Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Model 70 Coyote 25 WSSM

All:

I found this gun locally for $550. It is NIB. Has the lighter laminated stock. Push feed. Any opinions?

RAS

Why ? ? ?

I really dislike the wssm's for some reason. It's just personal opinion though.

Never had one either. That is why I am asking. Lotsa knowledge here.

I have 11 Winchester/USRA 70s chambered in 25 WSSM, including 3 Coyotes with stainless barrels. I really like the 25 WSSM cartridge and built 1 with a 1 in 14" twist barrel to match the 75 grain bullets that I wanted to shoot at pdogs. All of the Browning and Winchester/USRA WSSMs came with 1 in 10" twist barrels.

The 25 WSSM is nice cartridge for varmints and deer/antelope. Think of it as falling in the 257AI to 25-284 range. I've fired around 1,000+/- rounds from a variety of 25 WSSM and don't find it particularly demanding or difficult to reload for. I'm using Federal 243 WSSM brass necked up to feed my pdog rifle. The thing that some people find annoying about the WSSMs is that the brass is very heavy/thick and if you don't run it at near maximum pressures, the necks don't always expand into the chamber and you get "smoked" case necks.

The Coyote is a heavy rifle, so it really isn't something that you'll probably want to carry over hill and dale. Weight isn't really an issue for pdog shooting or for shooting deer from a stand, but it is something to consider.

Jeff

I have a M70 Coyote in 243 WSSM, and it's been my pet varmint rifle for the last several years. It's the one I choose over a .223 or .22-250 when the range may extend beyond 350 to 400 yards. The price sounds good too. Go for it!

Since the WSSM line may become obscure someday, including action, I would rather base my future selections on Ackley or WSM versions. 260Remguy and youself seem to know and use WSSM well, and I'm sure it delivers great results, but I'd rather have a 243 Ackley Imp or 257WSM, both of which have abundant brass available and out perform the 243 and 25 WSSM. I also like the use of common length actions as opposed to the much less common WSSM action. The 243 WSSM in a Coyote Model 70 is compact and should serve well for intended use. The push feed is fine, especially for varminting as you simply open, eject, and hand feed the next into the tube. Any CRF is a pretty wasted element on a varmint action rifle IMO, since it requires you to magazine feed a single, close the chamber and then completley cycle for proper controlled round feeding.

260: Have you found that it is necessary to full-length resize the 25WSSM? Or is this a quirk of just my rifle? thanks

I have a dedicated set of cases for each rifle, so I never need to full-length resize the case. The only WSSM brass that I've reloaded in any volume is Federal 243 WSSM resized to fit my 25 WSSM pdog rifle, so I can't tell you how Winchester/Olin brass might perform.

Jeff

260, do you notice less blow back from using .243 wssm brass? I am curious of the slight stretching of the necks to .257 might make them a little more able to expand on lighter loads than the thick .25 wssm brass. Or do you only use hot loads.

BTW I bought 200 of the Federal .243 wssm brass to load thanks to your tip. Unbelievably cheaper.

I only use hot loads in most of my rifles. Not "over maximum", but hot enough to produce the sort of balance in speed and accuracy that I demand from my reloads. Speed without accuracy is pretty useless as is accuracy without enough speed (whatever that is) to get the job done.

The Federal WSSM brass is excellent and a great value at 1/2 the price of Winchester/Olin.

Jeff

If anybody wants this rifle, it is in the Gander Mountain in Fredericksburg VA.

RAS