Savage 11 XP .223 Coyote Load
- Thread starter iduncant
- Start date
Well, I've been hunting for coyotes but have yet to shoot one. Until now...the unfired rounds have been factory Hornady 55gr. V-Max. 
Now that I'm reloading, the best accuracy has also been from 55gr. V-Max in front of 25gr. of Varget, CCI BR-4 primers. I shoot a Savage Precision 10 Carbine, BTW. A close second was the Hornady 60gr. V-Max in front of 27gr. of Varget. 60gr. Hornady HPs shot terribly, no matter what the charge. My barrel is a 1:9", what's yours?
As an aside, were you using a rear bag when sighting-in? A solid front rest? @ 100 yards? That rifle should easily be able to get them in a 1" sq., but tough if you don't have a sold rest front/back.
Now that I'm reloading, the best accuracy has also been from 55gr. V-Max in front of 25gr. of Varget, CCI BR-4 primers. I shoot a Savage Precision 10 Carbine, BTW. A close second was the Hornady 60gr. V-Max in front of 27gr. of Varget. 60gr. Hornady HPs shot terribly, no matter what the charge. My barrel is a 1:9", what's yours?As an aside, were you using a rear bag when sighting-in? A solid front rest? @ 100 yards? That rifle should easily be able to get them in a 1" sq., but tough if you don't have a sold rest front/back.
I was not using a rear rest, I had the bipod up front but the back was just against my shoulder. Also I didn't have any gloves and my cold fingers weren't helping anything either.
Also that barrel is a 1in9 as well. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the 69gr match bullets at the range, since I think that's the heaviest#1:9 will take. Good luck with the coyote, I hope you bag one soon. A lot of places are having serious problems with coyote I hear.
I've seen those 53's around. I like the boat tail as well, something I wish the 55's had. I will have to give them a shot and see how they work for me.
I will definitely, also I will try to get a report on the 55's this Sunday. Me and my brother are going to get some groups out at 200 and see how we are doing.
Hornady 9th Edition lists 24.9 grains of Varget as Max for the 60 grain bullets... that is not to say that your gun can't handle 27 grains... because the Hornady manual is more conservative than most... but be sure to "work up." You are new so make sure to double check online advice with actual data and don't start your load at max. 27 grains of Varget is likely going to be a compressed load, I am borderline compressed at 26.5... and if your gun has a short throat you could experience higher than normal pressure... lately we have been working with CFE-223, and it is proving to be excellent... start at 24.5 and work up to 27.5 with a 55 grain load... watch for the usual signs of pressure and play with seating depth... if I was starting out from scratch it would be with CFE-223 and the 55 V-Max. Good shooting.
Thanks for the tip.
I'll get a range report up after the weekend on the following
55gr Hornady FMJ - 24gr Benchmark
55gr V-Max - 24gr Benchmark
55gr Hornady FMJ - 23.3 H322
All shot out of the 24" Savage 11
got a lot of shooting to do this weekend!
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hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
I use mostly 53gr vmax infron of 25.7gr of varget.
I tried out the cfe223 yesterday with the 53gr vmax. It shot about the same size groups as with varget but took 28grains to do it. I didnt have the chrony out so Im not sure how fast they were. It seemed pretty dirty though.
I tried out the cfe223 yesterday with the 53gr vmax. It shot about the same size groups as with varget but took 28grains to do it. I didnt have the chrony out so Im not sure how fast they were. It seemed pretty dirty though.
We are getting 100+ fps more than Varget with equivalent loads and slightly better accuracy... we have not noticed that CFE-223 is any dirtier than Varget or H4895... really like the powder... and have gone through two pounds testing it so far... I am prepared to say that it is my current favorite in both .223 and .308... the jury is still out on .243 and 7mm-08.
hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
Guess I have some shooting to do lol
Hodgdon data lists 27.0grs of Varget as max for a 60gr bullet. Its a compressed load.
As to the OP. I use 60gr V-Max, 26.5gr Varget, CCI BR-4 primers, COL 2.250". Groups under an inch at 100 in my Stevens 200. Im sure I could tweak it more but I haven't gotten around to further load development. I just worked up to 26.5gr in .5gr increments and stopped when I had groups under an inch.
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hometownhero
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Toon Town, Sk
My 60gr berger fb varmint load is 27gr varget col 2.392"
