Back in the 80s I bought a like new Toyota Land Cruiser with only 17,000 miles on it and paid cash with money I made on coyote and cat hides that I shot in only 4-1/2 months. Hides were high and I was very concerned with hide damage from the rifles I used.
So the 2 I found to be the very best were a 222 Remington loaded with a 50 grain Winchester Power Point and (believe it or not) a 375H&H loaded with 300 grain round nose solids. Both exited and neither would make a large hole when it came out the other side. The 222 Winchester bullets would ball up and leave me an exit about the size of a nickel. The 375 looked about penny size. It seems odd to use the 375 to most folks, but I was hunting elk and a coyote showed itself at the trail head so I thought "why not" and I shot it. The coyote flopped on the spot, but the hole was quite small even from that soft point bullet, so I thought I'd try the 300 grain solid on the next one. It was even smaller. So for dedicated hunting in a few places the following year I used the 375 quite a bit and at $90 average for the hides in those days, I saw no reason to feel embarrassed about "shooting them with a cannon".
The 222 was the gun I did most of the shooting with. About 2/3 of the coyotes I killed were on or near ranches, and the land owner wanted them thinned out. So many of them invited me to shoot the coyotes. If I did well on one man's land he often told his neighbors and they would invite me to do the same on their land. I got those 50 grain bullets from Black Hills Shooters Supply and if memory serves, I think I paid about 22.95 per thousand. I used a load of H322 and the muzzle Velocity is about 3125 FPS. I tried other bullets from a 22-250 and some from the 222, to try to find one that never exited, but when I hit on the WW bullet I stopped there. Instead of trying to stop them from exiting I saw that the small but consistent exits were a good way to go, because I could do just a very few stitches on those exits and you could not even see them when I was done. The fur buyers liked my hides a lot and I go top dollar for them.
I have some loaded in 223 ammo now, but I am almost out of them. I shoot them in a 16" barreled AR-15 and when I chronograph my short AR carbine and my 22" SAKO rifle, the velocity is nearly identical, so the results have been identical in every case. The AR15 is not as beautiful (that's for sure) as the SAKO, but for making money it is a lot better tool because of it's ability to make fast shots on running coyotes and also to get several from a pack of them. I never got more then 2 from a pack with my bolt actions, but I have killed 3 with the AR on 3 separate occasions, and one time I got 4. (Well sort of. I got 3 that time and wounded the 4th but was able to follow it up and kill it with another shot.)
Shooting a 22-250 was deadly on coyotes but I lost money on the sales because of hide damage. I quit the 22-250 when the hides started to sell for larger amounts, and used a 22 WMR, but for shots over 200 yards it was not the best. It was excellent for hides, but not for long shots.
When I got the SAKO 222 I had the best 22 center fire I ever owned for hide-hunting up to that point. For a hide hunting rifle I found too much velocity is NOT my friend.
Years later when I moved here to Wyoming I made myself an AR15 and used a free-float tube, a 16" premium barrel and a match trigger, and found the AR would shoot as well as my SAKO, and so I retired the SAKO form use as a "money gun". Today I use the AR15 almost exclusively for fur bearers with the exception of red fox. For red fox I still use a 22 Long Rifle with 40 grain bullets. Where I kill foxes I have never had a need to shoot past about 125 yards and the old 22 puts them down very well and still is easy on their thin hides.
This! My experience with coyotes is that trying for no exit is going to work maybe 60% of the time. The other 40% leave you sitting in the fur shed sewing up massive holes that didn't need to be there. I have killed several hundred with 55 gr. soft points out of a .223 or a 22-250. In either rifle you get a penny to nickle size exit on a broadside or quartering shot. Plastic tipped bullets aren't what you want if you're going to keep the hides.
