I think a 280 would be more than enough. The problem was probably the bullet selection. Pigs always surprise me with how tough it is to get a through and through shot.
I had a huge boar with big tusks that I was getting game cam pictures of. One late morning I caught him at my feeder and I popped him perfectly with my .308 (using some cheap Winchester white box ammo), after I shot he ran straight back through the woods towards the dry creek. I couldn't find a blood trail, but was convinced I hit him solidly right on the shoulder. I looked around for him for hours, before finally giving up. A few weeks later, I went out looking for him again and found his bones, turned out I hit him solid and when he ran for the creek, he crawled up under one of the overhanging banks so I never saw him. Without a blood trail to follow, It was hard to tell where he went. Did yours stay in a straight line? Or did he just go farther than you expected? That's a pretty good distance to go for 200 yds.
I've been surprised with how little of a blood trail they can leave, even if you get an exit wound. Like the PH's in Africa always say, you need an exit wound for tracking. The entrance wound always seals up, the exit wound leaves the blood trail. That's always been my experience too. I always shoot the Barnes TTSX bullets, because I've had very few instances where they failed to leave an exit wound. Most of the other "monometal" bullets give similar results.
I swore off using cup and core bullets after I shot a blackbuck broadside at 50yds with a weatherby .257 and a Nosler 100gr. Accubond bullet. I found the bullet under the skin on the off-side. The insides were like a hand grenade had been used and almost all the torso meat was wasted. I was really surprised my shot didn't penetrate the off shoulder and was really pissed at all the wasted meat.
