.303 for Wolf/Coyote: Help.

ciphery said:
If useing surplus ammo for FMJ hunting the MK VII bullet is designed to yaw on inpact creating a large wound channel.....this may mean that it comes out the backside of your animal sideways, but it should not just poke a little hole and pass through creating a wounded animal.

Muskyhunter1 , wouldn't a headshot destroy the skull for a taxidermist?
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A FMJ with a long pointed nose will swap ends provided it has enough target depth to penetrate. A .30 caliber FMJ will not swap ends in a fox.

 
Wow, lots of mixed opinions. Heavy bullets at low velocity or a FMJ.. not gunna lie, little worried about trying either and I don't just won't pick one and see what happens. Is there an inexpensive way to test fire different rounds to compare exist wounds?
 
I'd stick with FMJ. The least pelt damage is generally done by using a solid or a very fragile bullet which won't exit, the latter one will be very difficult to achieve in the 303.

Your biggest problem may be finding a wolf to shoot, I'd worry about that more than which bullet to use.
 
Learning to sew and actually finding wolf are both valid points. But up until that point, I'd like the peace of mind that I'm not going to be punching a football sized hole through the animal.

With all considerations I'm going to do some more research online and locally. Thanks for the pointers everyone.
 
I take it that by looking at different bullet weights, that you are a reloader. I shoot the Bullet Barn 180 grain bullets out of my 303. You have to buy a Neck expander die from Lyman. My best velocity seems to be seems to be about 2100 with 35.0 gr of IMR 4895. I also use Trailboss for plinking.

The rifle was designed for the 174 grain FMJ bullet and I get spectacular results with the Sierra 174 FMJ. You can get 180 gr round nose bullets, but I'm not a fan of those. The Sierra 150's perform very close to a 308 when loaded up and are pretty flat shooting with 4895. The rifles sights are a little too generous for that little bullet Shot a small deer with that one, and no exit wound from cavity. I load up my rifle with them all the time. I also will use my rifle as a bush gun with the 180's. The 303 is good for just about any N. American game animal...so don't worry. A wolf can be a pretty hefty critter with larger rib bones, so I would not be too light in that department either.
 
bearkilr said:
Your biggest problem may be finding a wolf to shoot, I'd worry about that more than which bullet to use.
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Ya gotta come here to Alberta. Just yesterday, a rancher complained to me about a pack of wolves which moved onto hi land. They are reducing his cattle herd one animal a week, or so he says. Gotta go get rid of them for him. Predation = Pest = use most effective killing bullet.
 
sobo4303 said:
Ya gotta come here to Alberta. Just yesterday, a rancher complained to me about a pack of wolves which moved onto hi land. They are reducing his cattle herd one animal a week, or so he says. Gotta go get rid of them for him. Predation = Pest = use most effective killing bullet.
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Thanks, but I've got plenty here, believe me. Just giving some advice to the OP. Very few hunters that target wolves are actually successful. Most get shot while deer/moose/elk hunting and most often they're not easy to get a shot at when you do happen to encounter one as it usually comes as a surprise.
I'd say close to 90% of the ones I've shot are chance encounters. I usually manage to get a few every winter, but that's after covering a lot of ground for many days throughout the winter months. Coyotes are a different story, they're easy.
 
I have not actually loaded a 7.62 fmj into a 303 yet, but I have been involved in modifying a fmj in the 7.62x39. What we did was make a "tool/guide to put the bullet in, slightly shave the tip of the FMJ and then slightly drill a "hollow point" into it. Great results as the core did a pass through with a tiny exit, while the jacket separated and shredded violently and was an instant kill. This was on a coyote, would imagine a similar effect on a wolf. These rounds stayed quite accurate, so I would launch these around 2300 fps seeing as how you are loading anyways at this point, see what kind of accuracy it gives you. I had these doing about an inch and a half in the custom Mauser that was used. Plenty accurate enough out to 250 yards.
 
Just so we don't get off topic here I'm looking for ammunition that won't blast massive holes through a wolf, I'd like to keep the pelt. It seems to be a tough question though cause it's not the popular caliber for such game.
 
I've been with a friend who shot a wolf with his .303, 150gr SP I think, it actually made a clean tiny entrance and exit. I wouldn't count on that everytime. I have a photo of the exit wound on one of my wolves shot with a .308, ballistic twin pf your .303 and it's not that bad either, will see about digging it up.


milspek said:
Just so we don't get off topic here I'm looking for ammunition that won't blast massive holes through a wolf, I'd like to keep the pelt. It seems to be a tough question though cause it's not the popular caliber for such game.
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Up here it's all people use, normal hunting rifles, .308, .303, .30-06, .300 & .338 etc. Just that if you go out purposely hunting wolves, you're likely in for great disappointment. I've hunted them a lot and the only way is to be out for something else and come across them generally. At least in the West.

I'd load Barnes TSXs or Banded Solids if legal and have at er. The TSX is one tough bullet and won't make a mess, I've shot lots of smaller game with them.
 
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