20 cal coyote bullets, need real life experiences

204 AR

Well-known member
I just made a deal through the classifieds for a 20 practical upper, with a 1-10 twist barrel. I plan on using it for my latest coyote slayer. My request is to hear from those who use 20's on coyotes, what bullets they've used and how they perform. I want to hear positive and negative results to help me choose a bullet.
Thanks!
 
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the boy has shot two coyotes with his 204 ruger both with 40gr bergers and the penetrate great and the Dogs dropped in there tracks
 
I just finished my 20p... a month or two ago. I haven't used it on anything but paper yet. It is going out with me tomorrow though, I'll update if I have anything worth saying.

I'm using d-towns right now, bought some I think nosler to try but haven't loaded them yet. The dtowns are grouping ok on paper, but it looks horrible. Using varget I think I'm in the not special range of 3000-3500fps. I'm swapping powders on it to try for 4k'ish.

A submoa group with a 358 winchester looks awesome, same group with the little .20 sized holes doesn't look at all impressive.
 
I run the 35gr bergers in my 20pr from WOA. It has a 20in barrel and has been great on yotes. I'm not pushing them that hard but they are very accurate. For PD's and anything smaller than yotes then I run the 26gr barnes and on PD's they create some really fun displays of acrobatics with them. They don't like the wind really well but you can walk them in if you have a steady wind. Mine is a 1-10 twist. Have tried the 38gr blitz but they did not group as well as the others. I can't remember what powder I am using right off the top of my head but it is either 8208 or benchmark.
 
I am running 35 gr Bergers in my wifes 204. They perform great on coyotes. Very little damage and kills them where they stand.
 
Asking for real life experience is going to severely limit the number of responses. I like it! I shot the barrel out on my trusty 243 coyote slayer in August so I'm shooting a 204 Ruger this winter while I wait for my new barrel for the 243. I was starting from scratch so I ordered a case of Hornady Superformance 32 grain V-Max. I figured I would shoot up all the factory loads and then I would have enough brass to start reloading the beloved 35 grain Berger. They chronographed 4000 fps out of the Browning's 22" barrel. I will admit that the 32 V-Max is not the perfect coyote bullet but so far it has been satisfactory. Of the 26 coyotes I have shot with it so far, 15 have been .20 cal entrance holes with no exit. Four have been .20 cal entrance holes with quarter size or smaller exits. Six have been big holes resulting from hitting to close to an edge ( top or bottom). Can't blame the bullet for those because almost any other cartridge would have produced the same result with similar shot placement. Only one has been an utter failure and that was where I shot a quartering coyote on the point of the shoulder at 150 yards. The shot completely obliterated the shoulder but failed to penetrate the chest cavity. A quick follow-up shot put an end to any suffering.


So I guess the take home message would be that as long as the coyote is broadside and hit through the ribs the 32 V-Max has worked perfectly for me. However, I'm not a good enough caller to get every coyote to pose perfectly broadside so I will be moving on to the Bergers.
 
That's really good info from all of you; I appreciate it. Looks like the Bergers still have a large following, I'm thinking maybe try the 40's for a better bc but I've got some 35's also to try. We will see which shoots better. I've got some 40 gr vmax, and 2k 32 gr zmax but those will be for pdogs. I do want to try the 40 gr Nosler BT, that should be a tougher bullet than the vmax. I also have some of the Dogtowns, they shoot ok in my 204 but have a terrible bc. They are good for calm days on dumb pdog towns lol.
Thanks, keep it coming.
 
I'm not running my .204 this year, using my .17/204 instead, but I shot a couple hundred coyotes in the past few years using the 35 gr. and 40 gr. bergers and found that the 40 gr. bergers would exit on broadside shots from time to time and the 35's almost never exited. Both did well as far as parking a coyote flat on the ground.
 
the only large holes that I ever had were when I hit on the fringe. Complete pass throughs with the 40's would leave a silver dollar sized hole usually, sometimes smaller.
 
Like most who have tried them, the Berger 35's have performed well for me in the killing and pelt saving departments. They have also resulted in the best groups from the bench.
 
jt183 pretty well sums up my experience with the 32 grain Vmax. My results were very similar except I never had a splash that didn't penetrate. I probably shot around 30 coyotes with them. I read so much about Berger 35 grains so I switched to them. I had a hard time getting the Bergers to shoot as well in my rifle but eventually got a load that it liked. It kills just as well as the 32 grains but I get a few more exits. The exits are normally small and take minimal sewing. I have been happy with both bullets.
 
I first started shooting my 204 ruger with factory horny and fiocci 40 gr vmax bullets... and they flat out put a dog in the dirt on the spot, with only one hole in... unless you hit the fringes.

I haven't loaded for it yet, but I need to get something going.

I like this type of thread... keep'er going you coyote killers...
 
Yes this is a lot of very useful info, keep it going. My own contribution is one coyote that stood behind a barbed wire fence. He was plenty close enough so I decided to take him. Needless to say the 40 gr vmax cleanly broke a wire and the coyote got away. That's my only 20 cal coyote attempt.
 
Originally Posted By: NdIndyDid you fix the fence?

Lol now that's a question someone in agriculture would think of! There wasn't any cattle in there at the time but we took care of it later.
 
I've shot over a 100 yotes with a 204. Started with 40 v-max and was getting runners and splashes on shoulders to the point I was going to give up on the caliber.

Switched to the 40gr Berger and never looked back! hardly ever got exits, shot through shoulders, and even was great on fox pelts. With a well placed shot I never had a coyote run more then a few yards. I really liked them and highly recommend the Bergers.

I've since sold the gun and moved up in caliber because I've started hunting predator tournaments and saving fur became less priority and anchoring dogs even with marginal hits became more important to me.
 
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