Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles 222 coyote fur friendly bullet

I just put an old 340 Savage on layaway, need to keep an eye out for some bullets .I do like the Sierra brand and they have quite the selection . I would rather have a pass through than a surface crater . Your experiences would be listened to with keen interest . Verns

Of the Sierras my first choice would be a 40 grain Blitzking. Maybe one of the SP Blitz Varminters #1340 if you want a lead tip.

My first choice overall would be a Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip.

Thanks 10, that looks like it is a boat tail which I do like. I will see if they have some .I do have that in 55 gr.

I don't know about the .222 but the 40 gr. V-Max isn't very fur friendly in .204, it puts them down but makes a mess of fur. I have had a couple splashes with the 39 gr. Sierra in the .204. I think I would try a soft point if I was trying to save furs.

FWIW Ive found fur friendly in the deuce to be a tad heavier and stoutly constructed. I like Hornady basic 50 grain soft points...




Or if your twist will shoot them, the basic Hornady 55 grain soft point.




All critters shot with the deuce had smallish exit holes.

Is that number one a Deuce? If so how does she shoot?

40 gr Nosler ballistic tip - usually just a caliber sized hole in and no exit. I have shot a lot of coyotes using them and they have performed beautifully.

drover

It is, and it shoots really well. Has the quirk of not shooting a warm barrel well...but that is of no issue when hunting with a single shot.
Its also twisted 1 in 9 and shoots everything Ive tried in it up to 63 grainers.

Skookum. Yeah mine strings vertically when it gets warm. Very nice.

52 gr SMK

Yep. Happy with how it shoots and didn't touch a thing on it...right out of the box..




Gonna take it to Texas and kill some pigs with it this spring...

A favorite load years ago was 19.5 gr. of 4198 and a 50 gr. Sierra flat base.. One guy used this on groundhogs, turkey and deer..

19.5 gr. works good with 50 grain bullets in every rifle Ive tried!

+1
A pretty universal load - always a good place to start.......

I've had good luck with the Sierra 1365 55 grain Game King. Stout bullet, small exit wounds but enough expansion to kill well.

Another good one has been a 50-52 grain HP hand swaged with 22RF cases for jackets. I've shot a lot of them through 222's with great success on coyotes. Rarely an exit.

That's also a good load with 25 HP - either Hornady or Powerlokt- in the 17 Rem.

Sierra bullets have a core alloy that seems to work very well to limit expansion when the speeds are right - in the SP versions anyway. I've shot a quite few 45 Varminters in my Bee and get perfect expansion for fox when saving fur. (But they will sometimes run a bit since the bullets expand modestly. I would imagine a 50 or 55 softpoint would work similarly in the 222.)

Great I have 4198 and some #1365 also some 52 hpbt match.

That could be a real good combo for you.

Had a couple of 222s that shot the Sierra 52gr into little booger groups with that 19.5gr of 4198 load.
Worked great on coyotes & targets.............

52gr hpbt and 22.5gr of 4895 has been my load of choice through several .222's. I have yet to own one that wouldn't shoot that great

You use 4198 in your .17 Rem?




Dave

I've used the 40 gr. Hornady vmax / .222 rem & IMR 4198 on 6 coyotes so far this fall, from 40-300ish yards. Wrecked one by shooting it through top of the shoulder blades. The rest just kinda rattled inside when I picked them up, no exit hole.

Thank you castnblast that is some specific info and helpful. I just got the rifle Friday and shot a few odds and ends shells I had loaded for a different rifle. The old rifle is going to be a good shooter. I am left handed so it is a bit awkward after using my Tikka lefty. Verns

40gr Nosler BT has been less explosive than the 40gr H V-Max for me in a 223 Rem. on Coyotes.

Less damage going in and still usually does not exit (one hole in fur).

Prefer the V-Max to the Nosler on P.Dogs & Squirrels for more red mist effect....................

If you have a somewhat slow twist, I'd look at the 45 TSX.

shot four more this week with the 40 gr. Nosler Ballistic tip, propelled by W748 to about 3080fps. Same results. Dead coyotes, no exit.

+1. My go to 22 cal fur bullet

45 Barnes, should punch through without much damage.

The 40g Sierra HP is a great bullet.

For bobcats and foxes we load down with Blue dot, 12g is around 3000 fps, accurate a plenty.

around 11.6g of Blue dot gets you into 2600 fps.

I found the accuracy node with the 40g Sierra and 40g Nosler at 3200 fps for 200 yards with 1 1/2" groups.

Many bullets will work on the coyote. 55g Winchester sp around 3000 fps does not penetrate a coyote on broadside shots, they just look like someone sucked the wind out of them.

For those of you that have not got into loading blue dot and 40g bullets-55g bullets, you are in for a real treat, not as noisy and clean every 600 rounds.

It is a good idea to weigh every charge with blue dot due to how the large flakes bridge in a powder measure.