Hornetfan-- I have an aquaintance who shoots about 100 coyotes each fur season and he uses a Tactical 20 and 35 gr. Berger FB HP bullets. His most accurate load runs at 4,204 fps and he says this is the bullet he settled on after an awful lot of testing and feels it will do what he expects and not ruin hides in the process.

This 35 gr. bullet does not have a very high BC--only .191--so it is not a 300+ yard bullet by any means. He says the Berger 40 gr. BTHP at around 3,990 fps will put the coyotes down hard, but it does mess up the hides unless you are extrememly selective with your shots. I think the BC for that bullet is .239, but don't quote me on that.

I have a Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger and have the 35 gr. Berger loaded up for coyotes. My muzzle velocity with this bullet is 4,175 fps and I am getting 3-shot groups in the range of .462" all the way down to .269" I am using a compressed load of H4895 powder and Remington 7 1/2 primers. I have not had the opportunity to shoot a coyote with this load yet. I have my rifle sighted in for my 32 gr. V-Max handloads and haven't had a chance to go to the rifle range and get my scope adjusted for the 35 gr. Bergers. I have shot two coyotes with the 32 gr. V-Max and both shots were right around the 150 yard range with the coyotes looking at me. The first one was a 30 to 35 pound male and the bullet left a tiny entrance hole and no exit. The second coyote was a 20 pound male and the bullet entered his chest a little to the left of center and there was an exit wound, but it was very small. I think the exit wound was more bone chards exiting than bullet exit.

If most of your shots are at or under 100 yards, you may very well have a good recipe there with the reduced load. It is worth a try. You can always load up to higher velocities if it doesn't work well and see if more speed is the answer.

Try asking over at saubier.com forum, as several .20 cal shooters have already used a .20 extensively on varmints.