Back when fur was worth good money both Speer and Hornady came out with FMJ's to reduce pelt damage, both also warned that a reduced vel. load would be best as high vel. load would most likely cause damage even with the FMJ's. My experience with the Speer fmj in the 220 Swift kind of confirmed this and instant kills were sporadic at best. I have found that reduced pelt damage is at best a crap shoot no matter the cartridge or caliber. About 6 weeks ago I shot a smallish coyote that had been called in to about 30 yards. Used a 17 Rem fireball. The load used a 20gr. Midway dogtown bullet launched at a touch over 4000fps. The bullet did not exit but hit a rib going in and the hole left from the blowback was impressive to say the least. The same day my partner took another yote at less than 100 yds. with a 22-250 and the Speer 50 TnT running at 3650 tiny entrance no exit dropped on the spot. You just never know.
