Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats which mid-size for coyote

Looking at cartridges with .17 WSM as the minimum, and .223/5.56 as the maximum.

This would have, in approximate order:

.17 WSM
.17 Hornet
.17 Fireball
.17-223
.19 Calhoon Hornet
.19 Badger (Calhoon)
.22 Hornet
.20 Squirrel
.20 Mink
.20 Vartarg
.19-223 Calhoon
.20 Practical
.221 Fireball
.223

Am I missing any?

Which of these is the easiest to make? Obviously, the .17 Hornet is already done up. Looking for something to use on New England (large) coyotes 40-60 pounds, maybe more; but not far from homes, so noise is a factor. Range is anywhere from 30 yards to maybe 130 yards.

Also, how does one go about building or buying one of these? Or should I just get the .17 Hornet and be done with it?

The one I would add that’s very easy is the .17-223.

I would seriously look at the 223 for large coyotes, by the time you build one of the Cats and buy custom dies you could invest in a suppressor for the noise. Second would be the 20 Practical with a faster twist for bullets on the heavy end BUT you can accomplish the same thing with an off the shelf 204 Ruger.

Depends on how far shots are. And how big is a "large" coyote?

22 Hornet, 204 Ruger, and .222 are missing from the list.

And if a suppressor is out of the question, a rifle with a long barrel will be quieter than a short barrel rifle.

My first choice is the 222 but nothing wrong with a 223

Fast twist .223. It can do it all economically.

This

A .222 or the .221 Fireball would be good choice's IMO.

If I were picking a rifle out of the rack to go shoot coyotes with, It would be a 222 or 223. However, if noise is an issue and my shots are 200 & under, the 22 Hornet with handloads is a really viable choice.

I'm currently using the 22 Hornet and .223 with a .221 FB build in progress.

In my early 30s I shot fur for a living. I found the 221 Fireball and the 22 Remington were the best overall. The 223 can be about as good, but bullet selection is important and the faster you go, the more important it gets. For killing them it doesn't matter much, but if you are selling the hides you do NOT want large exits (or any exits.)
My dad has a 17 Remington on a SAKO and I used it some. It was wonderful in many cases, with no hide damage at all, but you can have 17s break up on the slightest resistance at times, and gusty winds play with the bullets more then I liked. The use of the 204 is interesting, but I can't personally speak about them. They didn't exist back then.

My 221 and my 222 were both used with 50 grain bullets. Hits with Winchester 50 grain and also Remington Power-Lokt HPs would exit the dogs, but the holes were always about 1" and were very easy to sew shut. They could not be seen from the outside of the hide and the buyers were very pleased with the fur I brought them.
For a while I tried to find a load that would drop them and never exit. I gave up after many many tries, and found a good bullet that would exit and not shatter would give very small exits and that was better overall then some that didn't exit but others that blew out 3" holes. I loaded by 221 to about 2550 FPS and my 222 to about 2850 FPS and found that just dropping the MV back to those speeds did a lot for the value of the hides. A 22-250 kill on a coyote at 450 was OK but one at 100 was not so good. The 222 would reach them (no matter what the rag-writers told me) out to 450, no problem. I just needed to learn the holds and that was not hard to learn at all.
I killed a LOT of coyotes on farms and ranches that had gotten used to buildings and human activity and were wise, but not spooky enough to run off and stay away. Ranchers and farmers would let me kill them as soon as they found I knew how, and that I would not harm any property or domestic animals. Around farm yards the gun I shot the most and killed the most coyotes with was actually a 22 LR. The reason I bring this up is that I never lost a single coyote I shot with a 22 LR. Not one. All were killed, and only 2 were shot 2 times. All the rest were 1 shot kills. A 22 LR at 125 yards is only going about 900 FPS at impact. A 40 grain 22 bullet at 900 will drop them if you shoot well. So a 50 grain bullet leaving the muzzle of a 222 at 2850 has a long way to go to get down to 900 fps and the impact of the 222 at 900 FPS is still a bit better then the 40 grain LR bullet at the same speed. So why in the world would these people think a 222 is "only good to about 200 yards"???
It's not so.
In the 204s and the 17s velocity may work for you, but in my experience it will work against you at MVs much over 3000 in the 224 bullets. If you shoot for money, and you use a 224 bore rifle, slow it down to under 2900 and you will earn more at the fur buyers.

If on the other hand you just need them to die, a 270 with a 100 grain bullet makes them REAL dead. But so will about anything else.

I went back to the original post and added a couple, and the ranges they would be used.

Thanks.

221 Fireball or 22 Hornet would do everything you want for New England yotes at the ranges you listed..

I’d pass on the small 17s, 17HH and 17fb. I’ve used them, but they are marginal unless conditions are very good.
Hard to beat a 223.

The one thing about a 222 or 223 with reloading you can duplicate everything from the 22 Mag to the parent round. The 22H or 221 will never be MORE than a 22H or 221. I load 33gr HP's in my 222 with a very light load of shotgun powder for quiet/mild small game and finisher loads.

22-250 or .223 gets my vote. If barrel life is a concern, I'd say .223

That's true, but more often than not, enough is enough, you don't need more. Which is why I have a Hornet, an FB, and .223.

If the Democrats get their way and we get restricted, it would make more sense to own a .223 for the reasons you stated, til then, get em all.

I would go with a 223 in a fast twist barrel. I load 62 Barnes for mine, but I don’t know if it’s gonna tear hides up. That bullet will kill 200 lb pigs well.

I like my 204 with 32's, straightens their legs and makes em shake... No exits. Shot one the other night off my bait pile at my 300 yd gong, same reaction every time.

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