Fed the 243 this weekend

JTPinTX

JTPinTX

Custom Call Maker
I used to be pretty serious about deer hunting. The older I get the less I care about it. I've got a couple of real nice bucks I should probably be chasing, but the GAS meter is having trouble bumping off bottom about them.

Friday morning it was just beautiful so I grabbed the calling gear and headed out. Pulled up a nice male on the first stand. I had him hemmed up on the downwind side pretty good by my setup, but he was shading it trying to play the wind as much as he could. Trotting in about 80 yards and he just didn't want to check up, so I shot him in the face.

Next stand was a really nice set I haven't called in a good while. Just a minute or two in a coyote shows up on the second hill about 350 yards to the west. Not much wind and I have good dope for that rifle, but really no reason for a shot like that when the machine has just started, so I watch Mr Coyote and play the music. The coyote kind of hangs out there for 20-30 seconds and then just suddenly bails and goes back the way it came. I know there is no remote way it could have smelled me, and I really don't think it could see me either. I don't know.

I keep calling and about 6-7 minutes in here comes a second one from the left, trotting on the opposite slope of the hill about 60 yards away headed to the machine. Not a care in the world, it checks up right in front of me as easy as you please. She never twitched when the trigger broke, and I could watch the hair drift away in the light breeze.

I keep the machine rolling off and on. About 15-16 minutes in I am just about to call it quits, when that first coyote I saw earlier decides to put in an appearance. She is playing it smart, travelling just behind the crest of the ridge 110 yards or so to the west, peeking over the top. I had a good solid rest on my sticks and when she stopped I shot her in the face too. I really don't like hill peekers, and try to put a stop to that business pronto if I can. She was a spooky one that didn't need to be passing that bad behavior along.

IMG_3651 by [/url], on Flickr


[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZP2zTB t=_blank]IMG_3657 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156517515@N04/, on Flickr

The next evening I went out to make a couple more stands. I got to my first one which was a really nice spot looking down a ravine. I got my machine set up about 40 yards in front of me and got myself all situated with my rifle up on sticks. I answered a text message real quick before I was going to start calling. When I looked up there was a coyote peeking out of the ravine at me, watching. So I raised the rifle up and shot him. The 87 VMAX went in the front of the left shoulder and out the rear of the rib cage on the right side. The only picture I have of that coyote significantly violates terms of use, so I don't suppose I will post it up. Lefty SRH and Infidel 762 can attest to that.

After I started calling I noticed another coyote bedded on a hill 450-460 yards to the east. I never could make it come my way, it just sat there bedded in the tall grass watching me. It probably watched me walk in. Finally I crawled up to a little hump 2-3 yards in front of me and went down prone with the bipod. I felt like I was shooting with a solid hold and good dope, but I missed. Not sure where since I could not see a bullet strike in the tall grass, but think I was pretty close. He took out of there like his tail was on fire. Probably I should have held a touch more wind. That is how it goes though.

Last stand that day was a blank, didn't call or see a thing.

Still, 4 out of 5 coyotes on four sets, calling solo ain't too bad. I'll take that anytime.
 
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243 with a 87 VMAX is a freaking hammer on coyotes. I love it. Fairly light rifle that hits hard and stretches out good.

I bought that rifle at one of the El Cheapo sales Academy has around Black Friday couple years ago. Just your basic R-700 ADL. Since then I have been slowly upgrading it while I shoot the factory barrel out of it. Chopped the barrel to 21" and put an ASR brake on it for the Omega suppressor. Put a Timney trigger in it and that is an SWFA 3-15x42 mounted in Burris Extreme Tactical rings on an EGW rail. I've been using Dyna Bore Coat in the barrel and I think it helps with cleaning.

That stock is one of those Stocky's house brand LR stocks. It is a touch on the heavy side, but it is very stable and has a really good feel to it. It has the molded in aluminum block and has made that little rifle very consistent. They are pretty cheap too. Just about $200 and a heck of a deal at that price point. I ordered mine in tan, but then blasted it and did the Cerakote work on it myself. Used mostly off the shelf stencils from WeaponsStencils.com, but the coyote track is a custom stencil that he cuts for me. Colors are Desert Sand, Magpul FDE, Burnt Bronze, and Forest Green. I have found that it tends to blend in very well no matter time of year or where I am at.

The plan is to get the rifle exactly how I want it with accessories and so on, and then once the factory barrel is about gone go ahead and have it trued up and a good barrel put on it. Even though I have to admit it shoots pretty dang good as is. It will hold 5 of the 87 VMAX in about 1/2 MOA, sometimes a bit more. I shoot it on steel out as far as 1050 yards.
 
Quote:I used to be pretty serious about deer hunting. The older I get the less I care about it.

Know how that goes, James. Funny how that works, isn't it?
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Sounds like you made the right choice and had a lot more fun! Thanks for taking us along.

Regards,
Clarence
 
Originally Posted By: JTPinTX
“Trotting in about 80 yards and he just didn't want to check up, so I shot him in the face.”

and

“I had a good solid rest on my sticks and when she stopped I shot her in the face too. I really don't like hill peekers, and try to put a stop to that business pronto if I can. She was a spooky one that didn't need to be passing that bad behavior along.”

Absolutely hilarious!! Love it!
 
Originally Posted By: Bad DawgOriginally Posted By: JTPinTX
“Trotting in about 80 yards and he just didn't want to check up, so I shot him in the face.”

and

“I had a good solid rest on my sticks and when she stopped I shot her in the face too. I really don't like hill peekers, and try to put a stop to that business pronto if I can. She was a spooky one that didn't need to be passing that bad behavior along.”

Absolutely hilarious!! Love it!

Yeah, for sure I can't show the flip side of that first coyotes head on the forum. Friend of mine I sent a picture to said it "looked like the inside of a pomegranate." Pretty much the other side of his face is gone.
sick.gif
That's what you get for not cooperating and coming along peacefully though.
 
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Love the write up and rifle. Nice job painting the stock and the coyote track is a nice touch! Glad you got the sneaky one. Those are the ones you really like to take so they don't teach the others. Nice job!
 
Yeah, you did hollow that one out!!! That 243 is more devastating on coyotes thante 308 I have been hitting them with while hunting deer...
 
Originally Posted By: Infidel 762Yeah, you did hollow that one out!!! That 243 is more devastating on coyotes thante 308 I have been hitting them with while hunting deer...

Throw some 130 gr. NBT's at 'em with that .308, Jeremy. Understand the 125 TNT is really good, but couldn't get them to shoot in my rifle.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: Infidel 762Yeah, you did hollow that one out!!! That 243 is more devastating on coyotes thante 308 I have been hitting them with while hunting deer...

I'm getting more experience with this 243 now, and really learning what to expect with it. 243 with 87 VMAX is definitely NOT for the fur hunter or the squeamish. High speed and very fast opening bullet, yet with enough weight to push on through in nearly every situation. it tears up coyotes worse than anything I have ever shot them with, and that includes a 25-06 shooting 115 NBT's. That 87 VMAX is just brutal, no other way to put it.

But, they don't walk away from it. Any kind of solid shot puts the axe on them, right now. As far as I know, I have never lost a coyote with that rifle that I have hit. Had to shoot one a several times using 80 grain factory Winchester once. Been a couple others I had to shoot twice. None of those made it more than 30 yards from the initial hit. Most fall in their tracks with little to no twitching, flopping, or spinning. Except that one I sent you the pic of where it sucked the lungs out the back side of the ribs, that thing spun 4 times before it dropped. No freaking idea how that coyote did that, hammered as hard as it was. Except it is a coyote, and them boogers can be tough as all get-out sometimes.
 
The factory barrel on this particular rifle is actually pretty slow. There are more suitable powders that would get me more speed than what I am currently using (IMR-4166) as well, but I had a few pounds of 4166 I needed to burn up and this was a good place to do it. In Winchester brass I am getting 3100 fps with the barrel cut to 21". But I also kill most of my coyotes under 100 yards as well, so speeds are still pretty good up close like that.

I get a few spinners or floppers every now and then, almost none of which go more than 5 yards. I have had 2 coyotes I remember that have gone further than that.
 
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