We've used a 243 to kill piles of coues, close range out to 500+. Seems about perfect to me. Wouldn't mind trying out a quick twist 6-06 or 240 though.
You already have two perfect coues rifles, but if you want another the 264 WM will give three perfect coues rifles. I own all three and would likely choose the 257 for coues.
I'd go with the 264 and also pickup a 240 as a backup. The 257 should be reserved solely for pronghorn.
Also pick up a 257 Roberts and a 6.5 CM if you shoot on the front half of 1000, oh and rebuild that 7mm Rem Mag and then see how it compares to a new 270 win. There now you 6 new guns.
Make it a specially made 257 that shoots the 115 Berger at screaming velocities. A 27- 28" barrel with a McMillan and some great glass. Prepare to shoot many animals without using the stadia or turret adjustments. As you know recoil is very tolerable
My 257's trajectory at 4000 ft where we usually hunt coues wt.
I'm really favoring a 264 wm, but I already own a 257 weatherby. A 240 weatherby mag is calling to me.
I have a super accurate 7 rem mag, that seems to have become my favorite child. Just swapped out scopes to a ss 10x mil quad.
I'm itching for a new rifle, and want one just as a lr dedicated coues gun.
What would you choose as one ?
I would seriously consider working up some loads for your 7mm Rem. Mag., with Nosler's 150 gr. Accubond LR bullet. With a BC of .611 at 3200 fps, this is a great long-range choice, with excellent wind-bucking capability. If it is accurate in your rifle, it would be hard to beat as a rifle/bullet combo for long range, smaller critters.
I'd rather be a free man in my grave, than living as a puppet or a slave....
Don't forget, you often will be hiking in at least 1 mile, if not more if you want to get away from the road hunters. 1 mile might not sound like a lot but in coues country it can be a real bitch. Lot of up and down small hills covered in thick brush with thorns everywhere. For me that means a lighter rifle. I have also found a longer barreled rifle to be a pain on a coues hunt. You are constantly going around, over, through thick, sticky, thorny, painful nasty terrain and the longer barrels can really get caught up on things.
Make sure you can shoot your rifle comfortably at long range in field positions. 400 yards may be a close shot, 600 yards may be all you get.
"Never miss the opportunity to shut the f$%K up." Colonel Hopewell.
Make it a specially made 257 that shoots the 115 Berger at screaming velocities. A 27- 28" barrel with a McMillan and some great glass. Prepare to shoot many animals without using the stadia or turret adjustments. As you know recoil is very tolerable
My 257's trajectory at 4000 ft where we usually hunt coues wt.
Can you hike in the dark up rocky thorny hills, glass effectively and stubbornly, have the stamina to possibly wait on your rifle for hours at a time in an uncomfortable position in the sun and then shoot effectively up to 700 yards from field positions in less than ideal conditions?
I would recommend you think of these things other than your rifle cartridge for killing a coues deer....
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
I would look into what Bighorn said.. Somewhere I have an article on a serious coues deer hunter in Az. He used a .300 Wea. of course a custom.. The .243 never impressed me as a long range anything, except maybe gongs.. Plus shot several antelope with the .257 Wea. at about 400 yards.. They made some long runs.. If it would have been in brush, finding the animal would have been tough..
I would look into what Bighorn said.. Somewhere I have an article on a serious coues deer hunter in Az. He used a .300 Wea. of course a custom.. The .243 never impressed me as a long range anything, except maybe gongs.. Plus shot several antelope with the .257 Wea. at about 400 yards.. They made some long runs.. If it would have been in brush, finding the animal would have been tough..
Geez....
Screw you! I'm voting for Trump again!
Ecc 10:2 The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but that of a fool to the 24HCF.
Huh. I quite like my 243 BLR for a pretty light, maneuverable, high-speed rifle for steep, rugged terrain around here. Guess that's not as cool as what lots are imagining, is it? ;-)
My 6.5 Creedmoor Hawkeye Predator is outstanding when I'm okay packing an extra pound or two. Prob'ly still not cool enough... :-)
They made some long runs.. If it would have been in brush, finding the animal would have been tough..
I have not hunted Coues or Antelope in their environment but...
I can relate to the difficulty of 'finding' a WT EVEN at moderate range IN re growth cutovers. I have posted a pic of a WT buck I shot in the neck at 194 yds. Instant drop. There was NO death run not even a step.
From atop of a hill looking over the re growth things look simple. Once you get OUT in the c/o it looks so VERY different. I had picked out a couple of oak saplings @ 12' tall as landmarks. Once in the c/o there were more oak saplings than I thot. I looked for quite a little while and ..eventually WENT BACK to the stand and REPICKED a landmark.
When I found the buck he had NOT moved, simply dropped straight down. I can re post that pic and you can see the blood on ground at his head.
IF, IF he had run much there were places I could not have seen him ON his feet, much less on the ground.
----That was a CNS hit--- still had difficulty locating it.
I went coues hunting in November. 1st deer tag I have drawn in NM in 14 Years. I'm hooked. We rode 4 wheelers from camp, parked, and walked short distances from them to over watch locations. The 2nd morning, we set up just off the top of a hill. Wind meter said 2 mph. A bit later a buck was located at 985 yards in a huge grass area. Could we have stalked closers??? I set up, dialed, checked wind, (2-3 mph) from right to left, and sent a 160gr accubond, at 3,000 fps from my 7 mag. It hit, what my buddy said, was 10 feet behind him ??? Buck moved a bit, relazed, hit on hill was a small brown spot, which equated to the tip of my left side thick to thin point. Added a few clicks to 997, held thick to thin on shoulder, and sent it. The problem here, was the horizontal thick crosshair was thicker than the buck. My buddy said bullet hit right under his chest. Buck went over hill !
Will I use this scope and combo for that far on a little coues again ? Nope , bought a 10x ss mil quad. Will I shoot that far again on a coues. Not likely.
Am I a looney and want a new rifle ? Yep !! 7mm Rem Mag, 160gr Accubond 257 weatherby, 110gr accubond 257 Roberts, 80gr ttsx And going to try a 90gr Ballistic tip in my hb 243. Next is a 225 or 250gr Accubond in my 338 RUM.
I would think a 1 in 8" 243 Kimber Montana would be about perfect.
This!
With Hornady 105 HPBT's.
And since you missed the entire animal, twice, you obviously had as much chance of gut shooting the buck or legging it as making a lethal shot. I'd suggest you practice, a lot more, and past 1000 yards until a 1000 yard shot is routine.
By the way, did you hike over to where the animal was and check for blood or just assume it wasn't hit?
Last edited by TexasPhotog; 01/24/17.
"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that lightening ain't distributed right." - Mark Twain
David Miller, the custom gunmaker, is perhaps as successful a hunter of record book Coues as anybody--as in 30+ bucks in B&C. I understand that he shoots (at least did) a .300 Win. The big ones are going to be shot at 500+ yds, and he wants to minimize wind drift. I think his Marksman model rifle embodies his ideal Coues rifle.
I think that everyone should have a designated Coues deer rifle...and a designated desert mule deer rifle, a designated Rocky Mountain mule deer rifle and probably a couple of designated elk rifles--one for cows and meat bulls and one for trophy animals. Oh, and a designated pronghorn rifle, too. Then I wouldn't feel so loony sometimes.
Ben
Some days it takes most of the day for me to do practically nothing...
TexasPhotog, I burn alot of powder a year. Being just under the edge of the hill, gave me a bad true wind reading on my kestrel. Yes, we did take a stroll of there.
Your right osd , never mind.....
I just wanted a new rifle, and couldn't really decide between a 264 wm, or a 240.
Yeah, coues hunting doesn't always require 1000 yard shooting. You couldn't give me a heavy barreled gun with an obnoxious scope on top.
I'd trade a few yards of long range potential for the ability to get the gun into action in a moment. I've seen way too many people di cking with gear when a nervous buck is well within killing range.
One of the better bucks I passed on this December spooked from a ravine, walking slowly but steadily. He was within 100 yards, he never stopped. I could've killed him if I'd chosen to, by kneeling down and firing. But not if I had to turn my scope down, or rely on a bipod, or put on ear muffs because i need a brake for my magnum, or fool around with other crap.
I killed my coues this year at 180 yards, steep downhill shot off my tripod, during a rainstorm. I've been packing a remington sporter barrel 700 in a B&C stock, 3-9SS scope, 105 hpbt or 105 amax. Best combo I've used so far. It's worked at 80 yards on running bucks to just shy of 600 yards.
I think that everyone should have a designated Coues deer rifle...and a designated desert mule deer rifle, a designated Rocky Mountain mule deer rifle and probably a couple of designated elk rifles--one for cows and meat bulls and one for trophy animals. Oh, and a designated pronghorn rifle, too. Then I wouldn't feel so loony sometimes.
The 257s we built all use 3 groove lilja barrels. Custom reamer made by PT&G with shorter freebore. Some of the guys are using .070" others .100" jump to lands. Throat angle is 1 1/2 degrees. Norma brass, Fed 215 primers, moly coated 115 Bergers. The other four are using RL-25.
I wore out my first barrel @ 950 rounds. It got so rough that it was damaging the VLDs so I switched to the moly coated 110 accubonds for a while. When RL-33 came out I tried it with the moly coated 110s and was very happy with the performance. 33 added a bit more velocity.
Current barrel is a 3 groove #3 profile finished at 27.5". I did the barrel installation and chambering. Platform is a Ruger M77 tang safety with a timney trigger that breaks at 1 lb, in a McMillan Hunter stock, action is bedded and barrel totally floated. Scope is a Swarovski Z6 2.5-15 x 44. Weight is 9.75 lbs.
Load is 83 gr of RL-33 for velocity of 3680 fps. ( I know this seems obscenely over the top, but it isn't with this rifle) This load will most likely perform differently for a SAMMI chambered 257 Weatherby. Work up carefully.
I have found the flat trajectory, fast killing, moderate recoil and low wind drift of the 257 Weatherby to be the perfect combination for my coues hunting.
As to the comments on using large chamberings....I know Dave Miller and he uses a 300 Weatherby and has done so for most of his coues wt hunting career. Several of my friends use a variety of large 30 calibers including the 300 RUM. It is all about wind drift and the use of high BC bullets.
Several years ago I had Kirby Allen rebarrel a Model 70 into 6.5 WSM to use as a Coues rifle. Before that, I had used a 280Rem, 270Win, 260Rem, 7mmRM, 300WSM. I think a good factory option now would be the 26 Nosler.
I'm still a proponent for larger rather than smaller. (not just for coues deer, for most everything hunting related)
Smallest Ive used is a 257 wby, largest is my 28 Nosler.
Ive seen: 22-250 (that one was PURE luck on finding) 243 257 wby 6.5 creed 270 and 270 wsm 7mag 7 LRM 7 RUM 28 Nosler 30-06 300 win mag 300 wby 338 win mag.
Ive been in on Id guess 50, or more coues kills, my own included. It obviously doesn't take a bazooka to bring down a 100# deer, but in my experience they don't tend to bleed much when on a death march. And, the terrain they live in including the exact colored rocks and tall grass makes me want them dead right then and there, or at least in sight with minimal tracking. As an added bonus, the bigger, heavier high BC bullets fly better in the sometime necessary extended range shots that can be presented. So often in coues country your choices are limited. Shoot 'em at 500+, or try and shoot 'em at 50. (across canyon, or in their bedroom).
The quickest kill I've witnessed is a tie between a 223 (55ttsx) and 22-250 (55 hornady). In both cases the bullets hit just above the heart, both dropped at the shot and quivered for a slight moment
The biggest rodeo came from a 55 grain 22-250, buck was hit first in the hip.
The take away is the usual: good shot placement and most calibers work well. Poor shot placement and rodeos result.
I really would like to use a ~140 grain 6.5creedmoor or 260 on a few bucks and see if we notice anything different. That'll be a rifle project for this summer I guess.
This is a fun thread, coues deer are a unique animal, and an addicting hunt
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