Predator Hunting Rifles - What's yours?

[Craig Van Arsdale]

.240 Weatherby Mag. Just got it though so no kills with it yet.....

 

[Rucker61]

Savage bull barreled .223, 50gr Hornady VMAXs. Just bought a new Basix trigger and need to find a place to shoot critters.

 

[charvey9]

I have two.

The first is an AR built of a Stag Model 6 in .223 with 24" 1/8 twist bull barrel. Magpul PRS, YHM forearm, Leupold VX-3 8.5-25x50mm SFT. Timney trigger. Custom duracoat done by me.




The other was built by my father, and of all the custom long range rifles he has built this still remains my favorite. Remington 700 action, with 28" krieger stainless fluted barrel chambered in .260. Jewel Trigger, HS-Precison stock, and Leupold Mark 4 8.5-25x50mm scope. Built for 1000 yard competition, but I'm not really into that so just use it for varmint and predator hunting. The picture is from a few weeks ago, my buddy and I took a break from turkey hunting to thin out the ground squirrels. The highlight was taking two ground squirrels in consecutive shots at 432 and 437 yards. Too much fun.

 

[PA 5-0]

Stock Rem 700 Police Sniper in .223. HS stock, heavy barrel with Nikon glass and a bipod. Stock trigger adjusted to 3lbs. Ridiculous accurate. She really loves Hornady ammo.

 

[Coyote Commander]

My bread and butter guns are .22-250s, Rem 700s. Nosler ballistic tips in 50 or 55 grain, or 52 grain Sierras all on the "slow" side are a good balance of coyote anchoring potential and "fur friendliness".

Windy days I may step up to a .243 and a 90 grain Berger though.

My "control gun" is a .260 Rem. But its getting re-tubed to a 6mm SLR. Love, no, LOVE the caliber, and the rifle shoots lights out, I just cant find a decent bullet with a high BC that does well at anchoring coyotes. Kinda sad but it is what it is.

 

[Cascade_Sherpa]

My Rbros 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[orelkaddict]

I'm shooting an old Ruger Tang safety in 6mm Remington, 3.5-10x50 VX3 with a 90 grain Nosler Accubond. Smoking out the barrel at just under 3300 fps!!

 

[kyle1112]

I've got a Remington 788 in 22-250, awesome gun but having a tough time locking in super tight groups. I'm shooting vmax 55 gr...problem may be the scope but if anyone has any ideas let me know.

 

[jack88]

Tikka 22-250

 

[huntaholic123]

Remington 700 22-250 in heavy barrel. Leupold VX II scope. Put down its fair share of varmints!

 

[KMD]

.17Predator, 1:9 Lilja 30gr @ 4085fps. Surprisingly wicked little killer! Fur friendly and laser flat trajectory...

.22-243Win, 1:7.7 Krieger 75gr @ 3450fps Simple neck down to awesome performance, without pushing the envelope...

.22-243Imp. 40° , 1:8 Brux 75gr @ 3640fps, 80gr @ 3510fps Takes the already badazz .22-243Win to a 'nutha level...

^^^Bedding this one into its new stock this weekend^^^
I believe that the fast twist .22-243Imp could be the holy grail of coyote rifles...

 

[Coyote Commander]

KMD,

Have you gotten to the point on those .22-6's to know much about throat life on them?

Thats a hot wildcat, I gave some thought to building one, but know several guys running them for control work who say its "ONLY" a coyote gun or they'd be re-barrelling every year. Not much practice, no prarie dogs or other stuff, just a work gun. ~1500-2000 rounds of premo accuracy and done.

 

[KMD]

CC, not yet.
Have about 550 on the .22-243 and less than 200 on this new AI version.
I'm running a mild load of H-1000 to get that performance in the AI, and even if the barrel craps out at 900 rounds, I'll consider that powder well burnt! 900 rounds = a heckuva lotta coyotes, plus a couple deer a season. It is definitely NOT a p-dog gun, LOL

Gotta pay the piper for the incredible performance, no way around it!!! Just a matter of accepting the consequences and enjoying it while it lasts. With slow burning powder like H-1000 , mild pressure charge, and short strings of fire, it'd be tickled pink to get 1500 rounds out of this tube!!!
(Already have another barrel waiting to replace this one, LOL)

Have close ties with my coyote hunting buddies, and our 'smithy has built about 15 of those fast twists AIs with our reamer and throating specs. So we all have a decent sample size to keep tabs on for the next few seasons. So far, the .22–243AI has offered outstanding accuracy, ease of loading, and bullet trajectory that'll raise eyebrows. Run the #s on an 80 AMAX or VLD @ 3500 (mildy warm load) and you'll see what I mean. Shoots flatter than my 7WSM OR 6.5SAUM out to 1000 yds. and those high b.c. .224 caliber bullets retain more energy down range. than many 6mm offerings and kick as in the wind. One buddy has a .243AI and his new 22-243AI eats it's lunch @400yds. He couldn't believe it, but I told him so...

 

[ChrisA]

I have several to include a Sako L461 in 17m4, Remington 700 Classic in 17 Rem, Browning micro in 204 Ruger and now an Armalite with a custom 18" light barreled upper in 223. All are very accurate. The 17m4 has taken the most and longest is 311 yards. The 25 grain Berger match bullets are the most fur friendly and I've yet to lose an animal with them. That said, the Browning is my go to rifle at this point for no other reason than its a pleasure to carry. I haven't killed anything with or carried the AR much yet but it may prove to be a nice truck gun.

Chris

 

[FrankieP1988]

Cz 527 varmint .223 with 18" barrel and 2.5-10x42 vortex viper hs scope

 

[cleatus]

Savage .243 shooting 58 gr hornadys for day time hunting. DPMS AR topped with eotech shooting 55 gr hornadys for night hunting

 

[mcseal2]

For areas where I may get cats but still want reach

Custom 204 Ruger built on a Ruger M77 action. Pac Nor 23" 1 in 10 stainless barrel Timney 2lb trigger, & Boyd laminate thumbhole stock. Has a Leupold 4.5-14x40 scope with the Varmint hunter reticle. I shoot the 45gr Hornady SP loads to prevent major fur damage, get small pass through holes.

For windy days or longer range, or all coyote sets

Custom 6mm Rem build on a Ruger M77. Kreiger 23" barrel, same trigger, scope, and stock. I shoot 70gr Ballistic Tips over a max load of Superformance for 3812fps. Properly zeroed I can hold for the heart to 200yds, center to 350yds to keep things simple. I use this one the majority of the time

For close sets, no shots past 200yds
AR15 with Jard trigger, 2.5-10x Bushnell 4200 Firefly scope
7615 with Timney 870 trigger kit, 1.25-4x Leupold VX-R

I don't carry a shotgun much, but have an 870 with the 21" turkey barrel, 8 shot extension, and Dead Coyote choke that people hunting with me borrow at times. I am usually tucked back calling, let others take a lot of the shots.

 

[tstowater]

Dang KMD, nice guns. Happened to catch this thread and need to update. Picked up another 25-06 in a Sendero and put on a Vortex 4-16 HS shooting 115 grain Bergers. This should be murder on coyotes. Also, a 223WSSM in a Browning, scoped with a 4.5-14 Leupold that shoots incredible with 55 grain soft points. Working on 62-70 grain bullets for coyotes and antelope. Both of these guns would easily allow you to forget a rangefinder to past 400 yards.

Prairie dog update: Just got back from SD and NE on Sunday. Shot a 204 in a CZ and the 22-250 in the Model 70. Loved both guns. The 22-250 is perfect, but at 15X+ you can't see the results other than "now you see it, now you don't". If I would have known the shooting was going to be as crazy as it was on Saturday, I would have taken a couple more guns to try and keep them cooler. Bad part was the rancher begged us to stay another day and I couldn't because of needing to get back to work. My 15 year old was working with a 17 Remington and a 17HMR and really liked the 220 Swift that I let him play with. Poor kid didn't know what to do other than smile at the end of the day

 

[KMD]

thanks TSTO! Got that AI bedded into its new Game Scout, and the Premier is sitting pretty in Talley lows. Balance is perfect, I'm a happy camper!

Your .25-06 should be a beast! Maybe pick up a box of 75Vmaxs to throttle up in that baby? They are friggin' devastating @ 3500+ and will allow you an even flatter 400yd trajectory. I loaded them for a 25WSSM AR and they were wicked on coyotes...

Glad to hear you got into it hot & heavy with the p-dogs!!! Man, that is a good ol' time!

Let us know how your new coyote rifles shake out...

 

[tstowater]

KMD, I have fleeting thoughts about AI'ing the 25-06, but I think I will leave it alone and do a 6.5-06AI instead down the road. Seriously, 3500+ with the 75's would be fun. PM me a load to contemplate if you get a chance. P-dogs are great target practice. Until you look at them up close, you kind of forget how small they are, especially the pups. Nailing them consistently at 300 means that you are doing something right, especially when you are dealing with wind. For a kid, this is unbelievable shooting training.