.223, 22-250, .243 for Yotes

[weekender7]

right behind the shoulder in the boiler room

Shoot them in the red dot if you want them to die. Shoot them in the purple dot if you want them DRT.

 

[Guy]

25-06 with 115 gr Berger VLD (the thin-jacket version) is... Decisive. It dropped right where it had been standing. Off-side hide? Pretty much blown wide open. Too ugly for a photo.

 

[omicron1792]

Shot one this year with 130gr 6.5prc. It blew its insides out of the body. Ran about 30 yards. Just happens sometimes.

Most just drop. I shoot the neck most of the time now and the cns trauma shuts them down.

 

[Outlaw99]

I’ve shot piles for years with 223 40 grain vmax from 20 yards to 300 and 99% of the time they fall where they’re hit. More importantly I get very few exits and very little pelt damage

 

[B23]

Shot one this year with 130gr 6.5prc. It blew its insides out of the body. Ran about 30 yards. Just happens sometimes.

Shot one with a 180gr bullet from a 300 Weatherby on a quartering shot only about 50 yards away once that did something similar. It was such a close shot I literally saw the blood and guts go flying out of it as it bolted for about 15yds then pilled up. It was definitely one of those WTF moments so I had to go investigate this thing to see how it could have run at all. As I walked up to the initial spot where the bullet made contact there was blood and insides splattered all over hell and bits and pieces of insides along that 15yd path. When I got up to it I flipped it over to see the exit side. For about 2/3 the length of its body it looked like someone had ripped it open with and old school can opener and the majority of its insides were all either missing or hanging out. How that damn thing was able to run anywhere let alone bolt on a dead run for 15yds was hard to believe but as you said it "just happens sometimes".

 

[omicron1792]

Shot one with a 180gr bullet from a 300 Weatherby on a quartering shot only about 50 yards away once that did something similar. It was such a close shot I literally saw the blood and guts go flying out of it as it bolted for about 15yds then pilled up. It was definitely one of those WTF moments so I had to go investigate this thing to see how it could have run at all. As I walked up to the initial spot where the bullet made contact there was blood and insides splattered all over hell and bits and pieces of insides along that 15yd path. When I got up to it I flipped it over to see the exit side. For about 2/3 the length of its body it looked like someone had ripped it open with and old school can opener and the majority of its insides were all either missing or hanging out. How that damn thing was able to run anywhere let alone bolt on a dead run for 15yds was hard to believe but as you said it "just happens sometimes".

I mean. Mine was exactly the same.

 

[Superx3]

Most of my coyotes these days are killed on the farm as we come across them. This means most of the time it’s not an optimum shot ( running away). I now really like more gun and bullet for this type of shooting. My two favorites are my 22-250 running a 55gr v max at max load of h-380, and my 6.5-284 with 129gr hornady interlock sp. 22-250 might require a second shot, but almost never with 6.5! 223 sits in the safe and almost never gets taken out

 

[dirtytough]

I’ve seen more runners with a 223 shooting Vmax than I have any bullet in a 22-250, 22 creed, and 243. And the guy shooting the 223 is a better shot than I am.

 

[Skeezer69]

22-250 loaded with 55 grain V-Max’s have been good to me!

 

[BigNate]

If you're having trouble with v-maxes, why keep using them?

I' ve shot a truckload or three with the .223 and don't remember having any well hit ones run.

 

[Gstew1930]

I’ve had better luck with the 50 grain blitzking in my .223 than I did with any vmax

 

[kswaterfowl]

Vmax always shoots good on paper, but terrible for coyotes. Ballistic tips and blitzkings kill better.

 

[Outlaw99]

How many of you guys worried about runners are kinking and putting up the fur? I’ve shot and put up a pile of coyotes over the years, all shot with a .223. Never had any issues with runners on well placed shots. Hardly any issues with less than perfect shots either. Coyotes aren’t that big and they aren’t that hard to kill. With todays fur market, or lack there of, I could care less whether I shoot them with a .22lr or a .338 Lapua. I kill or shoot every coyote I see because they call need killed from a predator management standpoint. Whether they drop on the spot or not is no concern to me. They’re coyotes, go shoot as many as you can with whatever gun/ caliber you’re comfortable with and do the world a favor.

 

[kswaterfowl]

How many of you guys worried about runners are kinking and putting up the fur? I’ve shot and put up a pile of coyotes over the years, all shot with a .223. Never had any issues with runners on well placed shots. Hardly any issues with less than perfect shots either. Coyotes aren’t that big and they aren’t that hard to kill. With todays fur market, or lack there of, I could care less whether I shoot them with a .22lr or a .338 Lapua. I kill or shoot every coyote I see because they call need killed from a predator management standpoint. Whether they drop on the spot or not is no concern to me. They’re coyotes, go shoot as many as you can with whatever gun/ caliber you’re comfortable with and do the world a favor.

I used to think the same way, but I've gotten soft over the years. Or they've earned my respect over the years, from their will to survive and how cunning they can be. I don't care if it's just a stinkin coyote, but I don't want anything to suffer.

 

[Wickss]

I will definitely try the blitzking out of my AR .223.

Here's another video that shows what i'm talking about. This was about a 75 yard shot, sure looks like I hit the boiler room. With a .58 gr V-Max from a .243 or .55 gr V-Max from a 22-250 I'm confident in saying this dog would not have even wiggled.

 

[WCB]

Shot A LOT of coyotes with .223. Hunted with guys using 22-250s, 17rems, 220 swifts. (17rem, 220 Swift guys kill a couple hundred Yotes a piece a year with them). I have not noticed any difference in bang flops from those offerings out to 300 yards. Seen the 17 rems bang flop multiple dogs well past 300 and even the ones in all these situations that weren't were mainly just spinners. Very few runners at all.

.223 wise I have used 43 grain Vmax, 50gr Vmax, 53gr Vmax, 50gr Federal HP Varmint loads, 55gr Sierra Gameking HPBTs, and 55gr Tipped Game Kings (and probably some others a long time ago). Again no noticeable difference in performance and very few runners...if they did they didn't go far at all. This is all assuming a good to decent hit. Obviously crap happens and bad shots are made.

Hell I've killed probably 20+ with my /17 Hornet from 50-300 yards. I can only remember one runner and I piled him up running on the 2nd shot at about 250 yards. First shot was about mid body so it wasn't a surprise he ran.

 

[turbo406]

Of the 30 or so in the last year I have noticed the most important factors in DRT are bullet placement and bullet construction. Was running 69 smks outta my 22 250 and if you hit shoulder they hit the dirt and didn't move a muscle from 30 yards to 540 but anywhere else and they pencil, 53 vmax outta my 223 has proven itself to be a very good bullet and have killed 3 this year with it 440, 180 ish and 380 and they all dropped and no exit the internals were mush, my 75 vmax outta my 243 night gun initially was devastating but I had one night I had 4 runners that you could watch chunks come off when hit in the thermal ( the brush was pretty thick so really wondering if I wasn't hitting sage and splashing them). All that being said my 223 has considerably higher drt percentage than anything other than 1 for 1 with my 300 win mag

 

[Gstew1930]

The last time I went coyote hunting I was in an area where I could have shots up to 700, just built my 22 Creedmoor so I figured that would be a perfect rifle for this hunt. Ended up hamming one a 9 yards lol

 

[benson8454]

Have used all 3 your talking about. But my favorite would the 22.250