ideal 300Yd Coyote load...

[innerpiece9]

Hi folks!
Im looking for a quiet load, flat as possible, for cyote at around 300yds..
I dont need overkill..ie .308,.300WM.. lol..
I prefer to disturb my neighbors (1mile away) as little as possible..
But Id like to have adequate power to lay one down fast..

I was working with a buddies .270.. but that was too much..

does a .243, mabey .223 sound right?

I have a .17HMR Ill be trading in, on this new rifle.. so Id like to make it as "general purpose" of a load as possible.

thanks!
ip9.

 

[innerpiece9]

any rifle recomendations would be great.
or should I put a scope on this Yugo SKS....?

 

[20cows]

Are you planning on saving the hide? If not, any flat shooting gun you're comfortable with'll do. (.243 to a superduperubermagnum).

If you're wanting to salvage the hide, a well placed shot from something like a .22-250 is hard to beat.

...should I put a scope on this Yugo SKS....?

You did say 300 yards, right?

 

[aufevermike]

22-250

I will second the motion for the 22-250. Although it does have a bit of report as the .224 bullet leaves at hyperspeed

 

[Brian Williams]

222 rem or 222 rem mag, with the 222 rem it will be pushing it but still a very accurate round. It has a low blast volume and will not scare the neighbors. It does tend to be finiky in windy situations. A few others that will do 300 and under are the 221 fireball and a 17 Rem or a 17/221 fireball better known as a 17????

 

[NORM]

I know a guy shooting a heavy barrel Remington in .243 Winchester doing head shots at 600 yrds. The wide open spaces of North Dakota are good to play the long range killing game in, if for nothing else.

 

[220_Swift]

If 300 yards will be the norm, I would opt for the 243. Bucks wind better, and has more energy for a fast kill. If your normal range is under 300 yards the 22-250 is hard to beat. I have taken several yotes with my 250 out at 300 yards. It just doesn't drop them real fast. And if it is windy at all I leave the 250 at home and take the 243. That little 40gr pill really flies around in the wind. Good luck.

 

[Art Eatman]

At one mile, I don't see why neighbors would be a problem, except at night, maybe. Most folks are indoors with the TV going. A/C usually means the windows are closed.

But, to reduce noise as much as possible and still be able to go to 300 yards, I'd figure a 24" barrel and either a .223 or .243; nothing larger.

My 19" .243 is a rather loud critter.

Art

 

[redneck2]

Actually, I'd consider an AR. I've got a Bushmaster Varminter that shoots incredible groups. My son-in-law and I shot it a few weeks ago in some pretty strong cross winds at 268 yards and got exceptionally small groups (sub 1"). This was from a good rest with handloads and a 6.5x20 Leupold scope.

My safe has a .22-250, a .25-06 and two .223's. I'd as soon take the Bushie as anything. There's no right or wrong answer. Any of those would work, but the .223 is probably the quietest with adequate power and accuracy. The .22-250 and .243 would be plenty accurate and powerful.

 

[oops!]

Duh! 6.5x55 swede.

 

[dakotasin]

a 17 Rem or a 17/221 fireball better known as a 17????

17 mk4 - have one. a coyote gun it ain't. no problem hitting stuff w/ it, but even prairie dogs are tough to kill cleanly w/ it. fun little gun, super accurate, not a coyote hunter.

to me, the ultimate coyote gun is a 25-06 w/ a 4-12 vx-2 leupold on it... red-mist, and dead coyotes to however far you want to shoot. mild recoil, tolerable blast... and as for the neighbors, they won't care. coyote hunting isn't like you are blasting 200 rounds in a few hours. 1-5 shots per day. neighbors will never even notice unless it is the middle of the day, and they are outside, and you have no trees between you and the neighbors.

 

[rbernie]

I'm thinking 25-06 in a 28" Encore barrel - the rifle's still only 43" long and OH, MY the steam on that pill.....

 

[Terrierman]

If I knew I was going to shoot at a coyote and I knew it would be 300 yards away my .22-250 would be loaded with 45 grain Winchesters and I would aim for the top of his back. There is no such thing as a quiet unsurpressed centerfire rifle so choosing between calibers for noise is pointless IMHO, there are only degrees between loud, louder and loudest. .22-250 seems louder than a .223, but not by a lot. And .243 and .25-06 both seem louder than .22-250 to me. If it is windy though, the heavier bullets gain the advantage. Any centerfire will do the job on a dog at 300 yards if you can hit him, but you already knew that...

 

[Geno]

.25-06 Rem., 28" Encore rife +1

You took the words right out of my mouth when you brought up the new Encore's 28" barrel! The .25-06 Rem is simply one of the best.

Re: a scope, turn the scope to 14 power for coyote. Then, turn around and drop the scope to 4.5 power for deer season. You don't need over a 4.5 to 14 power scope. Too high and you lose field of view. I had a 6-18 Redfield once; it was too much! If you can "swing the money", I would invest in a straight (fixed) power 10X scope with target dials.

Re: the projectile, I would use either Sierra, in 87 or 90 grain loads. Max weight would be a 100 grain.

Re: the powder, I like Hodgdon 4831, with a Federal 210 bench-rest primer, in Federal brass, fire-formed, trimmed of course and weighed and separated for equal brass weights, etc.

Doc2005

 

[Hawken50]

if you go with .243 you could use it for deer season as well. same with 25-06. i don't know much about the 25-06, but if you handload you can push the 55-60 grain .243 past factory 22-250 speeds.

 

[rangerruck]

four choices here are your best yote getters : 204,22.250 220 swift, those are all up for your choice in order. the best of the best is the old 6mm remmy. Quiet, far better bbl/throat life than the 243. because of the shape of the cartridge, and except for some of the hottest rounds out there, this will be the flatest longest fastest round you can get, and it is not expensive. you can buy a box of 20 for 8 to 10 bucks down here at Academy in Houston.

 

[hoghunting]

If you don't want a gun that is too loud and shots are 300 yds, I would use the 204 or 22-250. Either one will work very well and at 300 yds the coyote is will be just as dead as with a larger caliber.

 

[doc tc]

.243 is hard to beat. load a light bullet if you want since you're only going 300 yards.

me, i just use 40 grains of H4350 under a simple 100 grain Hornady SP and take what i am hunting, be it coyotes or blacktail or gravediggers. 'course i don't shoot in the neighbor's yard and i don't aim much at gravediggers.

but seriously, the .243 is a pretty common caliber useful for many purposes. mine is a 20" youth model remington 700 with a full size stock and it drills tiny little holes at 300 yards right where i expect 'em no problem at all.

doc

 

[bgold]

My coyote gun is a 22-250, and with 55gr Sierras. For me, this is a great coyote round....however, I',m still looking for a 220 Swift as well. I figure I gotta have a backup gun for everything I want to hunt.

 

[Sistema1927]

I can tell you from persnal experience that surplus 5.56 ball ammo shot out of a beat up Mini-14 wearing an equally beat up Weaver V9 will drop coyotes dead at 300 yards when hit in the brain pan.

I paid for two semesters of college (many, many moons ago) shooting coyotes for their pelts and the Texas bounty using this very set-up. I had a spot in West Texas along a power line easement where I staked out known distances, set-up in a prone position on a blanket, and popped the desert dogs as they trotted across my field of fire. They never knew what hit them. I wasn't worried about noise, since the closet humans were miles away, but I never felt that I didn't have enough gun.

 

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

I gotta go with .243 or 25-06. 22-250 is also an excellent choice. The first two would also be good backup/primary deer rifles. (in most states)

Until I researched and bought a .243 for my son, I never gave much thought to the small bores. As I read more I came to understand the versatility of the .243. 55gn bullet at 4,000fps! Flat tragectory to introduce yourself to Mr. Coyote.

-Steve

 

[jerry hunsley]

300 yd. gun

I think you would be happy with a .243 for coyotes at 300 yds. I use 700 Rem. heavy barrel with 70 gr. ballistic tips loaded with 41 grs. Varget powder. It's the best gun I have ever owned. Never had to float the barrel or a darn thing. It shot great right out of the box.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Ideal 300 yard coyote load

25-06, 100 gr Ballistic tip at 3300 fps mv. Actually it works quite well at 500 yards. 300 yards is a piece of cake, out of an accurate rifle.

Not exactly quiet though. But I have fired a few without ear protection (didn't have time) and they're not painful either.

 

[Art Eatman]

Hey, guys, remember that one of his criteria is the noise level. As in, minimize.

Full-house stuff just won't cut it.

Sure, the .22 Hornet is only a 100-yard gun on coyotes. But the original reason for its popularity was the relatively low noise-level in the more built-up, small-farm areas in the eastern U.S. Same for the .218 Bee.

Given the description of distance from neighbors, he might well get away with one shot and quit, even with a Swift or a .25-06 or whatever. He's gotta think about that angle, too.

Art

 

[Gordon]

The 6.8 Rem does not have much muzzle blast out of a 24" barrel. Ballistics are ideal for coyotes at 300+.