I am wanting to load up some ammo for coyotes in my 25-06, which is a ruger MK II. I am considering the Sierra 90gr HPBT with an appropriate charge of H4831sc. Mostly wanting a flat shooting round for varmint control, but will the salvage the hide if possible. Any thoughts? Thanks.

save hides? with a .25-06?

yikes.

well...how good are you with a needle and thread lol...

i shoot an 87 grain speer tnt out of mine. have not shot anything with it yet. still working up a load. VERY accurate.

I don't care anything about saving hides, but having said that my 25-06 is pretty hard on them no matter what I shoot.

My buddies and I USED to shoot the 85 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. It performed much like a good hunting bullet and killed coyotes like lightning but did not tear up the hides. Then a few years ago Nosler decided to improve it and made the jacket thinner and enlarged the hollow point behind the ballistic tip.

I have seen the current version fail to get inside a coyote when they are shot on the shoulder. I have also seen it tear a coyote nearly in half when shot in the lungs. No more of those bullets for me. Seriously, I shot two coyotes the same morning that I had to shoot again because the 85 BT blew up on the shoulder and did not penetrate to the vitals.

I switched to the 75 grain V-Max and have been much happier. They perform great on coyotes and marmots, etc. They are hard on hides, but it is a 25-06 after all.

Due to stupid laws here in CA I am currently working on a load for the 80 grain TTSX that I hope will be good on coyotes. We cannot shoot lead bullets in most of the areas I hunt. I have gotten good groups with the 80 TTSX and velocities of 3600 fps. I just have not had the opportunity to try it on coyotes as of yet.

FYI! With a Ruger .257 Varmint circa 1972 the Sierra 90 grain HP BT hit a coyote at 30 yds. It did a cartwheel straight up, the bullet kicked up dirt on the far side and the coyote came down running balls to the wall. He was still going strong the last glimpse we got; a long way out. Kinda chalked that one up as a rare experience but I never shot another animal with that bullet. roger

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I have seen the current version fail to get inside a coyote when they are shot on the shoulder.

Really? I find that hard to believe.

I have loaded 75v-max and other85-90gr bullets for the 25-06 and what they say about bieing good with a needle and thread is true.With the price drop on hides i no longer skin them.Good Luck

I push a 75 grain V-Max at 3700 fps out of my 25 wssm. Excellent!

Dr D: I shot two coyotes on the same morning that had total bullet failures with the 85 grain Ballistic Tip. I was amazed, a 50 grain BT from my 22-250 would have done much better.

Both coyotes were shot while eating on dead calves. Both times I snuck within 200 or so yards, layed down with the bipod and whacked them right on the shoulder. Both coyotes went to squalling like hell and spinning around in circles. I had to shoot both of them again, this time in the head to put an end to it. Neither of those bullets got inside the vitals, just blew huge surface wounds on the outside.

And I have seen coyotes shot with the 85 grain BT that were cut damned near in half when hit in the ribcage. No more of those bullets for me. (Though I did like what they did to rock chucks, man, what a show.)

Like I said in my original post, that 85 grain BT used to be a hell of a bullet. My buddies and I shot coyotes, deer, wild hogs, all kinds of stuff with them. They are now worthless except for very small varmints.

I am not knocking Ballistic Tips, I think they are fine bullets in general, but you can easily push them past their limits. A friend once loaded some 200 grain BT's in his 338-378 Wby Mag. He had the same problem. When started out at 3500 fps they just surface blew on wild hogs, he had a hell of a time killing them. The same bullets in my .338 Win Mag started out at 3000 fps are great on hogs, I have shot several and was pleased with the performance.

I've got to agree on the .25-'06 and the Nosler 85 BT tearing coyotes nearly in half when hit about the liver. I load 53.0 grains of IMR 4350 for nearly 3500 fps out of a custom 26" barreled 700 Remington. When I've got a coyote that's working the calving pastures, that's what he runs into. Hellacious hide damage!

try the hornady 100 grain spire point. i use it on groundhogs and deer to good effect. coyotes are in the middle of those two, so i bet you would be good to go. i run it over a pile of rl-22.

R Flowers,

Okay, I've not used the 85 grain BTs in my .25-06. I exclusively use the 100 grainers and they usually leave a fist sized, or larger, exit hole, but they alway exit on coyotes.

They of course are a big game bullet and I believe hold together in .25 cal better than the larger diameters, even at extreme velocities.

The only varmint BTs I have used are 40 grainers from my .223 and they haven't been as frangible as I'd like. They don't have near the "red mist" factor of say, the H V-Max, or SX. I use them on prairie dogs only because my rifle likes them so well. I just couldn't get the V-Maxes to shoot good enough to suit me.

I have shot a few coyotes and a bunch of rockchucks with the old 75 grain Hornaday SXs in another .25-06 and they turned them completely wrong side out.

I guess I assumed the 85 grainer would hold together better than that.

I may have to load some up and see what they do to groundhogs.

I think I would try Speer's 87 grain SP. I get good accuracy with them in 257's, and 250 Savages, but never tried them in my 25-06.
I read that they are good killers, but I have no experience with killing anything with that bullet.
I've dedicated my 25-06 to the 25 caliber heavy weight's; 115 grains and heavier.

I have shot coyotes for over 20 years with a .25-06Rem. I use 100 grain Ballistic tips and 100 grain Match Kings. Hide condition is not important to me. Some blow up good and some barely hurt the hide. None of them have ran off.

If you are shooting in flat country the 100 grain bullets carry better energy and shoot flater way out.

Be careful with the 75 grain V-Max I pushed some just hard enough to have them disintegrate 50 yards out of the muzzle. When the velocity hit 3720 they blew up in mid air.

49.7 grains of VARGET and the 75 grain VMax will be a coyotes worst nightmare when it connects...............uh, no nightmare!! Not enough time to think, "What happened?!!" The old Speer 100 grain HP will work pretty darn good also. It'll blow them to hell and back!! Too bad Winchester doesn't offer their 90 grain P.E.P. bullets as reloading componets anymore! They were outstanding in their field! The 87 grain Remington P.L.H.P. is another "verminator" bullet also. Get back to me if you want the load. I'm in the office and not in the reloading room so I can't quote exact figures. GHD

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
I think I would try Speer's 87 grain SP. I get good accuracy with them in 257's, and 250 Savages, but never tried them in my 25-06.
I read that they are good killers, but I have no experience with killing anything with that bullet.
I've dedicated my 25-06 to the 25 caliber heavy weight's; 115 grains and heavier.

In the Mid south bullet comments there are a number of shooters that like the performance of the TNT 87 gr in their 25-06 rifles, I have a big box of these and when I can walk again I will give them a try in my new Tikka Stainless laminate. FS

quote:

Originally posted by Fasteel:

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
I think I would try Speer's 87 grain SP. I get good accuracy with them in 257's, and 250 Savages, but never tried them in my 25-06.
I read that they are good killers, but I have no experience with killing anything with that bullet.
I've dedicated my 25-06 to the 25 caliber heavy weight's; 115 grains and heavier.

In the Mid south bullet comments there are a number of shooters that like the performance of the TNT 87 gr in their 25-06 rifles, I have a big box of these and when I can walk again I will give them a try in my new Tikka Stainless laminate. FS

Fasteel,

The 87 grain TNT is actually more accurate than the SP, but not enough to preclude it's use (The SP) from killing Coyotes. I suggested it as I think it's a better killer than the TNT, but maybe not???
Both of those Speer bullets shoot in every one of the 25 caliber rifles I have, eight of them.

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:

quote:

Originally posted by Fasteel:

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
I think I would try Speer's 87 grain SP. I get good accuracy with them in 257's, and 250 Savages, but never tried them in my 25-06.
I read that they are good killers, but I have no experience with killing anything with that bullet.
I've dedicated my 25-06 to the 25 caliber heavy weight's; 115 grains and heavier.

In the Mid south bullet comments there are a number of shooters that like the performance of the TNT 87 gr in their 25-06 rifles, I have a big box of these and when I can walk again I will give them a try in my new Tikka Stainless laminate. FS

Fasteel,

The 87 grain TNT is actually more accurate than the SP, but not enogh to preclude it's use (The SP) from killing Coyotes. I suggested it as I think it's a better killer than the TNT, but maybe not???
Both of those Speer bullets shoot in every one of the 25 caliber rifles I have, eight of them.

DMB this is great to hear I don't have 8 but I do have a 250,257AI,257B and 25-06, so I'm sure that somehow I'll get through that 750 piece value pack. FS

I have used the Sierra 75gr Blitz kings with pretty good results on coyote when I used my 25-06. Since I have my .204 Ruger my 25-06 doesn't see much coyote action anymore. I have also used the 100gr game king and pro hunter as well. The gameking with it's heavier jacket did far less damage than the pro hunter did but they both killed coyote. The 75gr is devastating on prairie dogs as well.

Thanks to all for your inputs. Definitly have some ideas for different loads to try.

john113wyo-Coyotes working the calving pasture. Thats what I'm after as well. We have trouble with them bothering our pairs. Don't like them stressing the new moms and their calves.

60.5 grains of RL 19 and 75 grain v maxes works great for me. I'm shooting a custom .25-06; 700 left handed action, shilen barrel, fajen laminate stock, and a leo VX 3 4.5-14. 1/2 moa on a good day, when I do my part. Sometimes this tears em up and sometimes it doesn't. On frontals, it usually doesn't exit. But broadside shots are sometimes a mess. If i want to save fur, I just use my big game load, 48.5 grains IMR 4350 and either 120 grain partitions or 117 grain hornady SPBT. Just goes in and out at any angle, at any sane range. Works for me!
Dawg

26" barrel Sav 112 + Nos 80gr BT + 54.5gr RL17 =
3500fps and 5/16" @ 100yds. A through shot would
probably be ugly, though.