Most of the time the Hornady 25 grain hp's were extremely predictable and accurate. However, once in a great while when I encountered a coyote, they would do funny things. I always wondered if hitting a bone made them extra explosive as they seemed to just explode and would leave baseball sized holes in one side, but wouldn't pass through. In any case, I got tired of dealing with the constantly coppered barrel ruining the accuracy after 25-30 rounds and needing cleaning, and then moly coating the bullets to extend the accuracy so that barrel went down the road and had a VSSF 223 barrel spun on by ITD. Shoots bugholes now with 40 grain BT's and raises hell with coyotes at much longer ranges....
Just out of curiosity, what is the longest you guys have killed coyotes with your .17's ? I think the longest I had was one that stood around a bit too long at about 400 yards, but I've always considered that a pretty lucky shot given the windy conditions and other things...
Bob
I have killed a few at 400+, without any issue whatsoever. Not sure about the longest shot but am thinking it is less than 500.
It is odd how the same bullets do different things to different people. I have the same issues with 6.5mm ELD-Ms and 140 bergers. They absolutely explode (sometimes the ELD-Ms in mid flight) where others have awesome outcomes, with the same twist rates and appx velocities. Maybe individual barrels have something to do with it as I'll throw 500+ 25 grain HPs through my .17 Rem between cleanings and it never has an issue keeping them well under MOA, nor not working well once the critter is hit, including coyote shoulder bone hits.
You might be onto something there. My particular Rem 700 .17 Remington had an extremely rough barrel. I literally had to clean it every 30 rounds or so if I expected any kind of accuracy to continue- then it would go back to bughole accuracy, for a while. I wonder if the rough barrel was damaging the integrity of the bullet jacket and causing them to be more fragile than normal? doesn't matter now, I don't see myself going back to any .17 cal anything at this point.
Have any of you .17 shooters used the plastic tipped bullets? How have they worked out? Accuracy and game wise....
Bob
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.
