Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Coyote Rifle Questions

Quite a few...and I still dont understand why. My father was a 788 junkie, carrying a well worn .223 carbine with a 3-9 Weaver for as long as I remember. I saw more coyotes and cats fall to that gun in my life than any other. After he passed, some brotherly love caused all of his guns to wind up in various pawnshops and gunsafes across the who knows where (with the exception of his CZ527 that replaced the 788 at the end)

A couple years later,I got on a 788 kick, at one time having 4. I finally decided the junky little things are / were bargain rifles, and didnt really do anything any better than a 700. I dont have any now, and dont intend for that to change. I also know why my father retired the 788 for the 527.....I just dont know why it took him so long.

My first introduction to what a flat shooting centerfire rifle can do, was the result of buying a 788 in 243. It was also my introduction to reloading. I shot a bunch of chit with that rifle and a cheap Bushnell scope. But, to be honest, the 700 is a much better rifle, and I wouldn't want it back, except maybe for nostalgia sake. The 788's served a purpose........a decent rifle at a decent price. They were well worth the money, and just about every one of them that I have heard about, shot very good. They made a good truck gun, or a good knockabout rifle that you didn't mind getting banged up. However, I'll take a 700 over a 788 any day of the week.

I have shot many called coyotes and seen many more shot by my son and brothers. The vast majority of ours are shot with 223 and usually out of an AR. How ever, the 17 rem, 22 250, and 220 swift also work well. A friend that is a contrast caller uses a 243.
If I was confined to one gun for coyotes, it would be a 223 shooting 40 grain plastic tip bullets, in a bolt rifle. Most of those that call with me would say the same, only in an AR.

I've killed coyotes with nearly every rifle I've ever owned, they all work, some just better than others.

Right now I have a 22-250AI, 223AI and a 204 Ruger all in Kimber Montana's, about the most perfect calling rifle ever made. Out of those the 223AI is becoming my favorite but the other 2 will reach further and the 204 is easier on fur. I also have a few AR's in standard 223/5.56 and they work too.

Some that I regret selling sometimes are a 243AI in a Remington 700 Mountain Guide and a Sako in 17 Remington.

Like I said, they all work, picking a coyote rifle is just another way of saying I want a new gun.

So that’s why I have so many coyote rifles!

Hmm, glad you brought that up, it reminds me I have a 788 in .243 sitting in one of my safes. I just got in 1000 Nosler 55 gr BT's and now I know what I can shoot them in. At least until I finish my next Swift build.

A 788 in 22-250 is my dad's main "porch gun", as his front porch looks out over a field with a creek bottom running through it. There's a shooting bench right outside the front door and that rifle sits in the sandbags more often than not. It has zapped some coyotes, among other things.

Shot a coyote the other day with a 300 wby 180 gr ttsx, about 80 yrds, from the porch of the gun room coyote came by as I was about to clean my 300, it didn't bounce off. Rio7

Too Funny ! Some days, I thought that my little 45g hollow points doing 4200fps were bouncing off... The just failed to expand and passed right on through.

Shot one once out the kitchen window at 0500. We had rented a farmhouse several miles out of town and with no near neighbors. A coyote trotted by about 200 yards out one summer morning. I was having coffee and getting ready for work. I didn't give it much thought, just opened the window, rested the Swift over the sill and let fly. My sleeping wife wasn't at all impressed with the shot. Go figure. Women can be funny sometimes.

My favorite dog rifles are 22-250 (fast or slow) and the .17 Remington.




Travis

DO yourself a favor and buy a .22 or .204 centerfire rifle. They are so much fun to shoot compared to even a .243. Even if you don't end up coyote hunting much, I'll wager you'll shoot this gun way more than any of your deer rifles.

I have a lot of varmint rifles,but my two favorites which are a simple savage 204,but my favorite is a 243 win with 70 grain bullets shootin about 3500 fps out of my custom Norene AR with a 24 inch barrel/nite force scope. for starters just use your deer rifles ,kill a few then decide what caliber ? but remember this sometimes a 12 gauge shotgun is best with 3 inch/ lead BB shot . I carry 2 guns when a call a lot of the time my AR-243 and a single shot 12 gauge,that old 12 gauge kills a few always.good luck

I'm shooting a 70gr. 224 at the same speed......

!!

We lived on a cattle ranch for a few years, and the owner had a spot 104 measured yards from my kitchen window where he would drag dead critters and leave them in winter. Coyotes would sometimes eat a whole Hereford cow in 3-4 days. 5-7 coyotes on a dead beef was a normal morning and I think 9 was the most I saw there at one time. I would lay on our kitchen counter with the window open and shoot a coyote now and then with my heavy barrelled 6mm. Home entertainment system.

If you poke the muzzle well outside the noise isn't too bad inside the house. If the muzzle is inside the window, the noise is magnified. Our bedroom was on the opposite side of the house and my wife put up with the occasional noise.

If you want to save the hide then 223 with 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, they generally do not come out but they do make a mess of everything inside. I have taken them out to 300 yds with this combo.

If you don't care about the hide then 22/250 with the 50 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. The 22/250 is a "reach out an touch them machine" for the long shots. I have taken them out to 500 yds with this combo.

drover

I used to do the same thing except to draw magpies in. I'd leave a skinned coyote carcass about 50 yards out from the garage and use a 22 to snipe them. I only killed three birds the first winter and after that they wouldn't go near the carcass. Smart birds.The next year I moved it out to 200 and used the Swift or a 222. They still smartened up after three or four.

I did have the muzzle outside the window on the coyote shot but it was midsummer in eastern Washington with no AC. All the windows were open including the one next to our bed.

22-250 w/ 52gr Speer FB HPs will do very nicely for saving furs, suprisingly the same bullet works just as well in my 222R

I don't but do use a 788 in 6mm with 75 VMax.

My favorite combo for our Missouri coyotes.