Hey all! I’m usually a 223 shooter, but with pelts being near worthless and me planning to do some summer hunting I don’t really care about added carnage right now.

I have a box of 87 vmax and a box of 55gr varmageddon, I like the high speed idea of the 55’s. Those that have shot one or both, what was your favorite? And what loads do your rifles like?

Shooting in factory model 7, and 700

Thanks!

Steve

Never tried either of those. My best all time .243 coyote load was the 70 ballistic tip with a max load of Varget

A proven performer also, try the 85 Sierra gameking with Varget or IMR 4895

Fastest .243 load I've used was the 60 sierra with ww760. Early 60s version of "shock and awe"...

Think you find heavy and slow will work better than light and fast over the long run. and your barrel will last a lot longer. Rio7

Guess I should’ve stated that I’m very experienced with various 6mm chamberings and heavy bullets. I’m not at all concerned with barrel life in these ones because I have a machine shop and do all my own barrel work. This is purely for speed and “knock down”. It’ll be mostly used at night, with thermal optics and depth perception is non existent so flat shooting is ideal.

OK! Makes sense to me. Rio7

Didn't we just have this thread?

see here

I didn’t see anything mentioned in your 6SLR thread about a 55gr nosler varmageddon, or 87gr vmax.

I was hoping for first hand experience with these specific bullets. Both favorite loads, and on game performance.

On a side note, how do you like your SLR? I’ve been shooting them for several years now. I think I’m on my third or fourth barrel.

It's new to me. We'll see.
I loaded the 55 varms in my 6x47L.i got them to 4000. Only shot one at that speed just to see if it was possible. Bullet hit the target

Im using 45gr of H4350, 70gr Nosler BT. Getting 3450fps. Only a foot low at 400 with a 250 yard zero. Hold on hair on a coyote to 350.

I've used one bullet in the 243 Win. Sierra 87 gr. BTHP shot 1000's of deer and approaching 10'000 of coyotes....there's just one bullet I know and use....

For most small critters I like either the Sierra or Hornady 75gn HP and 41.5gns of Varget.

Shooting Coyotes, doesn't take anything special, speed or bullet wise,unless your a rifle LOONEY, then that changes every thing, i kill more than a few predators every year, and the 6mm bullet is my choice, but my rifles and I choose the 105 gr. Scenar, or the 103 ELD-X i am not saving hides, S.Texas, does not produce good fur. and about 98% of my shots are inside 250 yrds. and there's no such thing as shooting from prone here. Rio7

Thermal gun..... federal 100gr sp has ended many walks of hogs and coyotes.

Daytime predator load.... 70nbt or 75gr accutip have shot and performed well on coyotes out of my Remingtons.

I would think any bullet you shoot for deer would work fine for coyotes and give you some of the best shooting practice you will ever get... If you can hit a coyote with it, especially one moving- you will find deer and easy target...

I shoot a few coyotes with a 240 weatherby, and 65 grain V Max bullets. And sometimes with 70 grain ballistic tips. Both are highly effective, but if you’re saving fur, not so good. As some have said, you don’t need anything special to kill coyotes.

Might want to check those coyote fur prices again. Last two years have been the best in 20 years.

Check Minnesota and east varieties. Lucky if buyers will even take them, a lot of our bigger buyers are not. Best of the best are selling in the $20 range, average is under $10

Interesting array of answers.

I should’ve been more specific I guess, I’m not a stranger to killing coyotes, and I know that just about anything that you shoot them with will kill them as long as you hit vitals. I was just wondering about specific experiences with the 55gr nosler VS 87gr vmax.

Through some additional research I did find that at the upper end of 243 velocity some have experienced near zero penetration, and a big surface splash wound with the 55gr. I’m not into that so I’ll probably keep them for prairie dogs.

I ran some numbers and with either bullet at near the upper end of 243 velocity, and a 200 yard zero I will be able to hold on fur from zero to 350 yards and hit a coyote. I probably won’t be shooting farther than 300 yards with thermal anyway so that’s perfect.

On a side note I did get a nice big male red fox and a big female coyote last night with a 50gr Zmax load from my 223. Fox at 125yds, coyote at 75yds. Both DRT

Not in 243 but my favorite 6mm cartridge the 6mmBR my favorite bullet is the 65 grain v-max. Good combo of velocity and In the few coyotes I've shot I've never had an exit. In a 243 I think it would just be more of a good thing.
Rick

85gr gameking for 1. 68gr barts dominator for the other.

I and others on my teams have killed a LOT of coyotes with a 243 with the 80g Sierra BT Blitz...amazing accuracy and a very loud WHOP sound when you connect on a coyote. We shot a hot load of IMR 4064 with the 80g at 3400 fps in custom barrels, 26", 12 Twist with very short freebore. 1/2" accuracy at 200 yards was the norm.

We also had stellar results with the 60g Sierra at 3850 with Win 760, coyotes never took a step, even when shot behind the diaphragm.

As far as the .243 is concerned, I still load 42.5 gr. of 4350 and a Sierra 85gr. BTHP. Extremely accurate and a lot of knockdown power.

Honestly any accurate 243 load is good for coyotes. Never saved fur so can't help you there. I've had good results with Nosler 90gr BTs and R15 or H4350. Works well on deer too.

A lot of this. I’ve been shooting control for 40 some years and the majority of that with 55 grain ballistic tips. Never had to care much about the fur, tho plenty were more than skinable. As Rio says with a .243 don’t over think it, pull the trigger and enjoy.

Osky

I've probably killed more coyotes with the 85 grain Sierra HPBT, as that's my favorite all-around bullet for the 243. I use 45.0 grains of W760 and it's been accurate in every 243 I've tried it in. I've also shot a lot of the 58 grain VMax and 65 grain Berger HP's, with both bullets performing very well.

I shot a few groups with the 55 grain Ballistic tips. They shot fine, not stellar but pretty decent.
A friend of mine was a USDA control officer for 8 years. He mostly used a 243AI shooting 55s at 4200-4300 fps. Main job was to shoot fetal dogs. This was his caliber of choice

It is amazing how most of the bullets mentioned are simply not available to purchase. I have not seen an 80g Sierra BT Blitz produced in two years, same for the 85g Sierra spt and the 85g BTHP. 87g Hornady bthp is an easy bullet to tune, have not seen them in two years. We killed hundreds of coyotes in Mexico with 60g Sierra HP years ago, have not seen this bullet produced in years.

We have seen the 55g Nosler ballistic tips and the 55g Nosler Varm available for purchase along with the 58g V max. I can tell you that in my 243's, that the 55's do not shoot well if they are jumping vary far to the lands.

Hornady seems to be the only company that is keeping up with the demand for hunters, and a guy has to really keep his eye peeled on the suppliers to get bullets.

We are in one heck of a mess as a group of reloaders, and we will be using Deer hunting bullets for predators in the very near future. The 100g hornady btsp and the 95g SST are very accurate bullets, and these two bullets kill deer and hogs very well.

It took me awhile experimenting with my first couple of .243s until I realized the 100 gr load I used for deer, antelope, and elk also would kill a coyote just fine!

I shoot more than a few Coyotes, Bobcats, Pigs, with a .243 A.I.1x8 twist and a standard .243 1x10 twist, the problem is are you saving hides? if you are bullets make a big differents, if your not trying to save hides bullets make no differents, shoot what ever you can find that you rifle will shoot, you will learn to like the bullet. Rio7

Now that is a LOT of shooting.

With that kind of sucess you would think Sierra would name that bullet after you. I've not heard of a Sierra 87 grain HPBT.

At $20 per hundred that is damn near a quarter of a million dollars worth of bullets assuming 2000 deer and 10,000 coyotes. Lets not count the powder, brass, and primers.

That IS a bunch of shooting. I haven't heard of that 87 gr. HPBT either and looking at new and old manuals, I couldn't find any reference to it. With that kind of shooting record and expenditure for components I can only surmise that somebody bought them all....

Yeah, thats gotta be it....

My bad on the math. I was wrong. only $2400.00 at $20 per box

Still lots of killing going on..

.243
A lot of people use the 87 gr. Hornady, for just about every thing Deer, Speed Goats, Coyotes,never been able to work up a good load with the 87 gr Hornady Sierra 87 gr. never seen them, I like the heavy 105 gr,Scenar in my 1x8, A.I. and the 95 gr.Win S.P. in my 1x10, at around 3000 fps they both work real well for me, on Coyotes,Bobcat,Pigs,Whitetails.
For long range steel the 107 gr SMK is the cat's ass. Rio7

Your math sucks all right. It still works out to $240,000


Figuring 12,000 bullets expended at $20 per box.....I am operating under the assumption that he never missed, or it would be more...