Fur/Pelt Friendly Coyote & Varnimt Calibers .204 Ruger vs. 243 Winchester

Iron_Road

Iron_Road

New member
As of late I have become a real big real big fan of a hunting TV series that appears on the Outdoor channel but found it on YouTube called Night Crew. They gained a popular following and inspired me to get into Coyote & Varmint hunting.

I've seen so many critters anchored by Jeff's .243 Winchester, the man probably has killed over 1,000 Texas yotes.

That being said I don't think they're going after pelts or could care less about pelt damage. They typically have a .243 Win with a 90gr bullet or a 6.5 Creedmoor with a 100gr bullet. Although according to them they shy away from the 6.5 Creed and prefer the .243. Win as they say it has a tendency to over penetrate and produce a lot of runners.

But what are your opinions? I am personally divided by the .204 Ruger with a 35gr bullet & .243 Win with a light 75gr bullet.
 
I’ve debated this as of recent ALOT…I decided on a 22-250.
I do have a 204 and two 243’s, but plan to use the 250. I would still like to get a 3rd 243…my other two are too nice to hunt with, a 1965 Sako L579 Forester in 95% condition and a Remington 700 CDL Mountain rifle in 98% condition.
22-250 is a Savage 11 that I don’t care if gets beat up.
 
greengt88 said:
I’ve debated this as of recent ALOT…I decided on a 22-250.
I do have a 204 and two 243’s, but plan to use the 250. I would still like to get a 3rd 243…my other two are too nice to hunt with, a 1965 Sako L579 Forester in 95% condition and a Remington 700 CDL Mountain rifle in 98% condition.
22-250 is a Savage 11 that I don’t care if gets beat up.
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I have a question. If your two .243Win rifles weren't sentimental/collectable. Would you pick .204Ruger or .243Win over 22-250 and if not, what made you decide on 22-250 over the other? Be it better ballistics, drop/wind drift?
 
They all kill coyotes. You just need to use the correct bullet and stay within the limitations of that bullet at the speed your pushing them.

I regularly shoot 20 Practical(40gr NBT), 222 Rem (52gr Speer HP Varmint), 223 Rem (same Speer and 62gr SP), 22-204 (40gr NBT), 5.6x50R Mag.(52gr Speer HP), 22-250 (52gr Speer HP), 22 Sav Highpower (55gr Buffalo Arms SP), 6x45 (58gr Vmax), 6mm-204 (55gr NBT, 58gr Vmax), 6.5 Grendel (90gr Speer), 6.5x58R Sauer (90gr Speer sized to .260), 25-204 (75gr Vmax).

I've killed at least a couple of coyotes with each of these over the past five years. All work well for me. My go-tos are the 222 Rem, 22-204 and 20P

I do have a couple 22-250s but rarely use them as I find them to be too much gun. I just take them out so the don't get looked down on by the other rifles in the safe.
 
Truthfully I’ve never killed a coyote. I’ve killed lots of fox but mostly with 22mag or 223…. Basically just out of the caliber research faze and on to purchasing an optic and tripod.
I’m concerned with pelt/fur damage as I’m after a coyote to have mounted, so that was main reason to choose 22-250. Obviously any of those calibers can destroy with an off shot. So it will mostly be trial and error for me.
I plan to use a rifle mounted ARCA rail with the tripod. So that was another deciding factor on using the 250. My 204 is a CZ 527 Varmint and I don’t want to ruin that stock.
 
Green, If you shots are mostly under 200 yards, during the day. Your 223 loaded with a Hornady 50 gr SX(3200-3300 fps) will be very pelt friendly. For same range 22-250 the Speer 52 coffee cup hp at 3500-3600 will save fur.
 
The .243 covers all the bases when it comes to Predator hunting, it can be loaded down to 45 gr. and up to 115 gr. Brass is easy to find and there's a huge 6mm bullet selection, depending on how you load and use the .243 it covers all the bases including .204--22-250--.223 , and all the go fast .22's, The hunters in South Texas, do not worry about pelt damage as the pelts rarely are prime like those from up North.
Murl B.
 
Murl B said:
The .243 covers all the bases when it comes to Predator hunting, it can be loaded down to 45 gr. and up to 115 gr. Brass is easy to find and there's a huge 6mm bullet selection, depending on how you load and use the .243 it covers all the bases including .204--22-250--.223 , and all the go fast .22's, The hunters in South Texas, do not worry about pelt damage as the pelts rarely are prime like those from up North.
Murl B.
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And that explanation makes a lot of sense because it's more pest control than pelt and substance lifestyle where as up here in Oregon, if you kill a coyote or especially a bobcat, you damn near want to mount the thing because it's so pretty.

So in your opinion the .243Win is the "Do it all, jack of all trades master of none" varmint/coyote caliber. Would be reasonable to assume 243 is a touch too much gun for bobcats? Just out of curiosity.
 
I have, and have used all three on coyotes. The 243 definitely has an edge over the 22-250 for anchoring those furry little devils.
Not a big fan of the 204....works ok for calling, just my opinion.
 
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Last winter I killed 63 Bobcats I have pictures of most of them. Murl B.
 
Two of my favorite calibers! Probably my 2 favorites if I'm honest. There is some overlap, but they're pretty different. Coyotes don't normally seem to get too torn up from an 87 gr vmax, but they can sometimes. I gave up caring and just want them dead now that a great sandhills coyote bring an awesome 10 bucks and the average is about 2. Night hunting I for sure want the anchor power.

I've shot a lot of stuff with a 204, but mostly small stuff. If I was after bobcats, my choice would likely be different.
 
spotstalkshoot said:
Green, If you shots are mostly under 200 yards, during the day. Your 223 loaded with a Hornady 50 gr SX(3200-3300 fps) will be very pelt friendly. For same range 22-250 the Speer 52 coffee cup hp at 3500-3600 will save fur.
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I’ve been searching for ammo for the 250…I don’t reload so limited to factory stuff…the rifle really likes Remington 55gr PSP. Not sure how friendly those would be though.
 
Iron Road , Above are 3 pictures of Bobcats killed with a .243 105 gr Scenar at 2850 fps. This is my all around load for what I do daily and this should explain why I like a heavy bullet going slow in my .243's it works for me on thin skinned critters Coyotes, Bobcat, and Pigs, and culling Whitetails, YMMV Murl B.
 
As Murl shows, big, heavy and slow can minimize pelt damage on lightly built critters like Bob's.

That said, I like speed.

For a season, I was using the 60gr Vmax out of my 222RemMag, at 3,000fps, and my son uses it out of his 223wssm at 3,700fps. The difference in velocities, and how they hit coyotes, was very apparent. Mine killed them fine, while his crushed them.

We had a coyote broadside, at 180yds. He shoots and the coyote is DRT. I'm still looking through my bino's and see something brown fall to the ground. I was puzzled, until we got there and saw it was a 6" strip of coyote torn from between the shoulder blades! Another time, at about 125yds, he shoots a coyote facing us and it drops. We look at each other, and when I looked back, I saw another coyote standing there and told him to shoot. He is about to shoot when this coyote drops, for no apparent reason. We get over there and it's the same coyote, which apparently stood up while we weren't looking.

This coyote was shot in the left front shoulder, with a hole big enough to see inside. It must have stood up once last time and died while we were looking.

I like speed!
 
The Coyote does not know how fast the bullet that killed him was going, and the speed makes very little difference except to the shooter. Murl B.
 
Iron_Road said:
I am personally divided by the .204 Ruger with a 35gr bullet & .243 Win with a light 75gr bullet.
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That is a huge difference. At night I'd usually side with something with a bit more muscle, like a .243. I've never used thermal, it wasn't even available back when we did a lot of hunting, so we used something that planted them at the shot. Used a 6mm Rem with 80gr bullet or a Swift with 55gr a lot. Runners are next to impossible to find at night, even when they go a short distance. I've seen a lot of bobcats hit at night under a light. Damage is usually dependent on how they're hit. Hit one dead center in the chest looking straight at you usually has a nice hide. Hit a shoulder or a raking shot even with a .204 you'll usually have a mess.
 
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