best caliber for coyote hunting

[alanger]

i changed it a little bit becuase a .22 long rifel is ridiculous for yotes unless they are 10 yrds away

[tlbradford]

Hey tlbradford, Whats the best 204 factory load you like best for yotes and how do you like the 45 gr hornady's? Whats your farthest DRT so far?

For 95% of my shooting the 32 grain vmax drops them in their tracks for a factory load, but was not fur friendly over 250 yards.  I did not like the 45 grain hornady's but I used factory ammo when testing them.  Shot 40 rounds of it, Hit 34, and all shots were a pass-thru except two that were runners going away over 300 yards.  I do think they would be better if you could handload and get them moving a little faster and expanding quicker, but I have never tried it.  They may make a big mess at close range    The 35 grain bergers are my favorite for a balance between saving fur and killing power.  My longest DRT was an 732 yard prayer on a drive-by with the 35 grain berger.  If I am calling I rarely try a shot over 400 yards.  I would rather try to call them back than lob lead at them as they run.

[509er]

?

[jjhunter]

TL, how fast are you pushing those 35 grain Bergers?  

[firecrotch]

my i really like the .243 just because you can reload such a wide variety of size of bullet, and still have a decently quick round

[MHWASH]

Hey Matt,

How ya doing?

Been doing great Gary. I've been hunting the last three weekends, can't ask for more.

[tlbradford]

No chrono, but the book says I should be about 3950.  The drop charts are pretty close so it should be around there give or take 50fps.

[jjhunter]

That is what I thought.......I have over 60 'yote kills with my .204 and I shoot the 40 grain V-max.  I have never had a DRT past 400 yards, even with well placed shots.  They always either spin or do the "death run".  I would think this is especially true with the lighter bullets.  I saw that you had a DRT at 732.  That is hard to believe as the bullet is only traveling about 980 fps and has around 75 ft-lbs of energy - not sure if that would even kill a 'yote if you hit him in the head?  It surely would not drop him in his tracks.   

[FALFire]

732 yard kill with a 35 grain bullet

Nothing to it, I had a 733 yard kill with my 17 HMR, in 40 mph wind................ while it was raining.................at night.......................shooting off hand..................with a C-cell flashlight

No problem

[jjhunter]

Well yeah, that is an easy shot! 

[FALFire]

Hey, I was at Cabela's the other day and one of the gun counter gurus told me that he wants to hunt bear with a 5.7x28 cartridge.

I told him he was dreamin' and that it has no energy. He gave me a real blank look and said "No, it goes 2000 fps" I told him he needed to go back and read up on ballistics and if he decided to attempt suicide, just be sure there are a couple other hunters with you that are armed with 300 Win Mags!

[jjhunter]

I would have encouraged him      It's called natural selection.....modern medicine probably saved the dumb *censored* at birth. 

[mossback91]

and that retard works at the gun counter suggesting guns to folks gun counter guy says "your going on a grizzly bear hunt?" customer says, " Yes I am"  gun counter guy" well i suggest this here 17hmr"

[tlbradford]

It doesn't need much energy when you hit them in the spine, but since you guys were there you probably know better than me.  Why don't you guys go ahead and read every post I have made and see if I have one single instance of exaggerating a story or bragging about a long range shot.  Until then, and I say this with all due respect,   

I am also a big believer in maximizing the destructive damage to the vital organs.  So if you guys want to talk about ftlbs being the decider on killing animals, then you are dead wrong.

[jjhunter]

Thanks for the explanation.  A spine shot would do it.  There has been some discussion on effectiveness of the .204 at longer ranges on this thread.  Just wanted to show that it would take a spine or eyeball shot to do it at that range.  I think we are on the same page as far as 400 yards being the max effective range for quick, clean kills with the .204.  Not trying to put you in the same boat as the guy wanting to shoot a bear with a 5.7, if that is the way you intrepreted it, sorry.   BTW- What does STFU stand for?  Is that where you went to school?