Coyote hunting - 243 or 223

I asked myself that same question last year looking for a varmint caliber. I was looking between the .223, .243 and 22-250.

I went with a .243 because it was undoubtedly the best bang for the buck. (Although it will cause more pelt damage)
Bullet choices ranging from 50 grain to 100 grain. (Which also gives it more purpose IMO - Makes a great deer caliber)
Ballistics on the .243 are hard to argue with. You can really reach out and touch something, so it has the option of long range shooting.
Very flat-flying bullet and ammo is reasonably priced.
Speed is insane on this round! Stock bullets are fast. I have a machinist friend who rolls his own and he's getting 4000fps+ out of a 50 grain. SICKLY fast!!

Not to knock .223, 22-250 etc. They'll all work. I chose the .243 for the versatility.
 
Kudu said:
223 - 55gr vmax over 26.5gr of tac - and you are good to go all the way to 300mm

Bang / flops on most the dogs I have shot!
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I completely agree

223 is plenty for yotes and an easy shot out to 300 meters


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I use both... .223 when I don't expect shots over 250 yards and .243 if I expect longer shots or need to buck the wind. 55 grain in .223 and 75 grain in .243.
 
dugasgunner said:
.223 if you care about the pelt and .243 if you dont. BUT..... My top coyote caliber would be 25-06 cause i dont give a double f about the pelt...
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To be honest, I have not found the 75 VM'S at 3400 MV to mess up the pelts too bad... mind you, these are travelling at 2200-2500 fps at a 300-400 yard target.
 
hoytcanon said:
To be honest, I have not found the 75 VM'S at 3400 MV to mess up the pelts too bad... mind you, these are travelling at 2200-2500 fps at a 300-400 yard target.
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I hunt eastern Ontario as well and have used both 223 and 243. Hunting over bait the 223 is great but calling I use my 243 with 75 G VM's great round. Not sure we're you are but I have seen a lot of shots well over 300 yards and it's nice to have my 243, more so if the wind is up.
 
223 is an awesome little round. I use 60gr vmax.

If your not worried about pelts, you your deer rifle. 7mm rem mag drops them on the spot.
 
While it don't compare to the big fitty, (up above) I vote for 223 all day long.
We shoot the 223 out to 1000 yards and it works very well.
Of coarse we don't use 40 grain bullets, more like 69 or more.

The trick is to make sure that you buy a 223 with a barrel twist rate that is fast enough for heavier bullets.

Don't buy a 1:12 twist rate. You want at least a 1:9 or the best thing is a 1:7 twist.
The 223 with 1:7 is amazing with 69 grain bullets out past 300 yards. It does well out to about 600 really.

Also please note that the 1:7 twist will not generally give the best accuracy with light bullets. Some 223 rifles will get a bad rap for accuracy that happen to have a 1:7 twist, but it's only because they test the accuracy with cheap 55 grain bullets. The 1:7 shoots very accurately with the heavier rounds. Plus the extra spin makes the bullets explode better on impact. (unless you use FMJ or AP rounds)

To sum it all up when considering the 223, you should think of it like two different animals... slow twist animal is a little house pet - accurate with light bullets at close range and has little real killing energy at medium range. The 223 with a fast twist is a trophy wall hanger - and with heavy bullets acts like a bigger caliber, it works very well at extended range and can kill deer quite well. This is usually where the 300 win mag deer hunters jump all over me saying that you cant hunt deer with a 223, but just ignore that noise. They hear 223 and think of the 1:12 house pet version, that's all.
 
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More coyotes have fallen by .223 then probably all others combined. The .243 just does too much pelt damage and yeah its better in the wind but most predator callers dont call in heavy wind anyway and if you do its usually in heavy cover with close shots.
Also consider the cost of reloading components or loaded ammo. .223 is much much cheaper allowing you to shoot alot more. Brass is literally laying around at ranges I have shot in, I have over 1000 cases of Rem .223 brass Ive found at our range over the course of a few summers.
Last year heavy western coyotes were selling for over $100, dont wreck a good hide with a .243

Cheers!!
 
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