The Perfect Coyote Rifle - 2
Fur Loads , in the February 2011 edition of Long Range Hunting magazine.)
The Hodgdon load data looked promising for the Hodgdon Superformance powder. A can was already sitting on the shelf so it got the nod. I had Lapua cases fireformed for my LR rig as well as Federal 210 primers. We were ready to load.
Using the load data for the 6mm Remington cartridge as starting point, we worked up a load settling on 52.5 grains of Superformance that produced a five shot group of 0.688". A "proving" group of 0.624" confirmed the results.
At this point we ran into the first real snag of the project. The fired case length became an issue and headspace came into question. We sent the rifle to Cody Farr of Cody's Custom Guns in Ogden, Utah. After measurements were made, they determined the headspace was over maximum by around 12 thousandths of an inch. Ben's mentor did not have a No-Go gauge for the caliber and Cody thought that the method they used to set the headspace may have been affected by some galling of the rear of the bolt lugs, causing it to feel as if the bolt was camming tight when it wasn't. Cody and my friend Kevin Hodson reset the barrel to the correct headspace and cleaned up the bolt lugs. They also threaded the muzzle and installed a flash hider with Quick Detach threads for a suppressor. Interestingly, the rifle shot virtually identical with the adjusted headspace and flash hider as it had previously.
We later worked up a "Contest Load" using 87 grain V-max bullets. A load of 47.0 grains of Hodgdon 4831SC sent the 87 grain Hornady V-max bullets into a five shot group of 0.617". The lethality of the 87 grain V-max on coyotes leaves little to be desired!
The Hodgdon load data looked promising for the Hodgdon Superformance powder. A can was already sitting on the shelf so it got the nod. I had Lapua cases fireformed for my LR rig as well as Federal 210 primers. We were ready to load.
Using the load data for the 6mm Remington cartridge as starting point, we worked up a load settling on 52.5 grains of Superformance that produced a five shot group of 0.688". A "proving" group of 0.624" confirmed the results.
At this point we ran into the first real snag of the project. The fired case length became an issue and headspace came into question. We sent the rifle to Cody Farr of Cody's Custom Guns in Ogden, Utah. After measurements were made, they determined the headspace was over maximum by around 12 thousandths of an inch. Ben's mentor did not have a No-Go gauge for the caliber and Cody thought that the method they used to set the headspace may have been affected by some galling of the rear of the bolt lugs, causing it to feel as if the bolt was camming tight when it wasn't. Cody and my friend Kevin Hodson reset the barrel to the correct headspace and cleaned up the bolt lugs. They also threaded the muzzle and installed a flash hider with Quick Detach threads for a suppressor. Interestingly, the rifle shot virtually identical with the adjusted headspace and flash hider as it had previously.
We later worked up a "Contest Load" using 87 grain V-max bullets. A load of 47.0 grains of Hodgdon 4831SC sent the 87 grain Hornady V-max bullets into a five shot group of 0.617". The lethality of the 87 grain V-max on coyotes leaves little to be desired!
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