Fur friendly round?

[IDspud]

Getting ready to reload my .243 for wolves and coyotes. Curious what you guys have experienced as far as loads being less damaging to hides. Should I be going for a smaller bullet and high velocity or a larger bullet going slower? I shot a coyote with a 100 grained going 2900 and while it didn’t blow it apart it was more of a hole than I had hoped for.

Which is worse?

 

[pinpoint6713]

marking as i just picked up a 243 for coyotes. have used a 204 in past with great results just want something for the windy days.

 

[EastMT]

I’ve been thinking of this same thing for my 223. Looking to try some Barnes or Hammers. Should poke a hole without too much damage.

 

[dirtytough]

My experience is super fast plastic tip bullets are awesome/horrible. Sometimes you can’t find the entrance even. But other times I get a big entrance. My buddy was shooting them slow out of a Grendel and had zero damage

Fringe hits always leave a mess.

Some guys I know ran out of their normal bullet and used Barnes in a 22-250. Extremely bad damage on almost 30 coyotes they killed that week with them. I would always expect an exit with Barnes or Hammers.

I’ve been told that the lead soft points are good but I’ve never tried them. They seem to go slower with a lot lower BC than what I want.

The Berger 52 grain target does good at high velocities. Idk what is comparable in 6mm cal.

If I was hunting wolves I would lean towards a heavier bullet.

 

[Dirtbag]

My experience is super fast plastic tip bullets are awesome/horrible. Sometimes you can’t find the entrance even. But other times I get a big entrance. My buddy was shooting them slow out of a Grendel and had zero damage

Fringe hits always leave a mess.

Agreed. It can be tough getting consistent fur friendly results with a .243 on coyotes. I have had decent luck with 58 grain V-maxs with frontal shots with no splash or exit, and 70 grain sierra matchkings on broadside shots with small entrance and reasonable exit, fringe hits or shoulder hits and all bets are off. I typically use a .220 swift, 22-250 or .223 during peak fur. .243 later in the year when fur is no longer as valuable.

This is one of the smallest coyotes I've shot, and with a 58 grain v-max frontal shot you could hardly tell where I hit it.

 

[wind gypsy]

I'd be real surprised if there was a good option in 243 that is consistently easy on fur.

 

[Miflatlander91]

Take it for what it's worth but the hammers might be Interesting I shot a yore last week at 200 with my 300 win and a 181 hammer hunter entered back hip and exit front shoulder really surprised me how little it did to the fur

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[IDspud]

I'd be real surprised if there was a good option in 243 that is consistently easy on fur.

Just looking for the least damaging of the two options. Most of my fur is from trapping and I don't shoot all that many, but I want to make sure I get the better option between the two since reloading is a PITA.

I know bullets like the Varmageddon work well for dropping them, does that also mean it causes the most fur damage? I guess if I use something like that which is supposed to explode inside and not exit it's probably less damaging?

 

[wind gypsy]

Just looking for the least damaging of the two options. Most of my fur is from trapping and I don't shoot all that many, but I want to make sure I get the better option between the two since reloading is a PITA.

I know bullets like the Varmageddon work well for dropping them, does that also mean it causes the most fur damage? I guess if I use something like that which is supposed to explode inside and not exit it's probably less damaging?

To generalize, if something is made to aggressively fragment like the varmageddon, it's either great (if it doesn't exit) or terrible (if it does exit or create giant entrance wounds on something like a shoulder hit). Once you get to bigger bullets (6mm in this case) it's harder to keep them from exiting and messy entrance wounds get more messy.

 

[jlaner0408]

What kind of holes do Berger’s put in critters? I’d assume just from a terminal ballistic standpoint, that shooting something like them would do well but I have zero experience shooting them so someone else will have to speak up. I’d think something fragmenting inside the animal and not having anything left to make much of an exit wound would be best?

 

[IDspud]

To generalize, if something is made to aggressively fragment like the varmageddon, it's either great (if it doesn't exit) or terrible (if it does exit or create giant entrance wounds on something like a shoulder hit). Once you get to bigger bullets (6mm in this case) it's harder to keep them from exiting and messy entrance wounds get more messy.

Who's good with physics? Wouldn't a higher velocity with smaller projectile carry more kinetic energy and be more likely to exit?

1/2 mass x velocity ^2? I plugged 55 grains at 3900fps in and then 100 grains at 2900 fps. The 100 grain carried a bit more kinetic energy.

Am I doing that right?

 

[FLATHEAD]

I'd get some 75 grainers and load them down.

 

[HuntInWild88]

55gr varmageddons..load them in my 243 and my 6mmspc. Can be a mess if hit far back in the guts.. also had almost no damage when using my 8x57 with 180gr barnes..coyote are too soft for that heavy of a bullet to really expand. But always had 2 holes..

 

[sdcowboy]

I use 70grn Sierra match kings hpbt, in my .243. Love them. very seldom do I put a larger than quarter size hole into them. Only problem is finding them. Shot coyotes at 50 to 600 with them.

 

[tuffcrk14]

I’ve been thinking of this same thing for my 223. Looking to try some Barnes or Hammers. Should poke a hole without too much damage.

I found that the Sierra 52 grain matchking boattail hollow point works the best in saving fur out of my AR. Super accurate and I have recovered every coyote I’ve hit with them.


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[AKredneck63]

243 here

 

[Steelruger22]

I'd have to agree that finding a good .243 bullet to stay inside a yote might be kinda difficult.
For my .223 I like to use 50 gr Speer TNTs. Most don't exit. When I can't use those I just use FMJs. They always punch though but leave smaller holes. Saves a bit of time when it comes to stitching up the holes. Could be a viable option for your .243

 

[LBennington]

I used to shoot the 58 max as fast as I could push it with the same results as have been discussed. Last year I decided to try and slow the 58gr vmax way down for fur. Not lots of results yet but if the 4 I shot with that load I had 0 exits. Those were 150-300 yards broadside, quartering to me or frontal.

 

[Barbarosa]

58 grain V-Max, make sure of your barrel twist for accuracy !

 

[Treerat-sniper]

It's been a few years but the last .243 bullet I put through a coyote (87 grain V-max IIRC?) blew an exit hole that a softball could probably miss the sides of. In the bullet's defense, I did hit the shoulder bone, I try to aim a little behind the shoulder these days. I like the cheap 52 gr speer hps in the .22-250 loaded down a little bit.