best coyote caliber

Originally Posted By: TjkillerLess runners and spinners with 22-250, even less with the 243. 223 is more economical and good enough.


This pretty much says it all...
 
I have a large rifle battery for varmint and coyote hunting. I've shot coyotes with the 221 Rem Fireball, 222 Rem, 223 Rem, 204 Ruger, 22-250 Rem, and 243 Win. But, if I were only to have one rifle for coyote hunting, it would be my all time favorite, hands down....the 22-250.
 
I have been told the yote hides here in this part of Tennessee are crappy at BEST, and at worst not worth removing from the buzzard menu, but what would be normal price for a hide that is intact with a tiny entry and no exit, and that was average size? Are we talking about something that with a yellow belly (I hear it is another indication of crappyness) only bringing in a quarter of normal cost, or nothing at all? What is normal cost? Would it pay for the bullet used to kill said creature??
 
Originally Posted By: CoyotejunkiToo the original poster, I don't know if there really is a "Best" coyote caliber? I believe that a good coyote hunter will get coyotes regardless of what caliber he uses. He will have his preference though.

Fur friendly or not, can be an issue. Are you going to shoot a lot of cats, or mostly coyotes? Large numbers of coyotes, or just a few, with minimal sewing involved. Do you even give a hoot about the fur?

Will you shoot this rifle a lot or just a couple of boxes of cartridges a year?

I agree with all the above and also advise you to hunt with the weapon you are most comfortable and accurate with. I hunted with a 22-250 for the first 25 years of my coyote quest and now I use a .223 and .204 in the AR platform. With a well placed shot all three will kill a coyote DRT. Those are the 3 I like.
 
My first dedicated coyote rig years ago (well, second, my first was a Marlin 60 .22lr) was a Rem 700 heavy barreled .22-250. I bought that because everyone had me convinced that the .22-250 could kill a dog as far as you could hit him, and a .223rem was only good within 200-300yrds.

And then I eventually bought an AR-15, NOT for coyote hunting, but I took it out a few times and realized that I wasn't seeing any practical difference in the two in the field. Assuming you can put lead to fur in the right place, any dog within 500-600yrds is dead with either one of them. Sure, the 250 has 50-100yrds advantage on energy and trajectory, but again, either one is groovy to 500-600yrds.

HOWEVER, for what it's worth, that's considering similar barrel lengths. There IS a big big difference between a .22-250 and a 16" AR-15 carbine, heck, there's a big difference between a 24" AR-15 rifle and a 16" AR-15 Carbine. The Long barrel AR's can push 50 and 55grn pills to 3200-3400fps, 16" carbines are lucky to top 3000, often falling into the 2850-2900fps ballpark.

Personally, I have a 6.8 SPC, getting a .243 WSSM from Mike, a half dozen .223rem AR's, and 2 boltguns in .223rem for coyotes. The short barreled AR's mean shorter shots, but the long ones give plenty of range even out in the wide open spaces of western KS.

As far as a factory rig goes, a Bushmaster Varminter Special for an AR rig, or a Savage 12 Varminter Low Profile (12 VLP-DBM) for a bolt gun, either in .223 or .22-250 would be my picks. Topped with a 4.5-14x50, 6.5-20x50mm or 5.5-22x56mm glass, those would be my set ups if I were picking ONE to start over with.
 
Howa axiom in 243 federal 55 gr. bang flop.
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