When I was in my early 30s I shot coyotes and some cats to earn the better part of my living. I used a 22-250 for a while, but I switched to the 222 and I found what I liked with that gun. The 222 with 50 grain WW Power Points or 55 grain Remington "Power-Lokt HPs were excellent and give exits that were very small, but dropped the coyotes instantly and I can't even count the number of Coyotes I killed with that rifle.
Shooting for hides around farm/ranch yards I used a standard 22 LR or better still a 22 WMR. Don't under estimate how well they kill. However the 22 was used at ranges out to about 150 max, and the shots at under 100 were easier and usually the Coyote would not tun much The WMR gave better kills and more rage. With that rifle kills to about 200 were pretty easy.
I used a 22-250 and with that rifles I made kills out to about any range I was offered shots. My longest shots were in the 500+ range and I made one that I measured over a pasture at about 630. But about 98% of all shots were at 200-300 and I found the 22-250 was often hard of hides. Some bullet did well but none I ever tried were consistently perfect and I did loose value on about 1/3 of my hides no matter which bullet I used.
When I bought the 222 I found the money gun. I used several bullets and the ones I settled on were the 2 I listed above, the 50 grain Winchester and the 55 grain Remington "power-lokt" I used to buy them in bulk, 5000 in a box from Black Hills. I am always amused when I read articles and excerpt in load manuals who all say the 222 Remington was only good for varminting out to about 250 yards. I can't even count the number of coyotes I got at ranges between 300 and 400 with my little SAKO.
As I said, I killed quite a number at 150 yards and under with 22LRs I think most western school boys have done that and farm/ranch kids all over the USA will tell you about killing coyotes with 22s. It's probably been done a few MILLION times.
A 40 grain 22 Long Rifle at 100 yards is only going about 900 FPS and yet if you shoot them from the liver forward and hit organs the coyotes drop, or run 25-35 yards as a rule and die. Of all the coyotes I ever shot with rim-fires I never lost a single one.
A 50 grain 222 Remington leaving the gun at 3100 FPS is going to be nearly identical in velocity at 600 yards (and 10 grains heavier) as a 22 LR is at 1 yard. So why on earth would anyone think it's not good past 250 yards?
I have proven to myself the 222 is just fine waaaaaay past 250, hundreds and hundreds of times. Not just on coyotes but also on jack-rabbits and Rock Chucks, feral cats and dogs, and all manor of non-living targets just to shoot for fun.You do have to learn your drifts and trajectory, but when you shoot a lot you do learn it, and it doesn't take that long either.
I think the longest shot I ever made on a coyote with my 222 Remington was around 475 yards but I did kill LOTS of them at between 300 and 400. "Lots' meaning enough to pay the bills and even buy a new Toyota Land Cruiser in a 5 month stretch of hide hunting. Paid 100% down, nothing left to pay and all of that was from hides. So you can see, I was killing a lot of Coyotes, averaging $90 each if they were not damaged, and a few cats, which were going for an average of $600 each. At those values, hide damage was a big concern to me.
In every area of life I am convinced that every time facts and some theory disagree, it's the theory that is wrong.
Desk-jockeys and lib-tards can't seem to grasp that understanding, but because they only sit around and deal with theory, theory is all they have to look at.
But most avid hunters and country-boys know what I am talking about here.
Last edited by szihn; 08/31/20.
