.243 for fox

Well I've shot a bunch of fox with a .223 and blown the friggin' heck out of them. The smallest thing I'll use the .243 on is a coyote, and even then you have to be careful. There are probably some powder heads on here who know how to load down for fox. I sure don't. If my dad didn't reload for a hobby, I'd be a strictly factory ammo guy. I guess that makes him a powder head. I'll ask him tomorrow and repost if I find anything out but my guess and experience says no way.
 
In my opinion, Anything over 17 cal is too much for fox. .17 hmr is perfect for up to 100 yds. 17 furball ok to about 250 17 remington after that. .243 will put a hole in a fox you can throw a coyote through.

Dave
 
I used a .22 hornet on a fox a few weeks ago, and that did the trick. My dad just traded me a .22 mag with a 4x bushnell for my 10-22 and I'm gonna try that. I'll bet a .22lr would work just fine, although I've never tried.
 
It makes skinning them easy though. Once their turned inside out you just scrape all the insides off whats left.

Try using a heavily constructed deer bullet such as the Barnes or Nosler and hope for a small hole going in and a small hole going out.
 
Problem with the .17 hmr is that if you call in a coyote that is too little gun. I was wodering if the .204 Ruger could be used as a fur friendly gun for fox and coyote? It has such superior ballistics to the .17 Rem Fireball and you don't have to buy a Remington to get a .204. Howa and Savage .204's can be had at a fair price if your funds are like mine.
 
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I use a .243 and took the fox in my avatar at about 95 yds.The shot was offhand at about 8:30 pm.It just about gutted him.The shot was a little off.I only use my 17hmr and if close enough my Mossberg 835 and that also doubles as my coyote gun.
 
In my opinion its way to much gun for a 12lb critter.Even if you down load it its going to be tough to repair the damage,if you hit one on the fringes you may only find some of the parts,love the cal.but not for fox.I use reduced loads with the 223 and some times thats even marginal.
 
I smacked this guy last year with a .243

101_0801.jpg



Here's the exit wound.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v682/snap_swairtac/predators/101_0807.jpg
 
Seeking I was using Remington 80gr soft points.The fox was sitting on his haunches and I hit him just in front of his left hind leg.When I got over and picked him up I could see that the shot almost took both back legs of and opened the body cavity up.
 
I don't know if you reload or not, you didn't mention that but, The new edition of " The Varmint Hunter" magazine has an article in it about using reduced loads in a .243 on fox. I've never tried it but it reads," I use the Nosler 55-grain varmint bullet and load 24 grains of SR 4759 powder. Velocity average over my Chrony is 2,814 fps from my rifle. This is 200fps faster than the maximum velocity for a 55-grain bullet out of a Hornet. Because of the lighter bullet I believe velocity could reach 3000fps with a little more powder." Just thought I'd pass this on, I thought it was real interesting.
 
I'm a big fan of the 22 Hornet. Won't rip apart a fox but still enough to knock down a coyote inside 100yds. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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