Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Coyote Rifle

Folks,
New but old guy first time poster and a hope to be coyote / fox hunter .
I have a factory built complete Mega ar15 lower . I plan to send a new upper to Krieger and have them build a complete upper ; 20" stainless , fluted , ( my choice of ..812 or .920 dia) .223 Wlyde w/ 1;7.7 twist .
My shots will be from say 20 - 300 yards . I guess a scope of 3 x 9 x 50 or 4 x 12 x 50 and Leupold has several .
I would appreciate any and all of your knowledgeable input.

Thank you in advance for your time , help and consideration.
Soup

first,coyote hunting is my favorite hunting. so I am biased toward rifles suited for it. I would recommend putting the barrel on yourself. you will need some upper reciever vise block like this vice blocks couple this with a midwest industries gen 2 ss float tube.

I would also get the DCM barrel instead if you are set on krieger. Those varmint barrels are too heavy IMO for a calling rifle. I just posted a thread on 20" barrels. I personally prefer a medium weight barrel. lilja, criterion, black hole, maybe others?? have barrels that have some of the meat taken down under the handguard. I would not use more than an HBAR profile unless I was shooting colony varmints. IMO hbar is kinda a heavier barrel. I dont mind them as long as they are kept to about 16". that DCM is still an hbar and its about 1# more than I would like it to be. I would also consider 9twist if you are SURE it will only be a coyote gun. I went with 8 twist on mine because I wanted my gun to shoot 70+ grain bullets to distance, but I prefer 55 grain or less bullets when I coyote hunt. so pure yote hunting I want a slower twist. My barrel is a criterion hybrid contour 20" I have put it on paper only a couple times and its easily MOA, I just want MOA or less with light bullets and heavy bullets and I haven't shot the barrel enough to know if it can do it. unfortunatly its chrome lined which I would rather it NOT be. sorry for the ramble thats probably more than you wanted to know.

I agree with CCW, what you are proposing is more of a Prairie dog gun, not a coyote gun. A lighter, faster gun works better for yotes, where you need the heavy barrel to soak up the heat for prairie dogs.

I'd stay with the Wylde chamber, and I also like the 1/9 twist for this kind of work.

There is no upside to a 9 twist, and there is no downside to an 8. 18in is as long as I will go on 5.56 AR's, and diffidently not a heavy profile.

The upside to a 9 twist would be 50 grain and lighter bullets. 8 prolly works too. I have a 9 twist rock river that shoots hornady's 75 grain ,match load just fine

50 grs. and lighter don't work with a 8 or 7.7" twist?

Yep.

I also suggest building your own. It ain't hard.. Lilja has some nice barrel options, too.

depends I just took my new criterion barrel out yesterday in fact and the most accurate load it shot was federals 50 grain tipped varmint black box ammo. BTW that stuff has shot really good in 4 different ar 15 barrels I have tried it in. I think its been MOA every time, with the exception of the cheapo palmetto gun I built last year. it was still 1.25 or better.

I've had no trouble getting 40's and 50's to shoot in 8 twists.

CCW, mind telling us about the PSA gun that would only shoot an 1.25 MOA?

Which one of their many barrels is it built around?

Thank you all for your replies and input .I was all set to ship my upper , bolt carrier and handle to Krieger tomorrow . After checking an Encore I have with a .855 barrel I'm glad I sought your advice
I have to start looking for a barrel and am now I'm kind of lost . I want 20" stainless fluted .223 Wylde 1;8 twist .Also need hand guards which I intend to mount nothing on and a gas block and tube . Thinking about assembling it myself -did it many moons ago like about 20 but I didn't think it was that hard to do .

Any help you folks can offer?

Soup

Huh? Mine do just fine.

I did not call Krieger but the web site only lists .812 or .920 for their Drop in VARMATCH barrels . Anyone have expierence with their VARMATCH barrels in less than .812 ? I like the quality of Krieger but I'm open to suggestions , I also contacted Sierra and they responded that the 7.7 should shoot 55 to 80 grain bullets . I don't want to buy something and have to wear an athletic supporter to carry it from calling stand to calling stand .
I need some expierenced shooters help .

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Soup

I am scratching my head on this one? I shot 40 grain Vmax's out of a 1-7 chromed FN barrel a few years ago, they shot about the same as every other bullet that went down that tube about MOA. People that shoot surplus ammunition out of chromed barrels say chromed barrels are not that accurate I have had reasonable luck with decent chromed barrels and handloads, I somehow get them to shoot MOA with some consistently.

Folks,
I called Krieger , they felt I would be disappointed with the hbar barrel . They said this .812 VARMATCH should work out well for my intended use , coyote,fox,groundhog, target , and that the fluting would also shave a little weight . So off my upper went .
I'm now searching for the right glass and have been reading up on the Leupold AR 3x9x40 which is basically a vx2 . Is anyone using one on their hunting AR?
Also going to have to do something about the trigger-what do u folks like ?
Thank youall for ur time and help . Happy 239th Birthday Monday November 10th, to my Brother Marines and Happy Veterans To all the Veterans Of the United States Millitary .
Semper Fi,
Soup

It's easier to get a heavy barrel to print itsy bitsy groups but I've yet to see a coyote rifle that needed to shoot itsy bitsy groups. Handling is way more important to me but you're in luck, you can build your next one on the lighter, more user friendly side.

Scopes, the 3-9 will work.

Triggers, I like Geisselle G2S for a cheaper alternative but I change out the trigger spring. Rock River is ok but for the price the G2S blows it away.

Good choice on the barrel, any accuracy issues will be due to the shooter.

The Geissele triggers are top notch. I have yet to pull anything thats better. I like the SSA, SSA-E, and SD-E.

I wonder how much weight that fluting removes. in all reality if your gun shoots 1 moa that is all the accuracy you can use from a 223. its not hard getting that. I would like to try a 20 in ar 740 lilja barrel

The Lilja's are awesome. I wish they would offer a medium weight 18" with rifle gas and match chamber. I have one for my .308 AR that will shoot just as good as I can hold it.

I don't like the 2 stage triggers so I use the ALG Defense Combat Trigger with a set of Joe Bob Springs and the Joe Bob Grip Screw.

Not sure what the krieger barrel will weight but .812 sounds pretty heavy even with flutes.