Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 6mm-250 caliber for coyotes

If you want a wildcat, by all means go for it. I love to coyote hunt. I wish I was good at it. By everything I read, etc., I think they right rifle to use for coyote is the one you have in you hand or the closest you can grab. If you use something bigger than necessary, I guess you just call it over kill. Don't let not having the right rifle stop you, just go as often as you can. If you are after the pelts, I guess that would be different, but in Ky the pelts seem to be mangy and full of fleas and ticks. Enjoy.

Why not try a Ruger .204? Hornady makes a factory 40g round that is faster and has flatter ballistics than even a 22-250. And you would need to go up to about a 50-55g factory .223 round to get the same downrange kinetic energy.

Fast, flat, plenty of punch for this animal and near zero recoil.

Another great advantage if you are sticking with factory ammo is that this caliber will typically reach max velocity with a barrel length of about 23 inches. That would allow for a lightweight, easy to maneuver, 22 inch carry weapon.

with a couple of qualifiers, i'll agree with this...

put an expanding bullet at sufficient velocity through a coyotes chest and they die quickly...
if shot poorly, they are one of the more tenacious critters that i've encountered...

the .222 and the .223 are fine...

the .22-250 is THE coyote rifle, where i live...

6MMs of different sorts are my personal preference...

the fast .25s are just maybe the ultimate coyote cartridges...


a word about the .17 rem....

i've been using one since 1971, and shot a bunch of coyotes with it... i have not kept up with newer bullets, but i consider the old rem 25 hp factory round to be on the marginal side for coyotes....
i have good friends that disagree.. they're just wrong headed about it.....
and they mostly don't have the years of experience with it that i do.....

There is no need to get a 6mm-250 wildcat to kill coyotes. Get a 223, 22-250 or 243 and have at it.

I suppose a 6mm-250 would give a bit better barrel life than a 243, but I can't imagine how it's cost effective to buy a custom reamer, custom dies and do a rebarrel in order to save money on possible future rebarrels.

How many coyotes are you planning on shooting anyway?

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't a 6mm/22-250 a lot like the parent cartridge, the 250 Savage?

I agree with the others that this cartridge is not necessary to kill coyotes.

It is an interesting chambering though. The 115 VLD DTAC bullet has a BC high enough to rival the 6.5-284 with a 142 Sierra MK for long range shooting. Formed brass is available as are dies and reamers. It is one wildcat I have been considering for some time.

David Tubb uses the 6XC. He wrote an interesting article here:

http://www.6mmbr.com/6XC.html

You can buy all necessary items to make the 6XC at David Tubb's site called DTAC:

http://www.davidtubb.com/

That about sums up my experience. I'll add that coyotes vary in size considerably over their range and that does affect things.
I have shot a ton of coyotes over the years and never lost one with a 243, 6mm Rem,, might as well add 25-284.
Shot a bunch with 223 as well though not near as many as with the 243 and have lost a few that I wouldn't of with a 243. Anymore I just reach for more gun.
I'll add that a lot of my shooting is stalk and spot and at longish ranges which is requires more of a coyote cartridge than when using a call and shooting them as they head on in at closer ranges.
A 243 will make a fringe hit too much for them to recover from and make a run, The 223 not so much,IME.

Stay away from wildcat cartridges. In general they are just a hobby and don't really perform much different that standard chamberings.

I just had to have the 6mm Rem. International back in the 60's for target shooting so I did. Suppose I was happy with it and I got to say I had something 'special'.

If you handload use a 243. You can load reduced loads for the 243 if you want and with full loads the 243 is more gun than a 223.

Coyote DRT after hit at 200 yds with the 58 gr VMax from that 243.

Bender,

Yep, you are spot on. The 6mm/.22-250 and .250-3000 are virtual ballistic (identical) twins. Still, I like to call my 6mm/.22-250 a '.250-3000 improved' much like the .270 Win is sometimes called a '.30-06 improved' in Montana. Bullet selection in 6mm is much, much better. And if one is shooting way out there, 600yds and beyond, the slightly improved BC for 6mm bullets vs .257 cal projectiles at identical weight, and ogive profile always tip the advantage to the 6mm. There is a reason beyond faddishism that top High Power competitors have campaigned with the 6X, 6XC, and 6mm-6.5 Lapua, all very much similar to the 6mm-.250.

I've played the dying rabbit blues many, many times. As I've stated before my fave all time cartridge is the 222 mag hand loaded. I believe this falls squarely in the middle of where a guy needs to be for all situations concerning song dogs. With lighter bullets you can get in the bottom side of the 22-250 realm of velocity but not harm fur on the light foxes and bobcats that happen to come by at times.Bullet construction must be a consideration though.

Having said that the .223 is a wonderful cartridge and will duplicate the 222 mag when AI'd.

22-250 on up through the 6mm's get you further down range when the terrain dictates it and are chained lightning on coyotes.

You don't need a wildcat but what the hell, if it blows yer skirt up get one - or two. Join the loonie fraternity...Ya don't have a hair on your ass if ya don't...grin

How would anybody know? I've never seen a shot-out .243.


Maybe somebody used one for prarie dogs?

Saw a fella overload one once Steve. Twern't pretty. Turned the barreled action into a fence brace. Closest thing to "shot out" that I've seen.

A friend of mine has a heavy barrel M70 that's fifty years old with heaven knows how many rounds down the original pipe and it still goes under a half inch for five with boring regularity.

I've gone through a bunch of coyote rifles and calibers. A light .223 is perfect for calling. For an all around coyote rifle, capable of longer shots, the .22-250 is great. If you want coyotes dead and don't care about pelts, the .243 rules. For me, it has been a laser beam of death. Nothing has taken a step after a solid hit. I also have a problem with feral dog so the extra power comes in handy.

The 243 M70 Varmint model that I bought new in 1957 has a worn out barrel. It took a long time to do that. It now has a Winchester 220 Swift barrel on it I got from a friend.

I wore out the barrel on the 6mm Remington International 40X that I got new about 1963.

A Douglas was put on in the same chambering.

I have killed coyotes with .22, .223, .270, 12 Ga., compound bow, and crossbow. Most of my calling is now done in thick, brushy areas where most of the shots are taken at 50 - 125 yds and almost always through some sort of vegetation - my favorite calling rifle now is a Marlin 1895 45/70 . That big ole 405 grainer will cut some brush!

Holland probably just hopes people will contact him for a custom job, since he recommends a wildcat.

For saving pelts, I think a 204 is best, for bang-flops I would grab a 243.

Damn...I wish I had time to shoot that much.