suggestions for a good coyote gun

[The Scottsman]

Im looking for a good coyote/fox gun any suggestions?

[perch predator]

.223, .243, 17 hmr

[mschott]

223 or 17 hmr or 22 hornet

[L&M]

Chris this thread might help you out some as-well.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=14568

[The Scottsman]

Thanks guys for the replys and the web info, This will get me started in the right direction.

Thanks again,

Chris.

[Shade]

For accuracy and distance - 22-250 or 222. In my own opinion a 22 Mag or 17 under power and a 243 or 270 is overkill.

Shade

[Chromeslayer]

.204

[chowder]

I actually prefer the .222 but economics dictate the .223 is the way to go now because there is just so much more NATO ammo around making it much cheaper. I think I'd look at the Sako even though I'm kind of stuck on the Winchester 70 rifle out of habit. Save as much as you can for the scope - it's as important as the rifle after 150 yds. Yotes are very smart and after you've picked a few in an area they will start sizing up you're rig from a distance. A telescoping bipod threaded into the front swivel will be a big asset.

[skipper19]

.22-250 loaded with 55 grain full metal jacket, is my favorite, if you handload (less pelt damage) very fast and pinpoint at distance . Other than that the 5.56mm or civilian .223 readily available factory loads in FMJ 50 or 55 grain. Bullets of hollow point design are too destructive on pelts. Bullets of pointed soft point are marginal for pelt damage but will bring the critter to a halt quicker than an FMJ bullet. Calibers over 6.5mm or .264 are too much for thin critters like fox and coyote.

As for gun design, the .22-250 is chambered in mostly bolt action rifles, and some single shot models. However if you like to have the option of a quick follow up shot, an auto loader would be your best choice in the .223/ 5.56mm. I am currently looking at the DPMS Panther chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor. There are many choices there, but my favorite is the DPMS Panther heavy stainless barrel, topped with a 50mm objective lens scope of choice for light gathering properties at low light or those perfect calm nights with a full moon in the snow. Of course if you got lots of money to spend...3rd generation, or higher, night vision scopes are the best way to go for total dark nights.

Mark

[blacksquirrel2]

Real hard to beat the 22-250. Accurate and flat shooting.The 204 takes special cleaning rods and jags and is prone to fouling quicker than the 22-250.I agree the 22 mag and 17 are too small. The 17 is especially light on anything but a rib cage shot at 100 yds and under.All kinds of factory ammo is available for the 22-250 and it is an easy cartridge to reload if you prefer. H380 powder,magnum primers and a 50 or 55 grain bullet will make ant coyote real sick way out there.

[on the lam]

I'm also a fan of the 22-250. I shoot the Rem. 50 gr factory load out of a model 12 savage topped with a mueller scope 8.5x25 http://www.chuckhawks.com/mueller_erati ... 50_syn.htm and a Choate sniper stock http://www.ultimatesniper.com/catalog_p ... wProduct=0 The total weight of the gun and stock is around 14lbs. I shoot hogs primarily, but if a dog shows himself he will have a problem. fox don't stand a chance with that load out to 600 yds.

Not a fun gun to lug around, I usually find myself at the top of a dairy pasture most of the time

I guess a more mobile weapon would be needed for dogs, but the round is smokin. My top hog kill is 510yds. with that round

[ray koziatek]

This should slow em down..

http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infa ... /M107.html

[perch predator]

17 hmr is a lot more devastating than most give it credit for. They're affordable, and much more suburban area friendly. I'll tell you from experience they knock them down and are great for fox also.

[ray koziatek]

Gotta agree with perch tho i dont own one ive sat next to guys at the range and a 1in group at 100 yds is sloppy shooting,ant much weight there but lots of speed and accuracy,

[kingslamon22]

dont get a mini 14, get the ar-15 or stick with the almighty .222 rem

[blacksquirrel2]

A one inch group at 100 yds with a 17 had to be done on a day with absolutely no wind and a very accurate rifle. That little 17 grain bullet is real prone to wind drift. You can't compare a 17 grain bullet at 2550 and a 50 grain bullet at 3600. The 17 is alot less prone to richocets as stated earlier, so it is a better choice where that may be a problem,but you will be giving up alot of range and killing power compared to most any centerfire rifle.It really depends on how you will be hunting coyotes.I would say the 17 is on the extreme light side for a coyote gun and anything above the 243 or 6mm is too much gun.

[perch predator]

I've noticed minimal wind drift inside 100 yds. I agree it's on the light side, but it does put the lights out. I would say it's great for the woods, but in open fields I'de prefer a .243. Also they now make a 22 grain bullet, but I hav'nt tried it yet.

[waterdawg]

Bought a Stevens 22-250 $340.00 brand new. Redid the stock with shadow grey paint job, which makes a huge difference in the looks and it throws 1" groups with factory 50's @ 100 yards all day. It's the cheapest nice rifle I've ever bought.

[rshubuck]

This is my varmit gun. Built it my self in the 223. I also have the Wildlife technologies predator light on it for my night hunting adventures! I absolutely love the AR platform. 223 does the job fine. I'm not a fan of the 204 for coyotes. I had a 204 bolt action last winter and lost 2 yotes with it. Dont get me wrong though. I killed some yotes with the 204 and it did a great job. Both yotes I lost I nailed in the front shoulder and tracked them for hours just to give up after pulling both groin muscles trenching through the snow

I also had the 22-250 and it was a great round and have no complaints about it. I ended up trading it for a boat motor Probably my favorite round is the 243. Its fast and great knock down power for yotes. Mayble a little too much if your saving the hides, but its just a great all around round from woodchucks to deer. I chose the 223 cause I like to shoot and being semi I can go through some rounds Its a military and law enforcement round so its readly available. Also, got the T/C Encore pistol in the 308. Another fantastic round. Would not be one bit afraid to buy and AR in the 308. Hope this helps.

To add on to this post. Ammo. FMJs are a target round! They don't expand. This being said I think they work great for fox. 204 alone destroys the pelts. I think using FMJs help reduce this but I wouldn't dare use them for coyotes. Just my opinion. I prefer Hornadys VMax bullets for all varmits!

[711skwerlz]

These are all great guns but the decision depends on your style of hunting. Long range shots the rifles mentioned above are great. 22-250 and .223 will knock'em as far as you can hit'em. .22-250 is much flatter and faster shooting. .223 is cheaper to shoot.

If you hunt thick brush country don't overlook a good shotgun. amazing what a 12ga 3" in T shot will do. 4 buck is a good choice too. With a well patterned gun and a good choke you can head shoot'em like a turkey out to 45 yards.

My favorite fox gun in the thick stuff I hunt is my SavageO/U in .22 mag/20ga take fox out to 100yds with the rifle and busted'em out to 35 with 3" BB loads.

My newest and favorite toy is the AR15 I just built in .223. Hand loaded 55gr v-max putting 1" groups at 150yds. Get a lot of lead down range in a hurry to.

[chowder]

I took "On The Lam's" advice last year & got the Savage 10 predator heavy in 22-250 & put the Mueller scope on it. Its shoots either the Remington accutip 50grain or the Hornady superformance 50grain like a lazer. As great as this long range rifle is though do heed "711's" advice and have somebody with you with a shotgun loaded w/ buck shot or mag turkey loads. We just couldn't get out much after the dogs this winter but we made 3 missions and my boys dusted a yote circling around to our rear each time (never had a good shot w/ the fancy new rifle!) Don't forget to bring a change of underwear- having a 3.5 inch Remington 870 go off 15 yds behind you can be a little unnerving! -Andy

[lineman49]

I use 223 easy to get . My buddy shoots 222 & has a hard time finding shells for it. He just found some at a gun show that looked to be 20 yrs. old .

[skipper19]

If you are a handloader, and you have a favorite 30 cal. Deer rifle that shoots like a laser, consider some of the match grade .308 full metal jacket projectiles for long range varmints that you want the fur from.

No expansion means ya gotta make a good hit, and if you do there will be a clean kill and a clean pelt with only a pencil hole in the skin. I have used my 30-06 with 168 grain match fmj boattails and collected fox and coyote at crazy range, topped with the 3 to 9... 50 mm scope that I hunt deer with.

Mark

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[chowder]

Not to be a party pooper but it's going to be a whole lot easier for the average shooter to work up to longer range shots with the 22-250 compared to a 308. Let's face it the 308 makes a decent jump when you touch it off which is going to make proper follow thru and everything about proper form more challenging.

In fact the more I think about this whole issue the more I think that the most thorough approach to this whole thing would be to start off with a Savage model 93 22WMR heavy and put a $150 scope on it. This rifle is cheap,very easy on the shooter,cheap to shoot, and is a true, highly accurate 100 yd rifle (unlike a regular 22). So ya shoot this thing for a while, may be even whack a yote that stands out there at 110 yds, but most of all you develop some good shooting form and get rid of any bad habits you've picked up. After your wallet has recovered from this adventure and you are pretty confident in your shooting you got a choice (unless you have a lot of jack, in which case you can do what you want!) If you really want to do the predator thing and you all ready have a 'deer' rifle then you get a decent 22-250 w/ some good glass and start working with that cuz it's hands down the flattest shooter w/ minimal recoil. If on the other hand you don't have decent 'deer' rifle and you might not do a whole lot of predator hunting you might want to go with say a 243 or a 308 and hunt both predators/varmints and deer with it. You won't save much if anything on high quality ammo using the single purpose 22-250 over the higher caliber, wider purpose rifle like the 243 or 308 anyway, and with the single higher caliber rifle you only have to put the $ into one serious rifle/scope combo (remember- spend on the scope what you spend on the rifle, so we're not talking peanuts here!) Any way that's my 2 cents & I'll shut up now.

[Legacy]

Probably the best yote gun out there is an m-134!