.243 guns and loads for coytes

[coonboy]

i'm looking to buy a rifle for coyotes. And i'm leaning towards a rem 770 rifle that comes with a scope. anyone tried it or have other suggestoins. What is the fur damage with 55 grain bulets thanks

[lb]

In a word: GRIM.

Hard to go wrong with a 22-250, and 55 grain bullets.

Good hunting. LB

[FWS]

And i'm leaning towards a rem 770 rifle that comes with a scope.

Lean elsewhere, you will not be pleased with that "rifle" or the scope over the long term. Whomever at Remington came up with that tragedy needs to be dragged naked through the streets before a good scourging.

There are lots of good quality .243's, new and used, out there who need a home and a purpose.

[stickbowhntr]

if and when money an isssue here[and quite offten it is] I wait till I can afford the better stuff and I have NEVRER been disapointed with what I got by waiting ...rem 700, cz's,some r77's look at the newer Savages .....rem trying to compete at a lower price tag is a DISASTER !

[Rod17]

Take real hard look at the new Savage line..then take another real hard look at the new Savage line. I have a 12-FVSS in .22-250 and the thing is a tack driver right of the box. Shoots 0.5 inch group at 300 yards..

For the price Savages cant be beat. Not the prettiest guns but they shoot as good or better than guns costing 2-3x as much.

Randy

[jrbhunter]

I agree on the Savages!

[17HMR]

I shoot a old savage 110 in .243 and have found the best factory load in it, for fur, is hornaday 58 grain bullet off the shelf. The gun shoots better than I do. I had some reloaded on advice I got here that I have yet to try on citters though.

[lobster]

I like the AR platform in 223 get one w/ a quad rail

[paulm]

Love my savage in 22-250,inexpesive well made and shoots well right out of the box...
PM

[richc]

The .243 is a dandy coyote whacker. If you want to sell the fur, then use a good bullet that is designed for deer hunting. The Speer 85 grain spitzer looks like a good choice to me, but I haven't goten around to loading any of em up yet to say for certain. I have a new Remington CDL in .243 that shoots the factory loaded 55 grainers well, but I reckon the little bullet would cause major fur damage now and then. I always grab the old Mauser that is chambered for the .257 Ackley. I do this because the old Mauser has grown on me, and I have quite a few 100 grain Sierra "Pro Hunter's" loaded up for it. As for Brand names of rifles, the only Savage I would even consider would be the old model 99. The folks at Savage discontinued their very best rifle. I wonder why they did that? Downright Blaspemy is what it was.

[redsnow]

I agree Savage makes a good rifle for the $$$. One thing above, shootin a 0.5" group at 300 yards, that's a little hard to believe. Not saying it's not so, just hard to believe, that's almost touching holes, at 900ft. I like my 700's, on a good day I can touch holes at 100yds, with my 22250, that's better than I can shoot under field conditions. Mine's just a cheap model with the plastic stock, did float the barrel, "fix" the trigger.

[kevthebassman]

I'd stack my CZ .17 Rem up against any calling rifle out there. Somebody claimed a savage could shoot a .5 inch group at 300 yards???!?!?!? I call bullshit, pure and simple. Maybe once, one time, somebody somewhere shot that group, but that's not a repeatable result, especially shooting factory loaded ammunition.

Savages are good guns, no doubt, probably the best for the money, but there are better guns out there. I picked up my CZ 527 used, for $400. With handloads it shot a 100 yard group that can be easily covered with a dime. That's far better accuracy than I could take advantage of in the field. Benchrest group size is meaningless in the field. What matters is how you shoot offhand, kneeling, sitting, and from improvised rests. If you don't practice shooting that way, you won't have success in the field.

A good exercise is to go to your calling area with a dozen or so balloons. Tie your balloons to dowel rods, and put them in random areas that you are likely to see coyotes come from, 1 or two balloons per stand at varying distances from 10 to 300 yards.

Sit in your calling spots, and shoot at those balloons. If there's a breeze, they're going to be blowing around and hard to shoot. Guess what, coyotes are moving around and are hard to shoot! On stands that have two balloons, try to make your second shot as fast as possible.

Keep score on yourself. Your first shot is the only one that counts toward your score. If you put out 10 balloons and manage to hit 5 of them on the first shot, your score is 5/10. The first time you try this, you'll probably embarrass yourself. Don't feel bad. The only way to get better at anything is to practice, practice, practice!

[lb]

A staement like that caused quite a stir on another Board, then the guy came back with tongue in cheek and admitted he misplaced the decimal point; just to see if anybody was paying attention. LB

[richc]

"Shoots 0.5 inch group at 300 yards.."
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Did you mean to say 1/2" at 100 yards on a good calm day?

[richc]

"I'd stack my CZ .17 Rem up against any calling rifle out there."
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Calling what? Foxes and coons maybe? The .17 Remington is a nice round, but it ain't a coyote whacker.

[kevthebassman]

richc said:

"I'd stack my CZ .17 Rem up against any calling rifle out there."
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Calling what? Foxes and coons maybe? The .17 Remington is a nice round, but it ain't a coyote whacker.

.17 Rem is king in the circles I run in. Maybe you ought to tell the coyotes that the .17 Rem is too light for them, they don't seem to know the difference.

[lb]

Geeze, almost a religion, ain't it? You just "believe" as a matter of faith.

Seventeen caliber will always have limited application on coyotes. When it works, it works great. When it fails, (as it will) you have a big mess or worse. Think about it. It's just not in the cards. Sorry. LB

PS I like my solution. Drill them through both sides with a well constructed bullet, and forget about the "blow up inside" stuff.

Perfect performance requires perfect placement and perfect presentation; how the animal is turned, relative to the shooter. This is where the 25 grain 4,000fps pill usually fails. Not exactly "KING" in the circles I run in?

[richc]

".17 Rem is king in the circles I run in. Maybe you ought to tell the coyotes that the .17 Rem is too light for them, they don't seem to know the difference."
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Nope, plenty of needle punched coyotes running around out there already. They don't know what caused it though, probably think it was the thunder?

[Danny Clifton]

I shoot a 22 250. 55 grain nosler ballistic tips. Does a good job. Biggest problem with it is wind. That light bullet takes practice to shoot well in wind. I hunted coyotes for many years with a 270. I loaded 130 grain sierra boatails with 55 grains of 4350. Killed everything from praire dogs to elk with that load. When I shot coyotes they looked a mess. But after skinning and washing there wasn't really a hole. I'd get about a 4 inch long tear that a little sewing could often get it past the grader. Every rifle/bullet combinations has its limits and peculiaritys. It's up to the shooter to know what they are. Heck a 22 long rifle is an effective coyote round if you keep shots to 50 yards or less and make head shots. Gun manufactuers love arguments on what is the best round. Allows em to keep reinventing the wheel.

[kevthebassman]

We'll have to agree to disagree then.

Different rifles for different shooters. I don't take marginal shots on any animal, because I'm not doing ADC work (or deluding myself into thinking that I'm doing ADC work like a lot of guys do) and I have no problem letting a coyote walk. I've never shot at anything but paper past 200 yards, never felt the need to.

I suppose if I were out taking 500 yard shots or marginal shots, I would need more rifle. I have supreme confidence in my rifle and my ability to shoot it. With that being the case, I see no reason whatsoever to fix what most certainly ain't broke.