Best 243 load for coyotes ?

Swampy16

New member
I just bought a Savage 110 in 243 to start coyote hunting. I’m a grouse hunter but I’m looking for something after the NY season closes. I’ll hunt PA for yotes. Up until now I have only reloaded shotgun ammo. I’m looking at the Lee starter kit. I sighted the gun with Hornady American Whitetaill 100 grain and it seems to shoot them very well. I’m a noob with rifles so be patient. I really enjoy reloading BTW. Thanks in advance.
 
My 243 digests Sierra 80 btsp really well. 37.5 gr of IMR 4895. Not fur friendly. On deer I use same powder charge and shoot Barnes 80gr. ttsx (i think).
 
It really depends. Do you just want to kill coyote or save the fur? I find the 243 in general pretty tough on hides. That said I'd try bullets between 55 and 70 grains.
 
Tue best load I have found so far is a 70 grain Nosler ballistic tip at 3350 fps (out of a 1 in 9.25" twist). Puts them down like Thor's hammer and has been surprisingly fur friendly.
 
I use a Sierra 70 grain Matchking BTHP. Shot a coyote last week behind shoulde at 170 yards, dropped in his tracks with roughly 1” entrance and 1” exit. Usually have a hole about that size on most exits. Running varget on the bottom end of the load. Bullet runs 3100 FPS. May not be the best bullet choice but it works for me in my gun.
 
Originally Posted By: Swampy16I’d like to save the furs if possible. I’m not sure what twist rate my rifle has.

If it is a stock factory rifle.....it's probably somewhere between a 1 in 9 and a 1 in 10.
 
Originally Posted By: Swampy16I’d like to save the furs if possible. I’m not sure what twist rate my rifle has.

What model of 110? There’s a few variations and my bullet choice will be greatly different between 1-9 and 1-10. I personally love the 55 gr Nosler BT boat tail doesn’t exit often if you push them fast enough they rarely give me any issues.
 
Originally Posted By: Swampy16It’s the Engage Hunter XP.

That’s a 1-9.25 twist I’d say that the 70 gr Sierra Blitzkings are on my short list and should shoot/perform well. I’d still say try the 55’s out, it may shoot them well. But In .243 I’d recommend staying away from any flat base bullets. So long as you do that you shouldn’t have any issues.
 
70g Noslers are a better coyote bullet than a 70g sierra blitz kings, as they are tougher and less apt to explode on a shoulder. Imr 4350 and IMR 4064 have performed very, very well in 70g weights.

80g Sierra blitz bt are fabulous with a hot load of IMR 4064. If you like a heavier bullet, the 87g V max and Hornady 87g bthp with approx 37g of IMR 4064 both will be very accurate and deadly on coyotes. A close to max load of R#19 also works well with the 87's and 85g barnes tripple shock for deer.

Jay, I can not imagine what you are referring to in your statement, "In .243 I’d recommend staying away from any flat base bullets. So long as you do that you shouldn’t have any issues."
 
a coyote is a small challenging target for me. I have harvested over 250 coyotes. a majority of those with various .243s. I have used a lot of different bullets. 60 to 100 grain. ALL worked great when placed right. if I were you, I would start with 37.5 of I-4064 and an 85 sierra bthp , lapua brass and 210m primers. .030 off the lands.
 
the twist rate is not near as big factor as barrel quality. I won my first 1000 yard match with 88 grain flat base bergers shooting a 12 twist .243 (hart ). 99 per cent of all bench rest shooters use 65 to 68 grain flat base bullets.
 
We shot many hundreds of coyotes with a 243 and 6mm Rem using 60g Sierra hp, not bad on the fur damage either. This 60g Sierra is a very, very accurate bullet.

In a 243, Varget, AA2700, and win 760 are very, very accurate with the 60g Sierra. The bullet is FAST. So fast, we did not hear the PLOP from bullet impact which is the only reason we switched to the 80g Sierra single shot pistol bullet with IMR 4064.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleyman70g Noslers are a better coyote bullet than a 70g sierra blitz kings, as they are tougher and less apt to explode on a shoulder. Imr 4350 and IMR 4064 have performed very, very well in 70g weights.

80g Sierra blitz bt are fabulous with a hot load of IMR 4064. If you like a heavier bullet, the 87g V max and Hornady 87g bthp with approx 37g of IMR 4064 both will be very accurate and deadly on coyotes. A close to max load of R#19 also works well with the 87's and 85g barnes tripple shock for deer.

Jay, I can not imagine what you are referring to in your statement, "In .243 I’d recommend staying away from any flat base bullets. So long as you do that you shouldn’t have any issues."

In my experience flat based bullets do a couple things that aren’t real conducive for being fur friendly. The heavier jacketed bullets hold together better because of thicker material around the base and tend to have large exits. Then on the other side of that coin the lighter jacketed bullets tend to blow out when I’ve hit shoulders. I’m not saying that this is true for every bullet or everyone else, it’s just my experience. But I guess I shouldn’t recommend much of anything or try to dissuade anyone from anything. Experience is about all anyone can go by.
 
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