Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 223 Bullet for coyotes

Back in the 80s I bought a like new Toyota Land Cruiser with only 17,000 miles on it and paid cash with money I made on coyote and cat hides that I shot in only 4-1/2 months. Hides were high and I was very concerned with hide damage from the rifles I used.

So the 2 I found to be the very best were a 222 Remington loaded with a 50 grain Winchester Power Point and (believe it or not) a 375H&H loaded with 300 grain round nose solids. Both exited and neither would make a large hole when it came out the other side. The 222 Winchester bullets would ball up and leave me an exit about the size of a nickel. The 375 looked about penny size. It seems odd to use the 375 to most folks, but I was hunting elk and a coyote showed itself at the trail head so I thought "why not" and I shot it. The coyote flopped on the spot, but the hole was quite small even from that soft point bullet, so I thought I'd try the 300 grain solid on the next one. It was even smaller. So for dedicated hunting in a few places the following year I used the 375 quite a bit and at $90 average for the hides in those days, I saw no reason to feel embarrassed about "shooting them with a cannon".

The 222 was the gun I did most of the shooting with. About 2/3 of the coyotes I killed were on or near ranches, and the land owner wanted them thinned out. So many of them invited me to shoot the coyotes. If I did well on one man's land he often told his neighbors and they would invite me to do the same on their land. I got those 50 grain bullets from Black Hills Shooters Supply and if memory serves, I think I paid about 22.95 per thousand. I used a load of H322 and the muzzle Velocity is about 3125 FPS. I tried other bullets from a 22-250 and some from the 222, to try to find one that never exited, but when I hit on the WW bullet I stopped there. Instead of trying to stop them from exiting I saw that the small but consistent exits were a good way to go, because I could do just a very few stitches on those exits and you could not even see them when I was done. The fur buyers liked my hides a lot and I go top dollar for them.

I have some loaded in 223 ammo now, but I am almost out of them. I shoot them in a 16" barreled AR-15 and when I chronograph my short AR carbine and my 22" SAKO rifle, the velocity is nearly identical, so the results have been identical in every case. The AR15 is not as beautiful (that's for sure) as the SAKO, but for making money it is a lot better tool because of it's ability to make fast shots on running coyotes and also to get several from a pack of them. I never got more then 2 from a pack with my bolt actions, but I have killed 3 with the AR on 3 separate occasions, and one time I got 4. (Well sort of. I got 3 that time and wounded the 4th but was able to follow it up and kill it with another shot.)

Shooting a 22-250 was deadly on coyotes but I lost money on the sales because of hide damage. I quit the 22-250 when the hides started to sell for larger amounts, and used a 22 WMR, but for shots over 200 yards it was not the best. It was excellent for hides, but not for long shots.

When I got the SAKO 222 I had the best 22 center fire I ever owned for hide-hunting up to that point. For a hide hunting rifle I found too much velocity is NOT my friend.

Years later when I moved here to Wyoming I made myself an AR15 and used a free-float tube, a 16" premium barrel and a match trigger, and found the AR would shoot as well as my SAKO, and so I retired the SAKO form use as a "money gun". Today I use the AR15 almost exclusively for fur bearers with the exception of red fox. For red fox I still use a 22 Long Rifle with 40 grain bullets. Where I kill foxes I have never had a need to shoot past about 125 yards and the old 22 puts them down very well and still is easy on their thin hides.

It's been fairly well established that coyotes don't like to hang around wolf territory due to the fact they keep being eaten. Their ranges may have some overlap but normally, if you are in wolf country, the coyotes tend to stay away. I say this based on studies back in the 70's & 80's and it certainly may have changed over the years so I reserve the opportunity to change my opinion if the facts change.

When we were in Yellowstone a few years back, one of the guides we talked to said the reintroduced wolves reduced the coyote population very quickly, getting rid of the competition. I guess she was telling us the truth.

(not that I'm a fan of wolf reintroduction you understand)


As I understand the party line in eastern Canada is that wolf populations got very small, coyotes moved in, and some lonely female wolves in heat got impregnated. In other words, Huntsman22 is correct as usual. Sounds good anyway.

Did your guide also tell you the wolves reduced the Elk population even more than the coyotes......bet she left that one out !!

Nope, of course not. Wolves were wonderful, wolves were beautiful, wolves belonged there. Elk didn't matter.

This! My experience with coyotes is that trying for no exit is going to work maybe 60% of the time. The other 40% leave you sitting in the fur shed sewing up massive holes that didn't need to be there. I have killed several hundred with 55 gr. soft points out of a .223 or a 22-250. In either rifle you get a penny to nickle size exit on a broadside or quartering shot. Plastic tipped bullets aren't what you want if you're going to keep the hides.

WOW, I dis agree ‼️‼️Glad you are in Oklahoma instead of out West

223 with a 40gr vmax is hell on Montana coyotes. So is a 40gr vmax out of a 204. Neither are hide friendly..

There may be some sarcasm in Gael’s post.

Really great info Szihn and Ranger1. How are you finding the knockdown power of the soft points vs the vmax or hollow-points? Are most of them dropped on the spot or are they running a bit?

Ive had the same results/success with a .222 and 50 grain Hornady soft points, and I actually load them down a tad cause most of my shooting is at night at around 100 yards. Ive found the 50 soft point doesn't damage the hide and pretty much puts them right down. Works on cats and fox as well..

Yes, loading down is good.

Unfortunately, many reloaders will stuff as much powder, as is safe, into their cases. It can be difficult to convince them to throttle back.

SPs with book minimum loads, or close, often shoot as accurately, but are several 100 fps slower.

Polymer tips are designed to expand violently, so they aren't a good choice for pelt hunters.

Ive had some good luck with the polymer tips...my best is a reduced load with a 60 gr. NBT...its been very fur friendly, but does leave a small exit.

Driven fast and hard, yes, they expand violently, usually. Had a couple hit shoulder bone and you could walk through the hole they made....others pass through and leave a dime sized exit...you never know what you're gonna get...

Ive also used some downloaded bonded bullets like Speer Gold dots, and those worked well...

I use the 40 gr NBT for coyotes, and it’s laser beam deadly. In most cases, the bullet didn’t exit, but it isn’t a large sample size.

Until his untimely passing, I used to give one of good friends, a trapper, most of my fox pelts. Since it's not legal to use fmjs in Ontario for hunting, I had to find a compromise. That was lead tipped bullets slowed down. I use Hornady VMaxes to get rid of smaller pests, but for coyotes, I stuck with 50 and 55 gr. SPs.

If the biologists are right, I might have to consider something like a 45-70 for the hybrid coyotes. Some MNR guy said as the hybrids spread, expect a 25% size increase. I don't know if that is true, but if an average coyote ends up weighing 50lbs or more, I will up my game and use a 6x45mm.

Very much so. That seemed to be the attitude of the park employees we met on that trip, actually one guy chortled about the reduction in elk numbers. As I said in an earlier post I'm no fan of wolf reintroduction, there was a reason our ancestors got rid of them.


ETA: I grew up on a farm, we lost calves to coyotes at times, I'm no fan of them either.

Now that my state has gone lead free, does anybody have experience with the 50g Barnes Varmint Grenade inside 200yds on coyotes? Sorry for the hijack.

Nope. Sorry.Ive shot a couple with a TSX and it was underwhelming, but never with the more frangible bullet.

Look over on predatormasters.com

I bet there are quite a few coyote hunters over there that can steer you to a lead free coyote bullet.

I wonder how the Hornady NTX bullet in a 204 Ruger would perform? I presume there is also a .224 diameter NTX and could be run in a 223 Rem...