Seafire: Been shooting longer than the ignorant kid with orange rifle. Most of the stuff I read on this forum old stuff to me. My largest caliber rifle is a 270 Winchester and I don't use it much or reload for it and not even fussy about what I shoot through it. Shoot dam deer and go home is about it for that.
I live in some of the flattest country you'll find so not much for shot limits here, you see it and if it stands still long enough you shoot it.
My specialty is cartridges from 17 mach-4 up to the 6mm. I have factory actions as well as full blown custom actions, also have 3 switch barrel actions with pinned lugs. My main game is Coyotes and red fox and careless about deer or other big critters, not much of a challenge killing them. My shooting range is a mile long and more if I felt the need to shoot farther.
Cartridges I load for; 17 Mach-4, 17 rem., 17 predator, 204 Ruger, 20x47 Lapua, 221 F.B., 224 Valkrie, 22-250, 22-250 imp., 6mm H.L.S., 243 win. and a handful I no longer load for or have.
Like I mentioned somewhere in another post most guys shots are going to be around 300-400 yards if coyote stands around long enough but in real life most shots are taken at 200-300 yards, and you don't need a heavy bullet to shoot that far let alone kill a coyote. Coyotes body don't have a lot of meat so if a heavy is used it will perform more like a FMJ. What happens on a heavy H.P. is just the tip blows away and rest of bullet stays intact and just goes through not dumping much energy if any, thus cripples at time depending on where bullet hit in first place. Shooting game like pigs and deer then yes, a heavy bullet would be a better choice, but you still want a bullet that's going to expand and dump all of its energy inside the animal.
All that heavy bullet crap looks good on paper but in real world it just doesn't look as good.
When comes to coyotes fast and flat wins every time, less guess, less hold over, less wind drift and less lead on a runner.
A 223 was mentioned. IMO the 223 is one of the worst cartridges for killing coyotes day in and day out. It doesn't have the vel. or range to do it all day long, it just doesn't, and I don't care how many a guy says he killed with one. What I want to know is how many did he miss or cripple with one or how many did he have to pass up due to being too far. Thats one thing most the 223 braggers won't tell you about or even be honest about it if they do.
My main coyote rifles are the 17 Pred. shooting a 30 gr. and my 22-250 ackley shooting a 52 gr. A-max. farthest kills on avr with 17 Pred. 400-450 yards. 22-250 ackley out to 500 yards with one kill my longest on a red fox 767 yards.
I use my 224 Valkrie for when I run the dogs and shoot at running coyotes with kills out to 400 yards but on same note all that gun shoots is heavies and do see more cripples than I care for, but I have the dogs to take care of that where other guys don't. Also, the heavies in the 224 drop so dam fast compared to the ackley it takes longer to get use to as you can't aim dead on every shot, more of a guess and farther out the coyote gets the more guessing. So anyway, I been there and know from experience what works and what doesn't.
