of EraThr3’s Wrecking Ball and/or Operation Klepto.
Features include:
• Proof Research barrel
• EraThr3 bolt knob
• Jewell trigger
• Manners stock
• Spuhr scope mount
We’re talking $6,000 as an absolute minimum MSRP, judging from EraThr3’s pricing. As Freedom Munitions is a “budget” or at least very affordable brand, I’m not sure I understand this rifle partner and ensuing price point choice any more than creating a bolt gun for ammo specifically marketed at semi-autos. That said, both ammo and rifle do look very nice.
We’ll give the Boar Buster a shot soon.
Hat tip to my friend, “CASES4CASES,” for attending NWSSE and snagging photos and info for us.
Correction! The limited edition Boar Buster rifles will be semi-auto MSRs. These EraThr3 AR-15s in .223, designed with FM’s Boar Buster ammo in mind, will be available in late 2016 or early 2017 and will launch on FM’s website later this year. The EraThr3 .308 bolt gun seen in photos above is effectively a prototype, and may or may not be offered for sale. While the .223 Boar Buster was designed for MSRs, the .308 Boar Buster ammo is intended primarily for bolt guns, with a concentration on taking down wild hogs and bears.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
Barnum
I am a fan of Freedom Munitions. I have had no issues with misfires at all, and it comes at a price that is hard to beat. Although the company HQ is in Texas, the ammo ships from a plant in Idaho. I just hope there will be a way for me to keep shopping there after the new ammo law(s) go into effect in California a year from this coming January.
Have you purchased from them lately? They don’t ship to California anymore even though the laws don’t go into effect yet.
I just received 500 rounds about 2 weeks ago. They may not ship to certain areas of California due to local regulations, e.g., LA.
Actually, our manufacturing facilities and all our offices are located in Lewiston, Idaho. We have a retail location in Texas, which is what you may be thinking of. Thank you for your business and we will do our best to continue to supply our customers in all states with ammo, while remaining compliant with the laws.
The wild pigs I shoot with plain .22 must have been “dead” unlucky then back when I was teen with limited money for hunting
Mostly use 110 gr handloads in 30-06 now
Yeah,
I don’t get “Pig Specific” ammo/rifles.
I’ve killed as many as most people will see in their lifetimes with a Ruger 77/22 in .22 hornet.
I guess they weren’t as dead as I thought.
Seems like they would’ve tried to get away when I was cutting out their backstraps.
I did have a complete case head separation with one of their remanufactured 55gr .223 rounds, but other than that I haven’t had any issues with any of their ammo
$1.20 a round for .223, for hunting hogs, is budget ammo?
Boar Buster isn’t cheap, but .21 a round for 9 mm FMJ and .44 for 255 grain.45 Colt RNFP shipped is pretty hard to beat. Recently, .223 set me back less than .35 a round including shipping.
I was Chronographing some .223/5.56 rounds out of my AR a week ago. A few different handloads and three brands of factory ammo, including some new Freedom Munitions 5.56 NATO 77 grain HPBT.
The Freedom Munitions ammo was, hands down, more consistent in velocity than anything else I shot that day. The standard deviation was about 1/4 what I was getting with other ammo. And the accuracy was right up there with my handloads, way better than any factory ammo I have used.
That 64gr Nosler BSP bullet is an excellent short range round for medium game. I have a few hundred of this factory loaded by Silver State Armory for my AR. It chronoed really slow (~2600-2650) in my 16″ barrel but it has done an absolute number on the 4 deer I have shot with it so far. It leaves a pin prick entry hole and a slightly larger than caliber exit wound, but the internal trauma is horrific. Inside 100yds it is devastating on anything whitetail deer and smaller. I was actually really said because that load was discontinued when Nosler acquired SSA so I am really happy to see another factory loading with that bullet.
$6K for hipster Era3 hipster rifle or go with GA Precision, Accurate Ordnance, RBros, etc. for about $1000 less with comparable parts and track record of success?…..hmmmm.
Muzzle brake on a .308 bolt gun? For a hunting gun? Completely wrong for the application.
I guess you must like the feel of recoil
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