Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 2 best 223 bullets for anchoring coyote?

Fur is absolutely no concern. Your favorite top dollar and favorite bargain projectile for maximum anchoring ability on coyotes under 350 yards. 1:8 or 1:9 twist.



Whats your Bargain choice?
Whats your premium choice

50 Ballistic tip for both categories. 22-250, 223, and 222 Mag, I’ve had some huge holes but never lost one.

Assuming 223?

Bargain, Hornady 55 grain SP in bulk.

Max $$, it would be a 50 or 55 grain Ballistic Tip. Try both weights and go with whichever your rifle prefers.

If not that bullet then a 55 grain Sierra Gameking SP but try for shoulders. Seen too many runners if just lung shot.

Bargain- 50 gr Speer TNT
Premium- 50 Gr NBT

agree with the first.. 50 TNT...

Premium, I lean toward the 53 Varmageddon or the 53 V Max....

Can't go wrong with any of the choices mentioned above. Ingwe & Seafire have likely killed more critters than 10 or so of us put together. I personally like the 53 grain VMAX in the 223 and any manner of 50 grain varmint bullet will do the job.

Another good one I forgot to mention is the Speer 52 gr. HP.....accurate as hell and has a huge HP, rarely exits.


I know the OP mentioned that fur was not a consideration, but I can't help myself!

Over twist your barrel a bit with a frangible bullet....

60 grain Vmax in 1-7" in a .223 is magic...

If I wanted bang flip pretty much anywhere on a coyote body that I hit period, I'd run a 1-7" .243 and a 75 Vmax at 3400+. It simply magical with overtwisted Vmax.

When those VMAX are spinning fast and especially with some good speed, they do tend to tear things up...which isn't a bad thing.

To the OP: I think you'd have a hard time finding a bullet that WONT anchor a coyote reliably, barring FMJs and such.
Most cheap C&Cs I have tried drop them on the spot at normal .223 impact velocities. Sometimes they'll make a 20-30 yard death run, but that's about it, just like deer.

I guess to answer your specific questions for a 1/9:
Cheap: Sierra 69 HPBT
Expensive: Hell if I know. I've killed them with a 62 TSX but it worked about like any other normal .224 bullet.

Great stuff. Thanks everyone.

Tom,

I wound up with a couple thousand of those bullets and am looking to switch over to them in my AR's and my RAR Ranch Rifle for work. Any suggestion(s) on loads?

Thanks,

Ed

^^^This^^^

In the 9 twist 223, I use (or did use) the 40 gr Nosler BT. It worked great, and even better than I would have expected. So I bought hundreds of them, and then suddenly I found I was seeing plenty of hogs and few coyotes. The 40 gr BT wasn’t real effective on the hogs, so I transitioned to the 65 gr Sierra GK.

In the 14 twist 220 Swift, I used the 55 gr Nosler BT for years, decades even. And then the hogs showed up. I switched to the 55 gr Sierra GK which works pretty well. I’d have preferred the Partition, but couldn’t stabilize it.

Sorry for the late reply...I just checked in...

In the ARs Id definitely use a ball powder like 748.....the RAR won't be near as picky I'm guessing. My old stand by is 25.0 Gr Of 4895...IMR or H. FWIW it also cycles in an AR just fine, even though its not a real "hot" load.

Any 55 grain bullet with a plastic tip is likely to be accurate and violently expanding.

I like the Sierra Blitzking, but the VMax is never a bad choice.

I've used many 55 gr softpoint over the years and even this week. They may run but not to far.
My first choice is a tie between Rem 50 gr Accutip and 50 gr Nosler ballistic tip.
I've used the 50 blitzking but they are more difficult to find preloaded.

Speer 52 grain Hollow point.

69gr Sierra Tipped Match King is the deadliest bullet I have shot for varmints in the 5.56/.223.

Penetration is light for deer and lots of them stay in the coyote.

Blows up prairie dogs better than any tipped lighter bullet I have seen.

I agree with you on this one, I don't know exactly what it is about the 60gr Vmax twisted fast but it is amazing, my other favorite bullet is the 55gr Blitzking

I have not tried the 69gr TMK that John suggested but will be testing them soon