the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
^^^ This!
coyote caliber
- Thread starter taz1977
- Start date
^^^ This!
1/4 mile?
Given that you're not reloading yet, I'd say go with the .223. It's all you need at all realistic ranges (I'll define that as out to about 300-ish in good hands under typical hunting conditions) and the ammo choices are almost endless. you're bound to find a premium bullet/hunting load your gun likes and can buy bulk/cheap stuff to get in lots of practice. Once the bug gets you and you think about reloading, the .204 really does impress with 35 or 40gr. Bergers. 
cdn1canhunt
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- southwestern ontario
My opinion if you want to save coyote pelts trap them. If you want to hunt coyotes.....kill em dead go .243.... Thor's hammer! And a decent deer round to boot!
.223 is cheap to shoot and effective, 22-250 pretty well reins top dog in the coyote hunting world. IMO the 204 isn't really a calibre for the windy prairies. As far as .243 goes, I've never used one but I've heard it's hit or miss for being fur friendly, apparently it can get a bit explosive?
Adrian J Hare
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- NewLowell On. Can.
Can't say its the best, but will say that A Hell Of A Lot Of Yotes have fell to my Rem. 243
I know some fellas (204 shooters) in the prairies who would take issue with that. Not to mention what the actual numbers show.
There's some more numbers, the .204 won't do what the 22-250 will. Plain and simple.
I think you have made a wise choice. In my experience the 204 gives up nothing to the 22-250 and with the right loads is far more fur friendly. I have cleanly killed coyotes out to 450+ yds with my 204 on more than a few occasions. I also have one bait pile set at exactly 300yds from the approach I check it from and if no coyotes are there I will shoot a magpie if they stay there. I only ever allow the width of the magpie for wind if it is really blowing hard and I hit a fair share of them. Make sure you get a 223 with at least a 9 twist barrel and again you will not give up any thing in terms of real performance to the 22-250 if you can shoot a heavy enough bullet well.
I don't check baits if the wind is blowing over 40-50 Km/hr. waste of time as nothing is moving anyhow and even if they are there I don't want to walk out and get them. Do I hit the magpie everytime, no, but I do hit close enough that if it was a coyote I'm shooting at it would be dead. I also don't go out calling coyotes if the wind is blowing that hard so bullet drift is not a concern then either.
So a bigger and heavier 55 gr bullet pushed by considerably more powder manages to achieve 1.6 inches less drop and 2.6 inches less drift at 400 yards. Nothing unusual there. Were these numbers supposed to make an impression?
Heh, I think you seriously overestimate the evil intentions of math. The chart is from AccurateShooter.com (6mmbr.com), a reputable website, btw. It was obviously a comparison of bullet weights that were similar across the three cartridges, and helps debunk the myth that the 204 Ruger is somehow exceptionally susceptible to wind. If someone wanted to make the 22-250 look bad, they would compare it to 243 Win. And so on ...
Really?
