Choice of weapon

[titan69]

All the posts on what type of calls to use, lets hear the choice of weapons. I myself do not own a big rifle, all I really have is a 22 rifle or a shotgun. I think my muzzleloader (54 cal) would be to big. So my question is what would be a good choice ?

[yoteler]

There is alot of good guns out there, it is what you want or like which is the man ?. The guns I own and have shoot varmints with are 22mag, 223, 22-250, 243, 12 gauge. Like I said alot of guns are great but it comes down to the person shooting it, is what matters more. If you learn what your gun is capable of doing ( shooting ranges) you can make allot of your hits count. 1 shoot 1 kill

[M35]

For fox, around here, a 22 mag is the ticket.

But there are times where you get winded, they won't stop for that split second or they bum rush right where your calling from that a shotgun is needed.

Usually, when we go calling, one has a rifle and one has a shotgun and whoever is "in-charge" of the event calls the shot..

[skidway]

22 mag. after dark (rimfire/shotgun only at night), .223 in the daylight and the shotgun goes along always. The 31/2" 12 ga.with #4 Heavi-Shot is worth a try if it patterns well in your gun. It rolls them at 45 yds.

[SteveCraig]

Depends on what you are going to call.
If after fox and cats, my favorite rifle is the 22 Hornet or a good 22 Mag.

For coyotes with the chance of calling a fox or a cat, then I like the 17 Rem or a 222 Rem to save the fur. and I keep my shots on coyotes under 200 yards.

For strictly calling coyotes a good 22-250 or a 243 is my choice.

For lions I like any of the 22 Centerfires

For calling bears I prefer 30Caliber of some sort.

Also I always carry a good shotgun in the truck for heavy brush calling as well .

[chub618]

does anyone use a .221 fireball. that is the rifle i carry but have yet to connect with a coyote or fox with it. but i does a good job on groundpigs

[TrappingAddict]

A friend of mine just bought a 204.. He says he can hit a snuff can lid at 300 yds. consistantly. Has anyone any experience with this cal. for coyote? I guess the rounds are kinda expensive but that 300 yards is kinda impressive...

[coyotechaser]

i use a 204 and it is very acurrate and it doesn't do any damage. i use hornedy 40gr. shells. i shot a coyote at 70 yds. with it and there was no exit hole. They just came out with the 204 last year i believe and they are by far the flattest and have the fastes velocity as far as a gun goes. I think that it is truly the best varmint gun out there, but a 223 or a 243 work great as well. The only thing that i don't like bout the 204 is that the wind can really screw up your shot because it is such a light load. 40gr. is the biggest load that i have found for them.

coyotechaser

[bubcat]

The 223 is a nice caliber. but if you aren't dead on , heart/lung/or neck/spine, they may walk a bit on you after impact.

For coyotes, the 243 has a little more umph to it, and can settle the score out to 200 yds no problem.

Then again, If you don't care about the the hide, the 300 Weatherby Mag lets em know they are dead in a big way! and if you can see it, you can kill it. I don't know of too much out there can match a 300 Weatherby for flat trajectory out the other side of 400 yds

This is the one I use. It really does a number on a coyote, and it's a great rifle for moose! ;D

[17HMR]

I own 1 center fire rifle a .243 savage, and use it on deer and yotes with no problems 100 grain loads for deer and 58 grain loads for yotes.

[SteveCraig]

Chub,
I always thought the little 221 Fireball would be an excelent round for calling. I would say you would need to keep you coyotes shots to under a 150 yards or so though.

[chub618]

steve its a tack driver! now if i can get some yotes to cooperate. oh and what gr. a bullet do you suggest for fox and coyote sized game?

[SteveCraig]

I would have to say the 50 grain bullets would be a good all around bullet. Some 40gr V-max may be a great bullet for fox and cats.
Steve

[Bubber]

Don't give up on that .54. I have shot a number of coyotes with my .50 using patched round balls. Just two nice .50 cal holes on both sides. Of course I enjoy making things harder than they need to be, but if that was all I had I wouldn't worry about hunting fur with it.

Of course normally I shoot a 22-250, my fur load uses a 40 grain balistic tip. Providing you make a solid hit there will be little to no fur damage. But if you screw up and more or less, wing them, It will take some sewing.

[Wiley]

Steve Craig covered this one pretty well and I agree with pretty much everything he said.

The variables are:

1. Distance of most of your shots.
2. Coyote strictly vs. potential red fox, grey fox, or bobcats.

I shoot a .22/250 for recreational coyote hunting and ADC work but am considering better ballistics for longer range summertime ADC work. The country I hunt in is more open and requires more longer shots.

A .220 Swift is an excellent coyote caliber for open country.

I think a .223 is a very good "off the shelf" choice as well as a .222. for most calling situations of heavy timber (eastern U.S.) or denser habitat (Texas and Arizona) where shots tend to be closer.

I am not a fan of .17 remingtons unless you have a lot of fox and bobcats in your area. I like to anchor my coyotes and know they are dead where I hit them.

Accuracy and knowing how to shoot is far more important than what caliber to shoot.

T'man, please archive this one too.


~SH~

[qwagoner]

My choice for my area is a .220 swift. I hunt open country so my rifle is a multi purpose gun. I needed the best combination of accuracy and long-range ability to suit my needs. The .220 with Nosler BT’s running at 3850fps is a fine combination. It is overkill in many calling situations but with properly placed bullets fur damage can be kept to a minimum.

I think if you polled the top 100 coyote callers in the nation you would find that the majority would be using center fire .22s of some flavor starting with the .222 and up. A handful would be using .17 Remingtons on the bottom end and some would be using the .25s on the top end.

For economy, accuracy and availability of ammunition the .223 is very hard to beat. I own 5 .223s and love them all. You can down load them nearly to hornet velocities and push them to near 22-250 velocities with the 40gr bullets. The .223 is a very adaptable and capable round for all kinds of predators. Bullet weights in .22 caliber range from 35grs to 90grs. You would need a custom 1 in 6 twist to stabilize the 90s but a 1 in 8 should stabilize any 75gr offering out there. My vote would go to the .223 if cats and fox were in the picture.

The .22-250 and swift is also versatile. They can be loaded down to .222 velocities if you take after fox but yet you have the option to load them up for larger game or longer-range hunting. The .220 swift is the only rifle I take to Africa and has cleanly taken dozens of plains game animals as well as several hundred varmints.

If you reload another great round would be the .243 Winchester. With factory rifle offerings you can shoot bullets ranging from 55grs to 100 or more. You can load the 55gr bullets to .223 velocities for smaller predators or crank them up to swift velocities. The 100gr bullet capabilities also make the rifle a legitimate big game round as well.

Good luck picking a winner!!

Q,

[HappyPlumber]

In using a shotgun, I patterned out my 12 guage full choke and 3 1/2 " mags at 60 yards, 50 and 40 today. On all three yardages I got 8 pellets of "T" shot in a 6" circle. This is a new gun and I also shot number 2's with the same result. The "t shot" was in the "Dead coyote" shells I got at Fleet Farm. Is this enough to kill a coyote. I'm asking this because I never shot one with a shotgun before. We have a lot of heavy swamp in our area and the yotes head for that in the winter time because that is where the feed is. HP

[blakcoyote]

HP,I would think that would work for coyotes at the ranges you mentioned.
BTW,incase you didnt know this,centerfires are legal down by you,you just cant use them during deer season.I know a couple guys that .223's and 22-250's down that way.They just use common sense of were they shoot.

[HappyPlumber]

If a person didn't have a cent fire rifle of the caliber to shoot yotes, what would be the maximum effective range of a rimfire 22. I would almost think that a person could outfit one with a scope and it might be effective for longer ranges than 60 yards. The only r3eason I say that is because with all the farming in my area, the only good yote area would be the Kettle's and swamps because there is a ton of that type of terrain as well. HP

[Clinton]

happyplumber said:

If a person didn't have a cent fire rifle of the caliber to shoot yotes, what would be the maximum effective range of a rimfire 22. I would almost think that a person could outfit one with a scope and it might be effective for longer ranges than 60 yards. The only r3eason I say that is because with all the farming in my area, the only good yote area would be the Kettle's and swamps because there is a ton of that type of terrain as well. HP

I never thought of using a 22LR for yotes. I guess thats because it's what I use on squirrels and rabbits. Are you saying a 22LR is ok to drop a yote?