Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Ultimate Coyote rifle ?

I use a Browning BAR Lwt. Synthetic in .243 Winchester. If I shoot factory ammo I use the Remington Premier Accu-Tip 75 gr. V-Max. My handloads use the Sierra 85 gr. BTHP. Other loads shoot nearly as well, I have had excellent performance from these and stick to what works for me. This rifle shoots very, very, well and has proven to be 100% reliable. I've used 100 gr. Remington Core-Lokt's for whitetails and a few coyotes too. It simply works, and does so quite well!

I first became acquainted with the BAR's through an old guy that lived way, way, back in the deep Ozark Mountains along a rough Jeep trail. This old feller was a homesteader from right after WWII. He had built a pretty decent house out of sawed on location Missouri Ozark oak lumber. Eventually he got electricity, inside plumbing, ect. Lived there all his life. He kept a fish box filled with freshly caught fish down at the river where he would place them until he wanted a fresh fish dinner. He killed squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and deer whenever he needed meat. I think he put the "season" in them when he cooked! He had a garden he worked and put up vegetables from. He ran a trapline and had some scurvy hounds that he hunted "varmints" with at night. Life wasn't a bowl of cherries for him, but it could have been worse.

Sometime along the way he bought a BAR .243 and topped it with the old Redfield Wideview 3x9 scope. Pretty cutting edge stuff back in the day. When I first saw the rifle it was worn silver - he carried it constantly during the daylight hours either in hand, or, in his old 4x4 pick-up truck. He had a humped back Browning A5 .12 gauge in about the same shape. Those two old Browning�s put a lot of game on the table for him over the years, kept the vermin out of the garden, and provided protection around the homestead. I was young and the old man and his lifestyle intrigued me. I visited him often and actually worked up a handload with a 100 gr. Hornady spitzer and a dose of IMR-4350 for the BAR. I'd load 100 cartridges for the old feller yearly. He always repaid me in tales of game and varmints he killed with my loads.

Some years later I began conversing with some fellers out in California about coyote hunting. Nobody around these parts messed with them other than to take pot shots whenever they saw a coyote. I was interested in actually hunting them, calling more specifically. Those Cali callers actually had predator hunting clubs and held coyote calling contest! Many of them used the BAR .243 and raved about its performance at knocking down coyotes and how handy it was on fast moving doubles, ect. Some guys in Kansas I got to know used them too.

I had a .30-06 BAR, but it was pretty heavy and long to tote around the Ozark hills and hollars. Plus, any way you look at it, the 06' is a tad more than you need for coyotes! I bought the .243 Lightweight Synthetic and really found something special. Since then several guys I know have bought the same gun and all of them have had great results. I really enjoy mine...