Been rackin my brains trying to figure out what to build for wolves but also coyote,s ,, The only spare action I have is a mag bolt face Ruger ..... What are some moderate velocity super accurate loads with fur friendly bullets for the 6.5 s ....

gumboot

Whatever calibre you choose, the best bullets for minimal pelt damage, would be a bonded bullet or an X bullet IMHO, baised on "stuff" I have shot.

Ya , I need to go to Gerard,s site and look over what he has ... ... I want a bullet that is super accurate but also doesn,t blow up ....

Barnes makes a 110 grain 0.264 banded solid that should be very fur friendly and accurate in what ever caliber you choose if legal to use.

Good luck,
Paul

I didn,t know that ,, Thank you ... I need to go to their site and check it out ..

Have you thought about a .257 WBY with a 90 grain banded solid at about 3800fps ? Shoots flat as a pancake!

This rifle will be a fur rifle .. so it will need to not blow a foxes hide all over the landscape ..... my target velocity is 2800-3000 fps ....With super accuracy ... I have thot about the 257 Whby , and the 25/ 06 ...... If I could find a varmit 25/06 Ruger Stainless mk 2 , I would probably use it ....... I am also considering a 6.5/06 AI as I have a standard action I could use ....

I shot a medium sized coyote with my 257 ackley roberts and an old style barnes 90 x bullet. It left a fist sized hole on exit. Solids are not legal here in AZ, so I've never tried any.

I guess it depends on how "fur friendly" you're looking to be? Personally, I would pass on the magnum idea and go with something else. Unless you're good at stitching holes, which I have always been terrible at.

How about saving that action for something else (like a sheep rifle) and getting something more reasonable to start with.

For sheep I would use my 9.3x64 Brenneke ... or my 416 Rem mag .... The problem with a fur rifle is it is usually blowing and small fast bullets are affected by the wind ..... I think that by keeping the velocity moderate I should do pretty good with a streamlined bullet ....... I have even thot about a 243 and the 270 , but I think 6.5 dia is pretty ideal ... The 142 gr Sierra match king has a ballistic coefficient of .59 .. Thats pretty impressive .....

Even at 3000 fps a solid will ruin hides if it hits and shatters bone. 2500-2700 starting velocity might be better.

Lapua makes a couple of FMJ 6.5 match bullets including a "cutting edge" bullet for cutting round holes in paper. The edge is hell on tissue, too. But if Gerard makes a flatpoint solid, that would be my choice.

Well I just got amazed ., [ not too hard really ] Ruger lists the 264 Win Mag in a couple different rifles this fall on their web site .. Imagine that ,,, A stainless Ruger 264 .... ....But Not a 260 to be found anywhere in any rifle on their site ..... Lots of 7/08 , but no 6.5/08 s ... Oh Well guess I,ll have to build one .....

Maybe try reduced loads with SR-4759 in the 6.5? If your shots aren't too long (say, 200 or less yards) that may work.

Or, and this may sound strange, but try using the 9.3 or the .416, with solids if legal in your jurisdiction. Expansion and high velocity cavitation is the enemy of fur more than energy. With a non-expanding bullet or one that doesn't expand much, you may well do less damage to the fur than with a screamer like a 6.5 Mag.

Solids suck...
They are great for exactly what they were designed for and that is for wounding.
Plan to lose 1/3 of all the animals that you shoot which with an expanding bullet would have been laying within 50 feet.
Solids suck...

What kind of fur friendly bullet for a 264 mag?? no such thing.
It is like asking what color of makeup would make Hillary hot..
Ain't happening.

But the best that you can do is to load a very tough expanding bullet and hope for the best.
Most all bonded bullets should give you no more than a golf ball to a tennis ball sized exit wound.
Just stay away from the off shoulder shots or spine hits and you should be fine, but a spine hit will most likely seperate the front half from the back half and no amount of sewing will put it back together again.

Did I forget to mention that solids suck??

As I understand what you want, it is this:

1. A flat (enough) trajectory
2. Small entrance wound
3. Reliable killer
4, Little or no exit hole

To me, those things also require
A. Relatively good ballistic coefficient
B. Either no tumbling within the animal, or reliable, but limited, expansion
C. Good accuracy
D. Limited penetration

Taking all that into account, I do believe I'd consider something more like a .17/.221 Remington with 25 gr. or heavier bonded core bullets, or perhaps a .204 Ruger with round-nosed solids (even if I had to have them made).

Another alternative would be a much slower moving larger bullet, such as a 156 gr, RN 6.5 bullet at about 2,200 to 2,250 fps. The same actual rather than advertised ballistics which made the original 15.7" barreled 6.5 M/S such a good killer.

... For the time being I am going to try 55 gr Hornady FMJ BT in 22 out of a 223 Rem and 110 gr Banded Solids from the 260 rem and possible a banded solid in the 6mm ......... When I can I want to try some GS SP,s in the 6.5 and 6 mm

well all that I can say is that just because they run off when you shoot like you have missed, well it sure does not mean that you have missed.
Go for bone.

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
... For the time being I am going to try 55 gr Hornady FMJ BT in 22 out of a 223 Rem and 110 gr Banded Solids from the 260 rem and possible a banded solid in the 6mm ......... When I can I want to try some GS SP,s in the 6.5 and 6 mm

Sounds like reasonable choices to me. Probably the most important thing will be to adjust your velocities as your experience indicates will work best, as you go along using them. It is easy to get too fast velocities and still whack big rips in the far side...it is something that seems bred into us these days by the shooting press emphasis on high velocities. Sells guns, you know...

If your loads are nicely accurate, I doubt you will have too many of them running off. That occurance is more a function of bullet placement (or lack thereof) in my experience.

I agree with the comment go for bone...more precisely, the high side of the shoulder joint, where a hit will shatter the shoulder. If a little high it will take out the spine. Again, though you have to keep velocity down, or you'll have exiting bone fragments ripping pelts.

One caveat - Boatailed and/or long pointy nosed bullets tend to tumble on impact. Combined with too high velocity, that may tear hell out of the skin at the exit point even if the bullet jacket does not rupture or expand at all. In a large animal, tumbling might cause the bullet to stay within the animal, but likely not in small animals.

... I appreciate all the replies .. I am going to try the 62 gr Speer and 65 gr Sierra Spitzer Boat tail soft points . In the 223 , but I don,t know if the 12 inch twist will stabilize them ... As I understand it , Gerard thinks the GS SP bullets may well turn base first then continue penetrating base first , due to the center of gravity of those particular bullets .......... I,m planning on picking up a 22 mag revolver for the fox and coyote that get real close when called .....No doubt I will try some 53 gr TSX bullets in the 223 .... It would be nice if they made a 55 gr Sirocco , or AccuBond in 22 caliber...

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
I,m planning on picking up a 22 mag revolver for the fox and coyote that get real close when called .....

I did exactly that, and still have it.

The one caution I would give is not to buy one with too long a barrel for field convenience. I made the mistake of buying an 8-3/8" barreled S&W, and dearly wish I had bought a 6", or better yet, a 4" instead. Trying to use that long barreled "hog" out in the field is like trying to shoot a rifle one-handed. It can be done but it sure ain't convenient for me.

Mine is even worse because it has a scope on it. I would take off the scope, but the guy I bought it from had already removed the rear iron sight and replaced it with the scope. So, without the scope it would have no rear sight until I managed to get another somewhere.

If I ever get another .22 WMR handgun, I not only am gonna get a shorter barrel, I am going to avoid a scope on it like I would the plague.

I bought into the "accuracy" approach last time. Next time I'm gonna stick with "useful".