Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints .17 for Coyote

I've got a small game coyote tag for CO this year, and as CO rules dictate, you cannot shoot a coyote with anything bigger than a .23 AFTER you have already tagged your big game for that season. Obviously, who would want to shoot at a coyote BEFORE you down your elk for fear of spooking anything into the next county.

So I said all of that to say, assuming I tag out on my elk license and decide to hunt the gut pile for yotes is a .17 too small?

Most of the .17 caliber centerfire calibers and the correct bullet would be fine for shooting coyotes. My experience with .17 caliber centerfires is based on 25 years of shooting a .17 Remington. For the last 8 years I have used a 30 grain FBHP Starke bullet on coyotes. I drive this bullet at approximately 3,900 fps for muzzle velocity. It knocks the coyotes down and does very little fur damage. I take most of my shots at 200 yards and closer because I usually call in the coyotes I shoot. I have nailed coyotes at the 300 yard mark too, but seldom try shots at that distance because of the wind deflection and drop for this 30 gr. bullet.

I have read lots of reports from .17 caliber shooters who use the 30 gr. BTHP Kindler Gold bullet on coyotes and they claim that is an excellent bullet for coyotes. I just built a .17 Tactical late this summer and will be giving the 30 gr. Gold bullets a try on coyotes. The BC for the 30 gr. Kindler Gold is .270!!!! I did note on a recent prairie dog hunt on a very windy day that these 30 gr. Golds were fighting wind deflection quite well. Another bullet that is supposed to be good for coyotes is the 25 gr. FBHP Berger bullet. I have never tried the 25 gr. Berger.

I have no experience with the .17 rimfires, but my guesstimate would be that a .17 centerfire would be better suited to shooting coyotes.

Have you thought about or do you have access to a .204 Ruger rifle or one of the other .204 caliber rifles? They would be another excellent choice for use on coyotes with a 35 gr. FBHP Berger or the 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing. I have taken many, many coyotes with the 35 gr. Berger, but have switched to the 39 gr. Sierra and used that with great success the last three fur seasons.

No,I don't have a .204. I have a .223, but I refuse to take that expensive thing out in the woods. I believe this .17 is a HMR, if that makes any sense. I really don't know too much about it, other than my brother and I shot alot of prarie dogs one day with it.

My bullets are only 17 grain. I went out yesterday to look around for larger grains bullets, but just like everything else no one has any available.

Since I've never hunted them before it should be a fun time.

glx1747--There is a continuing debate on many varmint/predator hunting boards whether a .17 HMR or other rimfire rifles are good coyote guns. I am one who believes in trying to make as humane a kill as possible and don't believe a .17 rimfire cartridge is enough gun to consistently make humane kills on coyotes. Sure, you'll kill them once in awhile, but quite possibly you'll hit the coyote and it will get away because you didn't use enough gun and then it will suffer a slow death.

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, most .17 centerfire calibers are going to give you a humane kill on coyotes--I'm not so sure you'll get that with the .17 rimfire calibers. Of course, you need to hit the target animal in the kill zone too, so even a centerfire rifle of most any caliber will fail to give you an immediate kill on an animal if you don't hit them in the kill zone.

What Silverfox said. There are several 17 centerfire that will do the job and kill clean but I would not use any rimfire on any game as big as a coyote.

JMO but you say you have a 223 but it is too expensive if you are hunting a gut pile I wouldn't think that it would be too hard on the gun. I have hunted in CO and I haven't found any spot to be too thick to carry a gun and be gentle to it. But a 17remington CF is a good choice I shot one for several yrs but I lost a few yotes with it and I didn't like that so I retired it for a 243. HAPPY HUNTING

I would not take the .17HMR if I were you. I would take the .223 and just baby it. You'll just be sitting and watching a gut pile, anyways.

Second the thought that the17rim lack authority for consistant one shot kills.No doubt they can kill a coyote though. 17 Remington on up are much better suited.IMHO

No on the rimfire. Either use the .223 and be careful or save up to buy a used .204 Ruger with a synthetic stock that's a shooter you can use as a beater.

Appreciate it guys. I agree, the .223 is probably the better choice, but wasn't exactly for sure if the .17 was big enough - which is why I posted the question. Oh well, the license was only $20 so no harm no foul.

Why not buy a syn stock for the .223? Keep the good stock safely at home.

Well, first of all, theat colorado regulation is ASSININE. What a lame attempt to stop poaching..


At any rate, leave ANY 17 at home.. It astounds me how long after the best Coyote fur gun was brought out- (the .204)

The 17 freaks on Cotote gods etc have sepnt so much time and mmoneyt trying to get a 17 centerifre to perform like- GUESS WHAT - a .204 with 40 g Blitz king, Vmax or Nosler BT bullets.

I used two different 17 Rem Sakos in the late 1980s and 1990s on yotes.. With Berger HPs and Rem HP powerlokts. It was recommended to me by Pete Grisel(the man who actually designed the Dakoata m76 action). Pete loved shooting yotes in Oregon and told me to try the 17 in the late 1980s. I gave it a fair shake for nearly ten years, comparing it to the .223, 22-250 and .220 Swift.

While I had no exits holes on pelts most of the time suing the 17 with any slug, sometimes on raking angles or on wet hides the bullets would open up on the fur and I would get pretty large ENTRY holes. Current 'yote freaks refer to them as "splash wounds".

The kicker for me was the unexplained runnoffs.they were few ,but still REALLY pissed me off. 'Yotes that were knocked down inside 200 yards and then got up and drug themselves off into sage and plum thickets.. I never have seen runoffs in the same situations with the 22-250 even out to 350 and 400 yards.

I would rather have a Coyote pelt IN HAND, that I killed cleanly with a 22-250 and needed some sewing than a lost dog I KNOW was hit well(due to being knocked down and leaving a big blood trail) only left me with guilty conscence and NO pelt..

Thanks jim62.That answers a question that been bothering me for a few years now.Have had no problems with the 25 grain Hornady HP's, but I tried the 20 grain VMAX a few years ago and experienced the "splash wound" phenominon.Didn't know this is what it was, but suspected it might be lack of penetration.

If you are just watching a gut pile close up , a 17 HMR will do the trick .

I know of at least a half dozen yote handily bumped off with the 17 rimfire , but they were all under 100 yards with good shot placement .

There are a couple of 20 gr loads available that would likely work better than the 17 gr plastic tips .

It's not a lack of penetration the lack of pentration is a prodcut of the slug being too lightly constrcted to impact a target like dense fur and high iompact velocites.. That is why it stats to open up beofre it even penetrates the hide...

A correct balance of bullet expansion vs pentration is a PRODUCT of several things working against each other and in unison ..things like
Impact velocity,the toughness of the projectile, the sectional density(wieght and length ) of the bullet, the diater of the bullet(frontal area) and the resistance of the target.

Vmax slugs are designed to explode small targets like Prairie Dogs. No real penetration is required or even needed.

The problem with just about any very fragile 17 slug going out of a large cartridge like a 17 Mach II to 17 Rem at high speeds(4,000 FPS) is that a lightly constructed slug of light weight and small sectional density does not pentrate consistenntly on an animal the size of a coyote. Hit one from the wrong angle up close(inside 200 yards) and weird things happen.. Sure, it will may a PRETTY little hole going in, but is may penetrate so poorly that only shrapnel gets to the vitals with some shot angles...

I have seen a "mintature" version of this with the little 17HMR round with V max slugs. Inside about 50 yards, the little 17g plastic point tips impacting at about 2,300FPS REALLY opne up fast, particularly if you pop something much larger than a Paraire dog. I noticed that Jack rabbits died more slowly when shot with the 17HMR at inside 50 yards when shoulder shots were taken than when the round was used at 150 YARDS +!!! I did it one day along a section road in front of a freind. We wee walkning along a bar ditcj and three jacks ran out inot a plowed feild set up just like falling plates at 35, 100 and about 170 yards. I took each one in order closest to furthest. They ALL dropped with one shot, but the one that kick the most was the one shot at 35 yards. That was because SHRAPNEL , not a expanded slug, was the only thing that hit his vitals when the slug grenaded.

The same thing happens when you put a thin jecketed 150 grain slug on a deers shoulder at short ranges comming out of a hot Magnum round and impacting that shoulder at 3,000FPS.. the bullet does weird stuff.

Scale that up a bit with a lightly construction 20g -25g 17 slug at anything inside 100 yards impacting at about 3,500FPS + on "harder" target like a Coyote's shoulder and you can see some WEIRD stuff is going to happen.

That is why, the 17 shooters who want to use the round on yotes are going to longer heavier 30 grain slugs with tradtional MATCH Hollow point designs..

I noticed over the years in my 22-250 that the most consistent killing slugs were the Match Grade HP bullets like the Horandy and Sierra 52 g slugs..They are a Mini version of how the Berger big bore VLDs slugs are performing on big game these days.. The bullet GETS INSIDE the critter a few inches before they really open up.

It is also why serious .204 users are finding the Berger Match HP slugs and the Nosler 40g BTs(the toughest constructed plastic point varmint slugs) work most consistently on yotes..

I agree, with a 20 g Game point or XTP slug, provided the gun will shoot them accurately, a 17HMR is just about as good as any other modern rimfire round.

The key with ANY rimfire round is HEAD SHOTS.Period. Lung a 'yote with any rimfire round and you most likley will need an Apache tracker to find the damn thing.. Cerntral nervous system hits are the only thing that work with rimfires on Coyotes consistently.... and within about 75 yards or less.

This is why I love these kind of discussions. I shot the 17hmr and I wouldn't shoot it anything bigger than a rabbit. It sucks and will always suck. I have been shooting for the better of 30yrs and the 22mag is a solid performer on yotes. I shoot the cz varmint 22mag and cci 30gr+Vs and they have done excellent. I have had exits out too 100yds with this bullet and quarter sized exits. You do not need to shoot in the head with a rimfire if you use the right one. The 17HMR is not the right one at all. HAPPY HUNTING

Ruger243223.

Lung shots with ANY rimfire are a surefire way to lose Coyotes.
And a pretty damn sloppy way to shoot them.

Hell, why not use a .410 with 00 BUCK??

The 30g 22 mag slugs are no [bleep] better than any 17HMR load with lung shots on Coyotes..

I'm am sure you got "quarter sized exit holes" with the .22 mag at 100 yards.. Whoo hooo!!

With a 20g 17HMR they would have been "nickle" sized..
About a nickles worth of difference..

BIG [bleep] DEAL...


You and I KNOW that with either round too many 'yotes run off. I have used .22 mags on coyotes off and on for 30 years. The round simply does not have enough energy to nail them down consistently with a lung hit. They run off and if there is any thick cover, often times you lose them. Most of them barely acknowledge a solid hit. At 100 yards,it makes a .22 Hornet look like the "Hammer of Thor".

It is better than a rock, but a .22 mag is not much of a coyote with lung shots
unless you preffer to see a lot of them suffer. Which apparently you really get off on. I stand by what I said..with ANY rimfire the only SURE way to drop a 'yote on the spot is with a head/spine shot. Period.

And one other thing... the BEST way I have found to shut up a 17HMR hater is to ask them if they would like to PROVE to the world how "feeble" the 17HMR is by having them sit in a chair at 100 yards while someone "plinks" at them with good 17HMR rifle..

Usually ,THAT stops their line of Bullschit right there..

jim,

I pretty much agree with the majority of what you're saying regarding lung shots with rimfires on coyotes. I'd take a 22 mag any day over the Hummer though.

Regardless of your personal vendetta against coyotegods (silly site isn't it?), a 17 Remington with a well constructed bullet at 3800 is extremely deadly on coyotes. If you think a .17 30 grainer at 3800 is different than a .20 35 Berger at 3800 you're kidding yourself really. Comparing this centerfire with the Hummer is not a comparison BTW.

Your opinion is worth about as much as Ruger243243's is even if I agree with the large majority of it.

I'd recommend you drink some coffee, take a walk, and simmer the hell down. It will be better for your health...

Not to interrupt this exciting banter, (this is really the .270 vs 30-06 argument) but I think the 17 HMR is capable of killing coyotes within the cartridges limitations. One of the limitations is the bullet. The 20 grain hollow point is the only bullet I would shoot a coyote with, and I would have to agree that a CNS hit would be ideal. I have accurately shot my 17 HMR out to 175 yards without a lot of wind drift but I would think keeping ranges inside of 100 yards would be better.

Strangely enough the 17 HMR will make a dent in steel plates that withstand 44 mag rounds or some centerfire rifle loads (I can't remember which now). It certainly has some energy to kill.

Would I chose it for a coyote hunt? If it was all I had, then yes. Otherwise I usually don't like the limitations the cartridge imposes. Use the .223. The stock can be touched up if you scratch it...