I just purchased a featherweight Model 70 classic in this caliber in the hopes of maybe shooting a coyote or two this winter. Anyone have any experience with this caliber on coyotes. Is it an easy caliber to reload?

Not the 223 WSSM, but the Featherweight is a good rifle. Mine, in 243 WSSM, shoots around 1 MOA out of the box with factory 100gr Power Points. The farmer whose place I regularly hunt on got one as well, and his shoots 0.4 MOA with the 55 gr Supreme load.
I don't see why your 223 shouldn't do as well. Unless, of course, he and I both just got fluke rifles that shoot well?
The one 223 WSSM I have seen is a Coyote, and shoots quite well, around .75 MOA with the 55gr (?) Supreme load.
As for reloading, the ammo is so cheap at the moment, it might just pay to stock up on what your rifle likes and worry about loading when you have 500 or so empties? But there is a lot of info out there, if you want to give it a go.

Best of luck with your hunt!

In my experience, the WSSMs aren't hard to reload and all would shoot sub MOA, but you may find that your reloads won't chamber. From experience, I found the RCBS shellholder (#43 I think) is too tall and won't allow full-length resizing to the point where you can bump the shoulder back a few thousandths. Without that capability, I found that on the 3rd (sometimes the 2nd) reload, the round was too long to chamber. I solved that problem by putting the shell holder on the belt sander and taking off about 15 thousandths. Now I can adjust the sizing die to just bump the shoulder and the reloads chamber just fine, like they should.

Another problem you will likely encounter is hard bolt lift after firing a round. Each and every WSSM I've worked up a load for had this problem, some to an extreme degree. Often had to take the rifle off the rest, put the buttstock between my legs, and use an inordinate amount of force to raise the bolt handle. The rifles have been examined by 2 different 'smiths and the reloads, fired brass and data also. Their conclusion: it's the nature of the beast. Was just talking to my local 'smith this morning and he commented that he doesn't think they are selling well based on the few requests he gets for ammo in those calibers.

My recommendation--get a .223 or .22-250.

Check out www.wssmzone.com for WSSM opinions and experience.

Jeff

The WSSM is not hard to load for, but people do run into the spring-back issue and the hard-bolt lift issue.

There are two ways to solve that, from what I can tell. Either anneal the necks and shoulder on the Win brass, or use the Fed brass instead.

The Win brass is so hard that even if the dies and the shell-holder are properly dimensioned, the brass springs back so much it stays oversized.

As far as shooting, mine's a match barrel, and very easy to make shoot. Nothing really over 1 inch, and not much under a half inch (which is about as good as I can drive.....). HTH, Dutch.