Originally Posted By: orkanLack of experience, lack of definition, and lack of mutual respect is where conversations like this are born.
Experience -
You shoot enough coyotes with a .223, and then shoot enough coyotes with a .22-250... you'll definitely see the difference.
Lack of definition -
"Good enough" can not be quantified. You don't ask a specific enough question, you won't get a specific enough answer. .223Rem can kill coyotes. It will certainly not kill them as hard flat dead as a .22-250.
Lack of mutual respect -
This last one is most important. People are convinced of their own superiority these days. I talk to a ridiculous number of people about cartridges and rifles each week as a function of my profession. This last week I talked to someone that was certain a 338LM had better ballistics than a 7LRM to 1000yds. He didn't respect that I had volumes more experience than he. He's never touched a 7LRM in his life, yet knew everything about it and knew it was all bad. He didn't respect me, and I sure as heck didn't respect him. Why should anyone respect blind idiocy that completely ignores the facts? I finally hung up on him. Had I placated him, I could have no doubt sold him a rifle chambered in 338LM. Yet, when someone isn't prepared to see logic, that isn't a person I want to be associated with in any way.
To bring it to a point: If people let their actual experiences separate what they actually know, from what they think they know, it would be a lot easier to respect people's opinions. As it stands, most people regularly regurgitate things they've read or heard as if it were their own verified and personally experienced information.
To the topic at hand, this discussion requires very specific parameters to be of any value. The .223Rem can kill coyotes. It will NOT kill them as effectively in all situations, at all distances, in all locations, as a .22-250 or similar cartridge. That is a fact. This does not then define that one must not use a .223Rem. This only defines that one must know the actual capabilities of the cartridge they are choosing.
Knowing the actual capabilities requires a lot of shooting, at a lot of distances, in a lot of situations, in a lot of locations. My guess is that there are far more people that think they have a lock on the .223's capabilities than actually have a lock on it. The old "works for me" adage seems to be applied more than not. Since it's all Mr. So-and-So needs, why would anyone else need anything different?
... and so it goes. Knowing, is better than thinking you know. Don't put so much weight on what others think about your chosen cartridge. Use it, and the results will speak for themselves in due time. Once you've seen the results, do not then presume to tell others what they don't need, simply because you've fulfilled your own need.
While the 22-250 has a velocity advantage over the 223,it also has a disadvantage of bullet weights when shooting a factory 22-250 barrel since the twist rate doesn't allow the use of heavier bullets in the 22-250.
I shoot a bunch of coyotes every year at the ranch,and have never had any issue using a 223 for them,and I usually shoot them with 65-70-75 or 77 grain bullets at ranges from 50 to 350 yards.
Saying a 223 doesn't kill a coyote as dead as a 22-250 is kind of funny. It may not have the explosive impact that the 22-250 does,but that would be like me comparing the 22-250 to my 25-06. It would be lacking the same way.