Lightest coyote rifle

If I was shooting them to discourage their presence in the neighbourhood, a .22 LR would be fine with me. I wouldn't be out on the prairie sniping at them, I'd be in a situation with them at a quite close range, 100 metres or usually much less. A big factor would be the reduced likelihood of through-and through penetration with the bullet going off to commit other damage. Of course I'd use the best bullets for accuracy from the gun, but try to use as high a velocity of expanding round I could. And come to think of it, why go high precision rifle, a good old 10/22 of course doesn't much care what you feed it and might even allow you to land a series of shots on a downed yote with no problem.
 
I pack a CZ 457 in 223 loaded with 52gr HPBT @ 3300 fps flattens them and rarely get an exit hole, the 53gr Vmax works good also but doesn't shoot as well as the 52gr HPBT in my gun, I shot a few coyotes while out in the pastures gopher shooting with my 17 hornet and the 20gr Zmax zombies it dose a nice job on them also and that little bullet never exits, sold the 17 hornet a few years ago to dinky to load for high volume shooting I went back to the 17 HMR for gophers
 
Marstar is bringing in some Dark Mountain Arms Stowaway rifles later this month(maybe early Dec.). $550-600, 2.8lb single shot bolt action chambered in 5.7x28. Might not be what you're after, but then again it might fit the bill for you.

I plan to buy one when they arrive, I think it'll be a fun gun to take small game hunting.
 
6.5x55swm said:
I walk a lot when I hunt coyotes and was looking for something with better range than a 22 mag, with a budget around $500 to $600 I know it's slim pickings, any suggestions
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Check with Denis at Intersurplus, he has several inexpensive Huskys and a Brno in .222 , under 6.5 pounds and under $600 I think.
Cat
 
Yeah Im good with them too. That and the model12s are pretty much the same thing.

I bought into them when I first started out cause it was easy to change out the barrels and everything else on them.
 
Unfortunately $500-$600 range these days doesnt get you sweet FA for new centerfire. Ruger American Ranch/Compact would probably be the best bang for your buck, and I think they run that $700 +/- new. No scope obviously.

Howa would be worth looking at. I think their actions are 10 folds nicer than a ruger american or saage axis. And they aren't stupid expensive.

Used the options open up a bit more. Theres a Tikka T3 22-250 with a cheaper bushnell scope on the EE for $875 which is fairly reasonable. You get a quality rifle with a scope for a little more than you'd like to spend BUT you get a rifle thats much nicer rifle that will last forever AND a scope. Basically buy a $600 rifle and throw a $200 scope on it at a store, add tax and theres your $875 and you have a "meh" rifle.

But if you're dead set on that $500 range, a savage 11 in 243, 223, 22-250 would be my pick. If you can find an older savage 11 with the real "blued" barrel, no accutrigger and metal mag release those are probably the best ones they made. I have one in 243 and other than the trigger being a bit heavy it shoots lights out and doesn't weigh a metric ton.
 
I've been using a Voere S16 ultralightweight bolt action rifle in .223 as my sole coyote rifle this year; I've gotten only 6 dogs with it since deer season ended, all at well under 200 yards. I'm liking it so far, even though it's so light that it makes hitting more difficult than a more traditional coyote gun. When I handle and shoot it side by side with a Ruger American Ranch it makes the Ruger feel like a heavy-barrel bench gun in comparison. :) Sadly, it's far beyond the targeted budget in this thread.

But...I'm kinda champing at the bit to try out one of those single-shot Stowaway rifles in 5.7x28 from Marstar when they come in. I have already pretty much proven to myself that there is definitely such a thing as "too light"...but those tiny little take-downs just seem so compelling...:) And they are slated to fit the budget!
 
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