Just a note from our experience last night about long distance Coyote shooting with a .223. We heard a couple of coyotes barking just as the sun was starting to set and walked over a small ridge to see one walking up the far hill. At 576 lazered yards I took a shot with a Remington Varmint .223 shooting a 40g Nosler BT under RL-7 at 3925fps. There was "no flipping or floping, just droppin'" upon impact. An average size coyote upon inspection.

nice shot, my longest is only 320 yards

quote:

Originally posted by bkluke10x:
nice shot, my longest is only 320 yards

There's no doubt in my mind that it was a lucky shot. I found it most interesting that the .223 would be that effective at that long distance.

GOOD shot!!!!

Don

Teancum...

Nice shot! Luck or not..

And you just proved it would be effective...

my longest shot on a coyote was at 725 yds... but I don't brag a lot on that one....It was more the coyotes BAD luck than my good luck..

we have a rock at the far end up a mountain side on our local range...

I had about 6 rounds left after going to shoot one day, so I put 4 off and hit that rock at 725 yds, so I was dialed in....

Was starting to put my stuff away, and out by the same rock, comes this coyote out of the brush, and stands next to it, and just looks around... he stands there for afew moments...

So I sat down at the bench and chambered one of my last two rounds.. as he started to trot off to the right... I was trying to lead him, when he finally stops again...

I put the cross hairs on him and pull the trigger... He starts spinning around and biting his ass...

I chamber the last round, put the cross hairs on him and pull the trigger.. this time he goes flipping over backwards, and you see him kick a few times... and then all stops...

I was using a 243 with an 80 grain Winchester SP, handloads of course...

I don't think I was such a hero, as much as it was the coyotes bad luck to stand next to a rock that someone had zeroed in on... and at that distance, I am sure he never even knew where the shot was coming from...or what was happening....

You must have hit his CNS. Good shot. Did you adjust your scope or just hold over?

very good shot congrats!!!!early morning til about 9.30 am and then early evening about 6.00 pm til dark is always some of the best shooting ,varmit or target,the 223 is a great round but the wind can sure play around with a person. my best varmit shot was holding high about 3.5 feet and 3feet right for windage, the colorado wind was a blowing about 17 mph,range was 450 yds took two p-dogs then stoped shooting,with no wind before dark the same rifle shot a 3/4 inch 5 shot group at 400 yards. rifle 223 mountain/eagle limited edition. heck for each coyote you shoot i'd bet you''d save 6 yearling deer if not a few more. regards

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
Just a note from our experience last night about long distance Coyote shooting with a .223. We heard a couple of coyotes barking just as the sun was starting to set and walked over a small ridge to see one walking up the far hill. At 576 lazered yards I took a shot with a Remington Varmint .223 shooting a 40g Nosler BT under RL-7 at 3925fps. There was "no flipping or floping, just droppin'" upon impact. An average size coyote upon inspection.

I didn't read where you hit the critter? CNS of some sort I am guessing.

By and large the 223 is a very poor choice for one who is gonna hunt for yotes in a serious manner. At least it is in the country and the ranges in which we can take dogs.

Mark D

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Dobrenski:

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
Just a note from our experience last night about long distance Coyote shooting with a .223. We heard a couple of coyotes barking just as the sun was starting to set and walked over a small ridge to see one walking up the far hill. At 576 lazered yards I took a shot with a Remington Varmint .223 shooting a 40g Nosler BT under RL-7 at 3925fps. There was "no flipping or floping, just droppin'" upon impact. An average size coyote upon inspection.

I didn't read where you hit the critter? CNS of some sort I am guessing.

By and large the 223 is a very poor choice for one who is gonna hunt for yotes in a serious manner. At least it is in the country and the ranges in which we can take dogs.

Mark D

The hole was in the spine back a few inches from the shoulder. While my scope is set up for adjustments we were mainly hunting jack rabbits and did not have time to adjust the scope before he would have gone over the hill. It seems with these hot summer days the late evenings is when all the critters come out for the last few moments of daylight like jjmp stated.

Mark -

While we have a full compliment of varmint getters, ie. .223, 22-250, .243 the .223 was what I was holding when we saw the coyote. I guess that I disagree with your statement about the .223 for serious use on varmints as evidenced by the above story. This is one of many longer shots that we ( my sons and I) have made on coyotes and my relating this story was not to draw the acclaim for a long shot but to put out the performance of a high velocity .223 at longer ranges being adequate in this situation as well as in many other situations that we have done. I don't know maybe in Montana you are shooting them beyond 576 yards?

quote:

maybe in Montana you are shooting them beyond 576 yards?

Heck in most of Montana, it is further than 576 yds down the driveway just to get to the Mail box!!!

That's why I take my .223 Remington VS to Africa. Loaded with 60 grain Nosler Partitions it's deadly on pygmy antelope and small plains game. LDK

My go to fur getter last season was a .223 AI AR. I was shooting the 65 JLK Low Drag @ 3050. My scope for this rig is the PFI 3-9X 32mm Rapid Reticle designed for the 22 LR trajectory that i adapted for the load i was using. Got a couple 400-500 yd. coyotes with this rig, and it worked just fine. 500 is the limit for me with this rig/bullet though. That's just my own personal limit tho. Nice long shot sir--congrats.

Teancum

After you roll a few more dogs at ranges over 200yds. with your 223 and other then brain & spine shots report back and let us know your opinion of small case 22s on dogs. Pedro

quote:

Originally posted by Pedro in Idaho:
Teancum

After you roll a few more dogs at ranges over 200yds. with your 223 and other then brain & spine shots report back and let us know your opinion of small case 22s on dogs. Pedro

UPDATE:

My son and I went back out again twice since this episode and had some good luck. We found a freshly cut hayfield that has been a good source for coyotes for us in the past with the freshly chewed up mice from the cutting. My son spotted a nice large male coyote at about 285 yards that seemed more intent on mousing than on our truck pulling up. My son took the shot and there was the satifying sound of impact, kind of like the watermelon hitting the sidewalk, and he tipped over stiff legged and kicked for a couple of seconds. He was hit dead square in the ribs and didn't move more than 5-10 yards in his flopping. The next night we also went out and tried a quick shot at about 250 yards and missed that one and the next three as he was running faster than any coyote I had seen in a long time. Hind feet over his ears!!

Opinion still stands that a high velocity .223,40 g, 3900fps+ is adequate for long range coyote shooting. Will keep you posted on future hunts. Just my honest opinion.

I shoot mainly the 223 because it is always in the truck and it does an decent job, but sometimes they run just a little farther than I like before they expire. So the moral of the story is the 22/243 Middlested or something in 6mm is much more effective.

teancum,
what is the difference between the 40gr Nosler BT and the 40gr V-max preformance wise?

is one more explosive than the other?

i am not worried about either one coming apart as i will be using a 1 in 14 twist .223.

quote:

Originally posted by steven g:
teancum,
what is the difference between the 40gr Nosler BT and the 40gr V-max preformance wise?

is one more explosive than the other?

i am not worried about either one coming apart as i will be using a 1 in 14 twist .223.

I have very limited experience with the V-Max, maybe 10-15 rounds fired only. My experience was that the Nosler BT was just more accurate in my rifles than the other bullets I tried. None of the my experience with the V-Max was on varmints if that helps you with the performance on critters part. I have just heard the that V-Max is a little more explosive but would give way to those with more in the field experience. I just found a noticeable difference in the group size with the Nosler and they seem to get the job done on the varmints as well. Try some of each and let us know your experience.

thanks for the reply,

well, i looked at the 2 in a reloading maunal.

the 40gr Nolser BT has a slightly better B.C. than the 40gr Hornady V-Max. .221 to .200.
i don't know if that's a big deal out to 300 yards, but past it, it may make a diff.
they both have the same S.D. at .114.
one things for sure, the Nolsers are quite a bit more expensive, so for now, i'll use the vmax.
for close range coyotes i would use the 40gr vmax (texas coyotes aren't that massive), for real far range (300+), i'll just use my .22-250 with the 55gr vamx, not because it's the ONLY way i could kill the thing, but because of the less hold over.

i would like to share a couple of experiences on killing coyotes:

recently, i killed a coyote at a lazered 360 yards using the factory Win usa 45gr jhp out of my .223. i aimed real high and hit her low behind the shoulder, she ran off on a dead run for about 60 yards and crumbled. i had 6 witnesses watching me (we were all on a porch)and after the shot, they all said, ha, you missed until they saw the coyote crumble, then words like wow and i'll be dammed, etc were heard. great fun right there!!

then there was another time a few years back i was deer hunting in a blind with my wife (pretty cool that i could say that) she spotted a coyote way down the road, i had my 7mm mag with Hornady 139gr interlocks for deer. i lazered the yote at 297 yards, no problem, the 7mm mag drops about 6" at that distance. i aimed high on his back and shot, he ran off, i told my wife, oh well, small target anyway, no biggie.
when we were leaving in the truck, i told my wife to look for blood on the road where he was standing. she noticed some, a lot in fact. i tracked the coyote (easiest tracking job ever) he ran an amazing 80 yards after being shot with my 7mm mag!! he was hit right in the lungs and the entrance hole was the size of a golf ball and the exit hole was the size of a baseball, no lie, it's on video. my wife could barely stand it to tape me holding him up and showing the holes. obviously, that was one of my most all time favorite hunts as i remember it so well.

so, some times it does not take much to kill a yote and other times they can be tuff SOBs. so they main thing to do is to hit 'em where it counts.

On the average the Nosler BTip is a stiffer bullet then a Hornady VMax. A shot that is qiute often presented when calling dogs is the quartering shot facing toward the shooter. Hiting the front shoulder is almost a given. And a goingaway quartering you have to punch thur some of the gutts. or hit a rib. or alittle back and get the hip. The thin-skinned bullets are not the best choices. Check out some of the predator calling boards about this.

Another though, which would you rather get "runover" by a Honda 4 wheeler or A Petebuild semi?

Back in the 60s and early 70s I did alot of competive calling in the Calif. & Ariz. predator clubs. Guys didn't care much for chasing coyotes all over the desert on club hunts. To a man guns started with 22/250-55gr. bullets and went up. A friend that was visiting up here in Idaho said even today the president of the Phoenix chapter uses a 308 Win. with 110gr. hps. as his stopper.

Pedro in Idaho, how about using cast bullets for sound dog at 200 yards. They never knew what hit them. One nice small hole in and nothing coming out.

Awesome, one less song-dog, practice makes perfect. I love those nosler BTs as well. Good shooting