Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints .22 for Coyote...

I'm assuming Vmax indicates varmints, probably softer than other bullets i.e. those engineered for large game like deer and hogs.

Re: 222s and 40s........Lil Gun should yield 3600-3700 depending on barrel length. I had a custom I bought 2nd hand, built by Speedy Gonzales, it loved Vmax....over Lil Gun. 1 hole.......I believe it was either a Shilen or Krieger, pretty sure a 12 or 14 twist.

223 and 40s, witnessed the factory Federal 40 HPs, IIRC, my brother dumped a few dogs one afternoon, got a double using his TC Carbine w/6x. They were quite effective

IIRC this coyote was shot with the .224" 40 grain Varmageddon at 60-65 yards. I used that bullet in my .22/6mm at close to 4400 fps.



Where it fell.


The rifle with the coyote.

LOL no pelt damage there at all:)

First off the 60gr Vmax wont shoot out of my swift (1-14"twist), but they do shoot quite well out of my 1-8"twist 22-250. It is perhaps one of the most frangible 22 cal bullets I have ever used. cant think of a worse choice if you want fur friendly.

For fur friendly with the rifles you have........222 with 40gr BT's

I'm shooting 1/12 however based on your experience the Vmax's are probably not want I want to use.

When I was in my early 30s I shot coyotes and some cats to earn the better part of my living. I used a 22-250 for a while, but I switched to the 222 and I found what I liked with that gun. The 222 with 50 grain WW Power Points or 55 grain Remington "Power-Lokt HPs were excellent and give exits that were very small, but dropped the coyotes instantly and I can't even count the number of Coyotes I killed with that rifle.

Shooting for hides around farm/ranch yards I used a standard 22 LR or better still a 22 WMR. Don't under estimate how well they kill. However the 22 was used at ranges out to about 150 max, and the shots at under 100 were easier and usually the Coyote would not tun much The WMR gave better kills and more rage. With that rifle kills to about 200 were pretty easy.
I used a 22-250 and with that rifles I made kills out to about any range I was offered shots. My longest shots were in the 500+ range and I made one that I measured over a pasture at about 630. But about 98% of all shots were at 200-300 and I found the 22-250 was often hard of hides. Some bullet did well but none I ever tried were consistently perfect and I did loose value on about 1/3 of my hides no matter which bullet I used.

When I bought the 222 I found the money gun. I used several bullets and the ones I settled on were the 2 I listed above, the 50 grain Winchester and the 55 grain Remington "power-lokt" I used to buy them in bulk, 5000 in a box from Black Hills. I am always amused when I read articles and excerpt in load manuals who all say the 222 Remington was only good for varminting out to about 250 yards. I can't even count the number of coyotes I got at ranges between 300 and 400 with my little SAKO.
As I said, I killed quite a number at 150 yards and under with 22LRs I think most western school boys have done that and farm/ranch kids all over the USA will tell you about killing coyotes with 22s. It's probably been done a few MILLION times.

A 40 grain 22 Long Rifle at 100 yards is only going about 900 FPS and yet if you shoot them from the liver forward and hit organs the coyotes drop, or run 25-35 yards as a rule and die. Of all the coyotes I ever shot with rim-fires I never lost a single one.

A 50 grain 222 Remington leaving the gun at 3100 FPS is going to be nearly identical in velocity at 600 yards (and 10 grains heavier) as a 22 LR is at 1 yard. So why on earth would anyone think it's not good past 250 yards?
I have proven to myself the 222 is just fine waaaaaay past 250, hundreds and hundreds of times. Not just on coyotes but also on jack-rabbits and Rock Chucks, feral cats and dogs, and all manor of non-living targets just to shoot for fun.You do have to learn your drifts and trajectory, but when you shoot a lot you do learn it, and it doesn't take that long either.

I think the longest shot I ever made on a coyote with my 222 Remington was around 475 yards but I did kill LOTS of them at between 300 and 400. "Lots' meaning enough to pay the bills and even buy a new Toyota Land Cruiser in a 5 month stretch of hide hunting. Paid 100% down, nothing left to pay and all of that was from hides. So you can see, I was killing a lot of Coyotes, averaging $90 each if they were not damaged, and a few cats, which were going for an average of $600 each. At those values, hide damage was a big concern to me.

In every area of life I am convinced that every time facts and some theory disagree, it's the theory that is wrong.

Desk-jockeys and lib-tards can't seem to grasp that understanding, but because they only sit around and deal with theory, theory is all they have to look at.
But most avid hunters and country-boys know what I am talking about here.

I have been hunting coyotes for about 60 years. I used the Sierra 53 gr. HP before they came out with the 52 gr. BTHP. The latter is very effective on coyotes out to about 350 yards with a well placed shot. But in extremely cold weather they don't open up as well. I have seen them run 300 plus yards before dropping. I used them in a Rem. 700 Varmint Special in the 22/250 caliber. The powder that I started out with was IMR 4320 and then switched to IMR 4064. I can't remember exactly, but I think that the load was 34 gr. of 4064. I killed hundreds of coyotes with that load. That caliber is a little tough on hides for fox.

"50 grain WW Power Points"

Are these the same as the Winchester PSP's? I can only find the PP in 62 grain.

Thanks

Landyboy -

You are overthinking this whole thing, if you go back through the posts you will see one bullet consistently mentioned - 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. They work, they do not destroy hides and they kill like a lightning bolt strike. While the the V-Max are great for PD and gophers they are to frangible for coyotes if you want to minimize hide damage.

Quite overanalyzing and just go shoot things.

As 'Stick would say - "you have been led to water".

drover

Drover you are correct I do tend to over think things.. I do appreciate all the info on this thread! I am currently working on the .22 load with the 40 NBT's in my .222.

you cannot go wrong with 40 gr NBT-21 to 22 grs of Re 7,& Rem 7 1/2 primer--it just plain kills in a 222.

What speed are you getting out of that load?

hides up here in Minnesota or out west are prime when it gets cold and coyote hides have some value if the hide is not all shot up ,i use a 220 Swift with 60 gr. Nosler partitions seem to usally just be a small hole on a dead coyote.

I will be in MT in December for a week.

Don't know about that load for speed but in both my rifles THE powder of choice is VVN130 with Lapua cases and 205 primers, my custom 40X shoots them at 3590fps and my factory CZ527 shoots them at 3510fps

--3420

"50 grain WW Power Points"

Are these the same as the Winchester PSP's?

Yes I think they are but I am unsure today. Maybe Winchester changed the name and it's the same bullet, but it's possible it is a different one too. (It also possible I am confusing the name myself. it was a long time ago)
It's been a lot of years scene I got any now. That was back in about 1983 on and off until about 1987 or so. I don't know if they ever make them anymore.
The old one were 50 grains, sort of a spitzer but not real pointy. The jackets were fairly thick for a 224" bullet. My SAKO would shoot them into about 3/4" with it's best load of H322. Some Sierras were more accurate, but didn't kill the coyotes as well. The little WW bullet always seemed to expand and hold together and not blow a big hole through their hide Exits were usually about the size of a Nickel to maybe a quarter at times if they were close. It was just an excellent bullet for hunting hides for maney.

Landyboy, I just went to Garf and Sons web site and looked up the WW 50 grain PSP. Now that I see a pic I can say that's not the same bullet. The ones I had were made with a cannelure and the lead tip was about 2/3 as large as those in their picture. But I think I may buy some and see how well they do anyway.
I don't hunt hides anymore, but I'll still sell them when I shoot them. There days the rifle I use most of the time for coyotes is a 16" barreled AR15 in 5.56. The velocity of my loads from the 16" barrel are just about the same as what I got from the 22" barrel of my SAKO 222 Remington, so if that bullet is as good as the ones I got back in the early 80s I am sure I'll be well please with them.

Thanks drover..... I just found a box of 1000 40BT’s..... I guess I’ll have to work up a load for my 223 vixen and try it out on the yoties this year!

Ben

Have had good luck with the 70 grain nosler rdf out of a 22 Creedmoor doing around 3500 FPS. Rarely exit and are drt