Originally Posted By: Dave in mnGey Guys,
I think I took you guys down the wrong path.
I don't plan on shooting cheap ammo I'll be lucky if I shoot 100 round a year. What I will use is something fur friendly and most likely will be reloaded.
What do you guys think off the Windham Vex? The Vex I'm looking at has had about 100 rounds down the tube and all of it was cheap stuff. Does the cheap ammo cause a barrel to go south sooner that a barrel that was properly broke in?
My apology here for my fist post in this thread.
Dave In MN
Dave,
I agree with Greg. If it's only seen limited use with the steel case stuff, then it probably won't show excessive wear and will probably be within minute of coyote. You don't exactly need a tack driver to drop coyotes. There is a flood of guys that have bought "off the shelf" mass produced rifles that had certain expectations and when those didn't pan out they try to off the rifles on the used market. I see guys that get frustrated about the steel case stuff having issues in the AR platform and they want to sell off the rifles. That is great for a savvy predator hunter who can snatch it up at a good price. I giggle when I hear guys talking at Cabela's about needing a 300-500 yard gun to kill coyotes. It takes every bit of self control I have to just walk away and not show them the coyotes I kill inside of 25 yards.
As far as "fur friendly" that is entirely dependent on caliber and bullet selection. We all hunt coyotes for different reasons. Me, I am a population control guy. I want them down and down hard, no concerns about fur friendly here. But if you are interested in keeping it, that can be challenging, fun and frustrating to find the right combination. Personally, we have found that the 45gr SP's in the 204 are fur friendly and very effective at dropping them. That being said, maybe something in the 55-60gr SP family with similar velocity and energy to the 45 SP in 204 might work for what you want. I would stay away from poly tipped as they tend to expand too fast and may cause damage going in. I would look at SP's or even hollow points to get the bullet in deeper before expansion, but that expands VERY quickly once it's at depth.