Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles HELP!

I have a young friend that lives 1,000 miles from me that has a 243 Win, and is totally into calling coyotes. He has been getting them in as close as 100 yards. I have never shot anything that small with a high powered rifle.

He wants to know if FMJ's are any good. I am skeptical. What would be a good coyote bullet for him in the 243?

Thanks.

The FMJs are to reduce pelt damage if that is important to him.

FMJ will result in more lost and wounded coyotes, IMHO. If he is concerned about the pelt, use either a tougher SP or mono-metal bullet like a TSX that will still expand but not blow up or use the light, fast 55 gr Ballistic Tips that will hopefully blow up inside and not exit. Just my 2 cents.

I've never understood this "myth".

Hitting bone with a FMJ can get very, very ugly.

I would also highly persuade your friend to not use FMJ's.

Pelts are not worth much and small holes are easily sewn up.
If he gets them close, then the most violent 6mm he can find
(that will not exit) is a drop em dead now choice. If out to 200 or more and dealing with wind I'd use whatever shoots the best groups at 300. Might even be a 100 gr "deer" bullet.

for yotes with a 243 I would use 65grn Vmax most likely will not exit. Although on a yote a FMJ will kill it we are not talking about an elk here just a 35lb dog. I don't think may will be wondering off after a solid well placed shot.

Thanks, guys. My "buddy" is 14 going on 21. He is all about hunting, shooting and trapping. I hav encouraged him NOT to shoot out to 300 yards until he can shoot well at 100 and 200. I like the idea of one load for the young man. Keeps It Simple, and he doesn't have a huge bank roll . . . yet.

I DO appreciate your replies.

I've never shot a coyote with a .243 but I've shot a bunch with 22-250s and .223s. Back when hides were definitly worth saving. FMJs suck!! They may kill the coyote but often the coyote doesn't know it until he's covered quite a bit of ground. If you shoot a coyote side to side, double lung, if you don't get lucky and bust up some ribs enough to kill him with the bone shards, you can kiss that coyote goodbye.
If he's not interested in saving the hides, any of the varmint type .243 bullets would work fine.
IMO, if he avoids HPs, the exit hole shouldn't be too bad. A little needle and thread whilst the hide is still green and you're good to go.

I agree with the others, FMJ's are bad news. 55gr bal tips or 58gr v-max at about 3600 works well most of the time. Animal position is important if your trying to save fur. 100 gr deer loads work well if you can keep your shots off the shoulder and away from the spine.

Exactly what type of coyotes are you guys shooting that a 100grn FMJ will not put down. I have never heard of such a thing. I shot a pile of yotes with 308 and 223 fmj not 1 ran off.

Agreed they are not the bullet of choice but who are we kidding saying they won't kill a yote.

the yots around here die when shot with a 22 rim fire . so I beleave that fmj would work and a wounded coyote is not something I would lose sleep over

Well, part of me doesn't care for wounding game -- even yotes. Ethically, it ain't right, and it is NOT something I want my young friend to learn to do. He's got some 58 grain V-max Hornady factory stuff right now, but just wondering if it'll blow a hole in the yote the size of Boulder, Colorado.

Now some years ago, when I was shooting critters for fur mind you, I used a .222 Remington cal in a Remington rifle. It did a better job than most and never exited.

I have used a .22WMR using head shots under 50 yards but that can be sort of tricky and will be trying out a new .17 cal here next week on critters.

Those FMJ will sail clean on through most coyotes as I remember them doing for me at that time. I have used them on frontal chest shots but anything else will exit and leave you with an exit wound.

yep size of your fist . i am not for wounded animals kills should be quick. I just think placed right witch is important with any bullet the fmj should do fine . they would not be my first choice but if i had a bunch i would give them a try .I know they will kill a coyote and maybe the three behind him.

I always worry about where the FMJ bullet goes AFTER it passes thru the animal or misses. With expanding/exploding type bullets it's not an issue but the full metal jacket is like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going and going....

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.

One bullet I like for my .243 is the Speer 85 gr BTSP. It does a dynamite job on deer & antelope. If he is just wanting to shoot cyotees and not save the hides this would be an excellent choice for him. Loaded to about 3200 fps and after shooting varmints with it all season deer & antelope are a forgone conclusion. One shot, bang, flop, and he is eating some good steaks.

Bro Keith,
I'd suggest the 62 grain Barnes Varmint grenade. I have not tried them yet myself but am planning on it. They are a frangible bullet that should not exit a coyote but expend all their energy inside the animal while the bullet disintegrates.

Here's what Barnes says about them:


http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/varmint-grenade/

Maybe others have had experience with these and can confirm or deny Barnes claims.

Again, thanks. I've en shopping around for some good used reloading equipment for the kid to get him started. I have a set of 243 dies (RCBS) and some brass. Thinking the Lee set for $125 CDN will get him going fine.

..... FMJ .223 rem, doing 2900 fps kills terrorist who hunt back, not saying it is ideal, but a song dog is much smaller, and much less menacing than a 150 pound man with an AK.