I've used 75 gr Hornady HPs in my 243 on coyotes and it tore up the pelt pretty good. Similar results with 55 gr bullets in the 22-250. The 50 gr Hornady SX bullets in a 222 or 223 work good with minimal pelt damage but you give up some range. Curious to hear if anyone has used the 40 gr V Max or the 36 gr Varmint Grenade in a 22-250 on coyotes. Or has anyone used the 58 and 65 gr V Maxs in a 243 on coyotes ? Do these bullets stay inside ? or do they rip up the pelts?? Would appreciate comments from anyone who has used them. Thanks

Never shot a coyote with the 40 VMaxs but shooting decent sized eastern groundhogs with a 222 Mag pushing the 40 VMAXS at 3400-3450 an exit wound is pretty much non-existant. Just goes in and don't come out! Sometimes finding the entry is hard to do! GHD

here's what a Varmint Grenade out of a 223 with a charge of about 10 grains of Blue Dot did to a pop canned sized sage rat at roughly 125 yds..

the sage rat was on all 4s and facing when Seafire Jr shot it, after dad located it for him..

You might try a 55gr Sierra Game King BTHP in your 22-250. Most of the time they won't exit a coyote

I have used 55 gr. sierra sp bt with IMR 4895 for years in 22-250 with ok results on coyotes I started using a 243 win. with 70 gr.nosler balistic tip quite often there is no exit hole or verry minimal exit damage the bullett jacket must be just right for coyotes even broad side shots it slams them to the ground so far this year 4 coyotes 2 fox 1 wolf kind of slow but no snow 243 win 43 gr. varget 70 gr noslerbal.tip

Have not used v-maxes, but can answer on the VG. We loaded some for the boys in .243 and also I tried them in both the .223 and .22-250 in 36gr.
I wasn't the least bit impressed with the 36gr in either caliber. The don't exit if hit just right but they do exit sometimes even broadside and blow a HOLE with the .22-250. Out of the .223 they were not as effective for quick kills, but didn't exit.
My son shot a coyote with his .243 & 60gr VG pretty close but made a poor shot first, followed by quite a comotion. The result was messy.

If you are trying to have minimal pelt damage there are some great options but also trade offs. In the .223 I have found that traditionally the best bullet was the Speer 52gr HP with the larger opening. It stays together at high velocity and usually won't exit. I loaded some of the new Nosler copper BT but have not taken any yotes with one yet. In the .223 ths SX works great from a slow twixt barrel but if you push it to fast or out of a fast twist barrel they come apart in flight. I've had mixed results with Nosler BT's but the lighter ones seem to damage less fur.

The trade off is that the best fur load for close shots doesn't carry as well at long range, and vice-versa.

The one surprise for me was the Hornady 75gr HP out of my .257 Roberts. I was pushing them at max book and they didn't exit on coyotes. I've taken two Bobcats with it. One was nice with no exit, one left an exit hole. Nate

We have a son who took a bobcat at fairly close range with a high stepper 22-250 loaded with 55g Nosler BT's and it did exit but with a very small hole.

He is a trapper and was satisfied with the size of the hole and it's impact on the pelt price.

I guess I should put some bullet weights in my post.

The 40gr BT hasn't been bad but in windy conditions out past 250 yards it gets blown around. It has been better on fur than the 50 which was better for us than the 55gr. In fact I think the worst damaged pelts we've seen were from the 55gr BT. We have taken enough that I would recommend the lighter ones, but the few we took that turned out ok with the 55's were outnumbered probably three to one by the ones with bigger holes.

In the .22-250 I am going to try the 40gr Copper from Nosler, just cause the 40gr BT did well. Nate

One I have heard very good results from but have not tried on coyotes was the 60gr Nos Partition and the Win PP I believe in 62gr? or 64? but they are going through but not supposed to be leaving quite the hole. Wouldn't want to try them during the best part of the year until I tried them off season.

I have shot quite a few eastern coyotes using 40 gr. V-Max at 3,300 fps out of my .223. I have never had a bad exit wound when I get one at all. The same load is a little less fur friendly on red and grey fox (I'm batting about 50/50 fur damage), so I try to bring my 17 Fireball in areas where both are a possibility.