Was deer hunting this weekend. Saw a nice buck but wasn't able to get even a halfway decent shot and so didn't take it.
Wasn't hunting but a few minutes Sunday morning when a doe went by me. Wasn't anymore than a couple minutes later that a coyote come running following the same path the little doe went.
He made the mistake of stopping about 70-80 yds in front of me. I unleashed a 165gr HPBT Gameking out of my 30-06 on him .
This is the first 30-06 ive ever personally owned. Right now im shooting 55gr IMR4350 behind the 165's. I haven't chronographed it but if its anywhere around what the book says I would guess in the neighborhood of 2700ish. Not speed demons by any means. I shot it quartering to me. Didn't hit shoulder but you could still probably stick a fist or two in the exit hole. Chunks of lung and big chunks of liver just laying on the ground where the coyote done its little spin move before hitting the ground.

Question is this normal when shooting a coyote with a 30-06 using that particular bullet?
When I shoot jugs filled with water they just poke a hole through and keep on going. Seems like they would be tough bullets? So I wasn't expecting that big of an exit hole on a stinky old coyote?

I shot a coyote with one of my 30-06's a few years back while hunting deer... Property owner is a sheep rancher,made his day...
Anyways I was shooting 150gr. Bronze Points over 49gr. of 4895... Big chunks of coyote blown out...
About 30 minutes later I shot the largest Mule deer I've ever gotten. 6X7 and slightly over 32 inches wide.
Same bullet worked well on him.

It's your bullet not the cartridge

Yeah, that's normal. Par for the course on a yoke. And the fps of 2700 in an 06 is the standard muzzle velocity for a factory 180 grainer. You can look it up, but your 165 should be faster. 2800 ought to be about right if you want to duplicate factory loadings.

Btw, was your weekend hunt where you saw the buck muzzleloading?

Until Nov. 23 when TN's regular gun season starts I don't take the 30-06 into the deer woods. There are game wardens who might not buy being told it's for coyotes only...

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Yeah, that's normal. Par for the course on a yoke. And the fps of 2700 in an 06 is the standard muzzle velocity for a factory 180 grainer. You can look it up, but your 165 should be faster. 2800 ought to be about right if you want to duplicate factory loadings.

Btw, was your weekend hunt where you saw the buck muzzleloading?

Until Nov. 23 when TN's regular gun season starts I don't take the 30-06 into the deer woods. There are game wardens who might not buy being told it's for coyotes only...

I was on our family property in Ky. I've not lived in Tn all that long.

As others have said, that is about par for the 30-06 and coyotes. That is an absolutely great bullet for most all hunting situations. It is tougher that the regular Gamekings and still super accurate in my rifles. My Highwall loves them, but I push them a little faster.

Hydraulics.

You ought to see them when you use a 375H&H with Barnes 235TSX. Not much pelt to save

When I lived in the Northwest and was trapping and calling coyotes all winter, I had several guys I skinned for. They brought their coyotes in and I skinned and prepped them for market. When I went to auction with my hides I sold theirs along with mine and gave them half. Pretty god deal for them since all they had to do was drop them off at my place.

Most had 22 centerfires and while some of them had some bad exit wounds, the guys using their deer rifles (270, 30-06 and bigger) consistently had the worst damage regardless of the bullet.

Coyotes, despite being able to soak some amazing bullet energy, really are pretty fragile as far as their hide goes. It's pretty easy to do some significant damage with a 30 caliber bullet, even the FMJ's. The worst, consistently, was a friend's 270 with 130 grain bullets. I think they were factory Remington's but cannot remember for sure. He was an exceedingly avid coyote caller and brought me several coyotes a week. I was sure glad when he saved up enough for a 22-250. It saved me hours in hide sewing.

The heaviest and toughest bullets in most deer calibers (27 and up) seem to do slightly less damage than the standard weights for any given caliber. With that said, I've seen even the heavy bullets leave some big exit wounds when an off shoulder was struck. The 24 to 26 caliber bullets are just plain hard on coyotes regardless of the bullet weight out of most of the standard chamberings. I've never tried any of the wildcat 24, 25, or 26's based on the 222 or 223 cases. I suspect they would give minimal damage.

Mart

quote:

Originally posted by larrys:
As others have said, that is about par for the 30-06 and coyotes. That is an absolutely great bullet for most all hunting situations. It is tougher that the regular Gamekings and still super accurate in my rifles. My Highwall loves them, but I push them a little faster.

So far they shoot great out of my rifle. I've been thinking about maybe upping the powder charge a little to get them around 2800ish but ony if I didn't lose accuracy. What all have you killed with them and what were the results? What powder are you using? Just curious. Thanks
I like that there is 100 to the box instead of 50 and they aren't that expensive.

A coyote with anything is good.

Jarrod, I can honestly say in 06 I've never used anything but 180 gr in four decades of chasing after the main ingredient of venison chili. And I've never lost a deer. They nearly always travel only 18 inches farther, straight down. Two close friends have used only the 165 in recent years and neither has lost a deer either when we've been together. That's all in factory loads. In the "distant past" 165 grainers weren't something many used. The typical loads were either 150 (the soft point version of which didn't chamber right in one of my rifles) and 180. I like the extra heft and so use 180, and it's the "classic" 06 load.

You can't go wrong with any of these for deer or yokes if run at factory velocities. If kicked up beyond 2700 or 2800 then you're into an area that's really not 30-06. It's turned into a 300 H&H or 300 Win or whatever.

For coyotes I'd definitely go by what mart said above.

But if you can't easily sell the hides then it doesn't matter what you use. Use anything you like. On my list of things to do is to try a 22 Magnum lever gun on them - but I'd use my 450/.400 Nitro Express too if I got the chance. And a whole lot of coyotes also come off second best after an encounter with a shotgun...