Hopefully the long title says it all.

I shoot the dang things with whatever I have. But a friends dad is a bit older and doesn't like looking for them.

He just started on them with an AR. All I had that was even close but much better than the FMJ the store sold him was 52 BTHP Matchkings. Ugh. They work fine, the wife uses em on pigs and coyotes here.

But probably a better bullet. Vmax. Ballistic tip. Varmageddon or whatever they all are.

Is there a best one. Houses are around so thats an issue. Best weight? We generally never shot anything less than 68s so I'm not familiar with ballistics. Terminal effects etc.

My guess is 50 v max. But 40 might not be out of the question. Or 60 ?

Think the gun is 8 or 9 twist. Its not a fast twist.

Thanks in advance for the headaches ya'll will give me sorting through the answers.

BTW reloading bullets, not loaded ammo obviously

At 200 yards I would grab any bullet in a 223.

I've had really good luck over the years shooting a 60 gr. vmax right at 2850 fps.

Lots of guys I talk to and the coyote hunters I watch on the youtube videos seem to prefer the 53 grain Vmax. Now the trick is to find them anywhere for sale...

50 or 55 Ballistic Tips work good on coyotes.

Define "good".

Just kill them dead?
Fur friendly?
Both?

I have bunches of 62gr. Bear Claws. That’s what I would use. That bullet is good for anything I might want to shoot. It kills pigs plenty good, coyotes wouldn’t know what hit em.

Killing is the easy part- using a bullet that won' t destroy the hide and won't pass through or ricochet is the part most guys are looking for these days. The plastic tipped varmint bullets- Nosler BTs, and Hornady Vmax seem to do the best job of it from my experience and others I talk to...


Bob

I have probably shot the most coyotes with my AR using 55gr BT's. The Sierra 65gr BT also works very well, someone mentioned the 60gr V-Max and they work very well but are the least fur friendly, they really come undone on impact

WOW if a 1-8"twist is not a fast twist in your book .............what do you consider a fast twist ????????????
1-5", 1-6", 1-7"????????????

well,...........yeah

8 Twist should be perfect for light plastic tipped bullets like the 40's, 50's, 53's, 55's. IMO, the closer the bullet is to rated velocity and rotational integrity, the faster it will come apart when it hits something. For 200 yard shots as specified, anything will work to kill coyotes.

6 /6.5/7. Worlds of difference in what you can stabilize right there. 8 won't come close to the 90s I used to shoot all the time. 7 would on good days. hear 7s do the 88.5 bergers though...

Anything less than 7 you can't deal with heavies mostly.

Yes even FMJ. But the point is the best one for DRT even with bad shots. Yes I know that was stupid to post. But it happens. And at night and older shooter...

No one buys coyote hides. Could care less about the hide. If it cut the coyote in half that would be fine too. Thats not how I roll but thats how this project has to be.

My hunting guns are setup for 55 gr NBT’s due to the BDC in my scopes. They work fine but the best killin bullet is the 77 gr NCC followed by the SMK.

In that case, a cousin of mine kills 50+ a year. He likes his bullets light, and fast. Shoots plactic tip 40's out of .223, but does a lot of killing with a silenced .204

The Varmeggedon Tipped are good too if you happen to find some. I’ve used the 40s on all kinds of stuff from crows to pigs and had good luck. Another guy I know here locally likes the 53s for coyotes out of his 223.

60 Gr. Sierra TMK.

MM

We use 55 grain V-Max bullets and no coyotes have complained about them so far.

Before they came out we used 55 grain whatever bullets.

The hides became worthless around here a long time ago so it didn't matter,even the fox with a 300 Win.Mag.

Hides are worthless around here, use a bullet like a 60gr V max, 62gr Varmageddon, 52 gr Speer big mouth will also smack dem bastages.

Thanks for the replies. 40 vmax were in stock at that horrible company midway... so 2 boxes on the way.

Let us know how they shoot. I'll be looking for some new fodder to feed my AR and these and the 53/55 Vmax are on the list....

One bullet I don’t often see mentioned but that I’ve had good luck with is the Sierra 60 grain HP. Probably no one likes it because it doesn’t have a sexy boat tail base, but given the original parameters here that doesn’t matter.

If you run them 40's hot your going to have splashes and a lot of runners

I used a 50 grain Hornady SX with excellent results in both a SAKO 222 Rem (22 Inch Barrel) and a 5.56 AR15 (16 inch Barrel)
. They don't run off when hit with one of those.

Doubtful at best. I've shot large Rock chucks with the very similar Nosler BT's out of my 22-250 clocking around 4180 and they are as tough as any coyote in the hide. The damage is pretty incredible and nothing moves after being hit with one... and the bullets don't pass through...

I don't have the right powder. Plus its 16 inches. Gonna be hard to run em just too hot. but I'd appreciate your MV idea of too hot.

Those are extra accurate too. I forgot all about them. Have some stashed somewhere. Buddy uses em on pigs and javelina.

V-max 50, 53, or 55. Economy generally favors the 50/55, 53 is more expensive but has a slight bc bump. I have used the 40's on a few coyotes, had some runners, some DRT with no rhyme or reason for the difference, decided a little heavier was better.

My buddy is running them at 3650 out of a 20" barrel bolt gun. He has probably lost a dozen coyotes in the last 3 years. Always lots of blood but after spending
hour after hour tracking he finally gave up using that bullet. I witnessed every one of them. Coyotes are a heck of a lot tougher than people give them credit for.

It's yer call, i wouldn't use em. I see Midway has 55gr Speer sp's for 12 bucks, them will work for ya.

Last one I shot was at 100 yards with a plain Jane 55 Hornady SP over 25 grains of H335 out of a 16” AR.
Broadside right in the shoulder. I was surprised at how bad it wrecked him. I think those are only strolling along at about 2900fps.
It’s my “plinker” load, but it sure works for close in coyotes.

Only doubtful if you’ve never shot a coyote with them. . After seeing how 40 gr vmax out of a .223 perform on coyotes myself, I’d not load them intentionally for coyotes, or anything beyond gophers or prairie dogs myself. BT are reportedly tougher by guys that have shot both.

Thanks, I suspect we won't get above 3400 and I'm ok with that. Coytoes are really tough for sure. Amazingly so. Only ones I've not lost were 6.5 creed moor and 7x300 wtby hits and didn't matter all those hits have been in the right place anyway.

Appreciate the input. I think we are overall safer with houses around etc... that I'd rather take a splash and loss now and then and be less worried about what the bullet does after the hit or miss. Kind of a special issue. Because too many damn people are buying country land and dividing and building and this is bull [bleep]. Used to not even be able to see a house from ours... so much bullshit. Time to move really. But thats OT big time. LOL.

Unless anyone has any 53 vmax they want to send 2 boxes to me for... LMAO. Ive got boxes of old 75 amax I would trade that we still use but I have some of. LOL

I have shot just about every 40-64 gr bullet made at coyotes with the 5.56(223} been doing it for over 45 years and findly figured out what the best is.....Federal Fusion 62 gr.....its heavy enough and made to stay together that you get great penetration from any angle.....
I have only lost two coyotes out of several thousands with the Federal Fusion 62 gr. and both were shot in the rear legs while running.....
Been lucky to get the 62 gr. Fusions bulk to load my own for many year now......

Not 53 v maxes, but I have some nosler 55 tipped varmageddon bullets I could spare.

I've shot coyotes with the 40's and not lost any yet, so I'm surprised to hear of the runners you guys are reporting. I'm sure my numbers aren't what some of you shoot, so not surprising in the end. I shoot coyotes mostly as a target of opportunity and only occasionally as my planned trip..

But the point is I was trying to address the OP's original points- area with other homes around, typical 200 yard range, can't afford pass throughs, etc..... From my experience, the plastic tipped bullets designed for varmints do that job about as well as can be done and the bullets tend not to travel or ricochet when they hit something.... but heck, I learned something new today, so this thread wasn't wasted...

Bob

appreciate the offer. Think I"ll wait on the 40s and play with them. I only have a month left to load stuff and mess around anyway and then its onto 6 months of long days 7 days a week work season.

Unless you have a need for heavier bullets for a reason. I don't want to take yours. I'm sure they will be around by November or so when I get back.

Appreciate the offer though! And if the 40s shotgun I might get back to ya

No problem. I snagged the last box of 250 a local dealer had back in Dec. SPS had 2nds a couple of weeks ago, and I got a few too. I've got a few 55 BTs too, so I'm good for a while. If you change your mind, let me know

love bullet and coyote discussions, its pretty funny actually. everyone claims to shoot a bunch of coyotes, but then when really pinned down its like, yeah the 2 I shot with 53 grain vmaxs died. with that said, I will not shoot a vmax at a coyote. sierra 22 caliber bullets have about twice as thick of a jacket as say a vmax does. I have done decently with 50 grain sierra blitzkings. I would prefer to shoot nosler btips, they have a chunk of copper in the back that will push them into a coyote typically enough to kill pretty good. for some reason I can't
get btips to shoot consistently when pushed fast and hard from any AR 15, I have tried them in, both 22 and 6mm AR's, the hollow points are less consistent and sometimes open up well and other times don't. IMO a 223 isn't a great coyote killer, just keep shooting is what you have to do. for the shot placement guys, kill enough coyotes and you aint going to hit all of them perfectly. lately my buddy and I just let them come all the way in and basically machine gun them. so its running shots, jackrabbit hunting style.

70 grain BT in a 243. Oh my bad. You were asking about the .224’s

That's just ignorant. Guess I'll have to put you in the amateur category you were talking about....

You kill as many coyotes as I have, and you'll find that out of a .223 a NBT, because of the thicker jacket, will blow through a coyote with a quarter sized exit hole, and you'll have many, many more runners than shooting a 55-60gr VMax.

Go ahead and flame me. I don't care. I know what I know. Not from the internet, but from killing literally thousands of coyotes.

I personally shoot a .223 55gr Vmax to put coyotes DRT. It does a stellar job. Every time.

Rock,

The general rule is to do exactly the opposite of anything cumminscowboy suggest.
If he disagrees with you, you are doing the right thing.

Viking,
I always imaged that would be a great coyote combination.
What velocities are you shooting and kind of results are you getting with those?
Controlled exits, lots of splat, or blowing them in half?

I had a friend that used 75gr BT's out of his .243.

It was a good killer. Wasn't fur friendly, but he wasn't looking to skin them, he was looking to kill them.

Yeah, I already knew that.

But was just clarifying for the unsuspecting...

ok rocker, if you have never had a vmax splash on a coyote, well that says all I need to know, LOL go ahead keep doing what you think, I really don't care. When you cut these bullets open and see how they are built and confirm that with actual use then get back to me. a NBT blowing a quarter sized exit hole through a coyote sounds awesome to me. its actually the performance I am looking for. hit with a chest shot and its going to be jello inside. hit the shoulder on a broadside its going to punch through. that beats the crap out of a vmax shoulder splashing. never tried a 60 vmax, some guys report decent results. might be just enough lead core that hangs together for most situations, combined with less speeds, because the bullet is heavier. vmax jackets are about half as thin as most other makes of bullets. I can't form a total opinion on a bullet unless I have killed about 40 coyotes with a particular combo. speed also is a factor. most 223 ammo is loaded pretty darn weak. some factory 50 grain loads I have shot are under 2900 fps. my load runs about 3365 fps. that is nearly a 500 fps difference. weakly loaded vmaxes might work ok. for me they don't. at the speeds I push them. when I step up to 22-250 my choice is a heavier bullet than I would use in a 223, sierra 1365's in that case, plain ole soft point non sexy bullet. but that ends up being too hard for my tastes at 223 speeds.