Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints dedicated coyote rifle

I'll tell you what I have on my mind, and you can tell me how far off I am.

lately I been hearing about lots of opportunities to kill coyotes around here. farmers having trouble with them killing calves and so forth. I know that I could benefit from shooting them with one of my deer rifles, but I hate to miss an opportunity to rationalize the need for a different rifle.

I am thinking along the lines of a Rem 700 ADL synthetic. Chambered in .243. I wouldn't feel overly sorry about doing a spray paint job on it to help out with aesthetics. I have a 3.8-12x Simmons Aetec sitting here with no rifle to attach it to, and I am thinking that it would be just about right as far as the magnification range. Then it would just be a matter of loading some of those wicked little 55 grain nosler ballistic tips, or Blitzkings, and going to the woods.

I am uninterested in saving pelts, so if the varmint happens to come "unhinged" that is perfectly alright by me.

So, I respect your experience, and I look forward to hearing from you on the subject.

I have a 243 that I load with 55's, but i want the pelts. If I didn't, I would load some 80's etc for the ultimate bang-flop.

Crap, why is it everyone else has some hot lead on good coyote hunting? LOL

That'd work. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Oh, and with the .243, you can just drop in a 100 gr. or two in case some freezer meat walks out there.

With the ADL and the Aetec, you can pray paint the thing as ugly as you want, and not worry about messing anything up.

VarmintAl (he's an infrequent visitor here, but has his own website: http://www.varmintal.com ) has a similar 'yote zapper. Here's a pic:



Oh, and VarmintAl's site also has some great tips re: 'yote hunting and even free call sounds you can download. You ought to check out his page if you're looking at getting into 'yote hunting. I have, and it's great.

BTW - have similar arrangements with local farmers here. Now, getting the 'yotes to cooperate is another story.

Amen, it really is all about the bang flop, it truely is...
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Have you looked at the Remington SPS rifles? Looks to be a nicer rifle for around the same price as the old ADL. I like the Hornady 65 V-Max bullets in the 243.

Yes, I have looked at the SPS, and I do like it, its just that a dealer buddy of mine has an ADL sitting on his shelf that I think I can get into very reasonably.

Nimrod,
Thanks for the directions to the site, I will be sure to visit it.

I've got the ADL in 243. Mine really likes 85 gr Sierra HPBT over max loads of IMR 4350. Give that a try. Good luck

So you prefer a bullet in the 80 grain weight range for bashing coyotes?

Just more horse power. Coyotes are tough animals, and if you gut one, they don't go and lay down like a deer, they keep trucking.

Shot a lot of dogs with the 80's and they didn't even tear up the pelts too much. I have shot a bunch with my 223, and don't get as many bang-flops, but more of them spinning around in circles and then dropping.

PS. remember, a coyote has a 5-6" chest from spine to sternum. So sight in your gun dead nuts, none of that 3" high at 100 crap.

My dedicated yote gun is a SUCKS 6mm w/25inch douglas. I load 70 NBTs and the bang flops are common. I even save hides and they aren't too bad if hit right.

I sight in dead on for 200 yards. They have to be pretty far before a hold above hair is called for, and I'm usually calling or stalking so don't have to shoot that far much.

I would have loved to have found a 6mm around here somehwere, but they are as scarce as hen's teeth. What Iended up with was a compromise. Maybe too much of one, but I guess we shall see. I brought home a Remingont 700 in the SPS guise. The only thing is, it is a youth model, and has a 20" bbl. Now I know I am going to lose some velocity from this barrel, but surely I can still get enough "Vim" from a 60 grain SIerra HP or a 70 grain Speer TNT HP to dump a coyote. I had a chance to bring home the full 24' barrelled model, but I just kept picking up the shorter, handier 20' rifle. I mounted the 3.8- 12x Simmons Aetec on the rifle with Burris Zee rings, and plan a camo job later. Load development comes next, and then a caller. Hopefully, I can get some trigger time on coyotes later this year.

Don't overlook the 6mm 70gr Ballistic Tip Varmint bullet by Nosler. It's a certain bang flop bomb for coyotes that are hit in the boiler room.

You can get some really flat trajectory out of them due to their light weight and resulting high velocity and yet they have a .310 BC which is enough to buck the wind out to reasonable coyote distances.

Of course... Always have a couple hundred grain Partitions in your pocket for freezer fillers.

As far as the perfect rifle goes... There are two.

The perfect bolt gun is a Remmy Model 7SS in 243 with full camo paint job or just bow tape if you're no good at painting like me.

The perfect target rich environment coyote rifle is the Browning BAR Lightweight Stalker in 243 with similar paint or bow tape.

I know this because I've been hunting coyotes, fox and "other predators" for almost 50 years now and have gone through a bunch of "mistake rifles".

Oh... And a Benelli Tactical 12 guage is good for up close and personal "wet work" in the thick brush. With this one use the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote loads. Get the "T-Shot".

$bob$

Mine is a Ruger MKII 223. It flat out kills with Sierra BK's!

This was from last week. Good shooting!

You wouldn't by chance have any experience with the 85 grain Speer BTSP? It is an interesting bullet, and I wonder if it would make a good "do either in a pinch" bullet. I have used the 85 grain Sierra BTHP and had good luck in the accuracy department, but never shot anything with hide or hair on it.

I've used 3 24's over the years for coyotes, and for a calling rifle they're fine, just like most other cal.s i've used. The 70/85 Sierra BTHP's were fair on fur, but i never really found a good fur bullet out of the bigger 24's. These days there're more bullets out there that'll kill coyotes than u'll even wanna test.

My most recent project is a 243 WSSM Striker, with an 8 twist Broughton barrel, but this rig is setup for long-range. Shouldn't have any problems with that 20" barrel-- heck, mine's only 16.

Hey tide
where do you live, what kind of terrain? do you get multiple shot situations?? I use an 870 shotgun or a sks russian. works great. if you want a high end gun a ruger mini 30 works. Oh ya I use number 4 buck
bearbeater

I will second the above, #4 in a shotgun flat out puts coyotes down! Will have alot of holes though if you are keeping fur!

I think the 12ga and a AR-15 will do just fine. If you have a lot of windy days, a .243 is the way to go.

Just my 2 cents.

Now for something different.

An 18" DPMS M4-ish 308,wearing a 3.5-10x M1 and launching 168 A-Max might could be fun..................

So will the 22" fluted 243 WSSM upper I just ordered from here:

http://www.dtechsuperstore.com/WSSM%20page.htm

It'll wear the 4.5x14x50 illuminated IOR I pulled off the Sako Lazz I sold.