Hand loading for PGW Coyote.

E

EC

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I was going to post this in the reloading forum but thought it would be more appropriate here as there are several guys here shooting the Coyote. Looking at a friend's rifle, he only shoots factory match and doesn't handload so he wasn't much help...

The magazine doesn't allow much in terms of coal, not much past 2.810" by eyeballing it so it appears you are restricted to a pretty short coal making the selection of good projectiles limited unless you single feed. Guys are obviously happy with the performance of their rifles and I would assume the majority are handloading so for example anyone shooting a 185 class bullets and getting good results or are the majority shooting lighter bullets like 168's 175's etc.

My point after all that is the magazine length a limiting factor when handloading for this rifle? Any input is appreciated. I have shot the Coyote several times but only with factory match ammunition. I am considering purchasing a Coyote and would like some feedback from guys already shooting them, especially with handloads.
 
I have been testing my Coyote like crazy the last month or so. I have tried 175gr SMK, 175gr Bergers Bt Long Range, 185gr Berger OTM and Hornaday 208gr BTHP and A-Max. For powder I used Varget, IMR 4166 and IMR 8208 XBR. The 175gr SMK I seated them to mag length. I was seating them at 2.850" I believe. For the 185gr OTM, I seated them at mag length as well. I don't remember what depth I used off the top of my head. As for the 175gr Long Range and 208's I seated those past mag length, 0.020" off the lands. The reason why I did that was those bullets were going to be my long range load.

All my group testing was performed at 200 yards and I found the best groups that shot out of my rifle were 175gr SMK and 175gr BT Long Range using IMR 8208 XBR. The other bullets grouped okay. If I remember correctly, the powder that shot best for the 185's was Varget and for the 208's it was IMR 4166.

I hope that helps.
 
My Coyote is in 7 WSM and I shoot 180 gr SMKs. They are obviously a long bullet but I load them to mag length, It took a while to find the right bullet/powder/charge combination but once I found it, life was good. It shoots in the .3-.4 range consistently while mag feeding.

I find it ridiculous to have a tac rifle that you have to single feed, just doesn't work for me. Find your max. functional cartridge length and tune your other variables to make it shoot.
 
shooting varget and imr 4064...both great...currently shooting 178 Hornady amax and bthp..41 g 4064, 2.817..2540 fps..win brass...tack driver...1000 yards no prob
 
i'd have to look at the actual grain but i think 45 or 46 of varget with a 155gAMAX puts all the rounds in the mag into the same hole with great consistency
i will try other bullets some time but i had multiple hundreds of the AMAX when i bought the rifle
they are loaded to fit in the mag and feed consistently
 
The issue is fitting to the chamber.

The first step it to find out the seating depth for each different bullet, and many of them will be very close to each other. Best accuracy comes with the bullet seated at or into the lands whereas jumping may or may not be accurate. Compare accuracy with mag length and throat length and see if there is a difference. The Hornady OAL gauge works well for measuring this.

Some cartridges like the 6.5x47 Lapua are really great because you can seat bullets way out and they will still run through the mag on a short action. Same idea with a 6.5x55 in a long action. One surprise I had recently was when I was checking the OAL on a K31 and discovered that jammed into the lands it was much shorter than mag length, this with the 168 Sierra.

The other question is how much accuracy do you need? Even if mag length is not as good will it still do the job? If you want the best accuracy you may need to single load.
 
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