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Coyote Hunting - From 10 Yards to over 1,000 Yards
.204 Ruger for Coyotes, what is your opinion?
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<blockquote data-quote="nicholasjohn" data-source="post: 1880334" data-attributes="member: 109113"><p>The frontal chest shot can be troublesome because of the animal's anatomy, regardless of the animal being shot - coyotes, deer, elk, etc. The front of the rib cage is shaped a lot like the bow of a ship, and bullets often glance off and slide along the first couple of ribs without penetrating into the boiler room. This has been a problem for me for decades, especially when rattling in deer. </p><p></p><p>I have shot a couple of bucks right in the front of the chest, and had them turn to run. Luckily, another one in the back end of the rib cage ranged forward into the chest cavity, and I got the animals. After doing a post-mortem, I found that the bullets from the first shot had followed the rib cage rearward, slipping between the shoulders and ribs, doing no damage whatsoever to any internal organs or plumbing. If I hadn't shot again, I would definitely have lost those animals. They were not going to die from the first shot. <em>ANY</em> animals coming to a call are going to present this same shot much of the time, and I would expect the same results.</p><p></p><p>What to do about it ? I have had somewhat better results on rattled-in bucks, both blacktails & whitetails, by using hard and heavy-for-caliber bullets. I probably haven't done enough of this to call it conclusive, but when I shot 150- to 200-pound deer with the 30-06 and 180-grain monolithic bullets, they got inside the rib cage and killed the animals right now. They also penetrated the entire animal and exited. Obviously, this would be un-sat with coyotes, because they are going to completely trash the pelt. In the effort to avoid having an exit wound, most guys stay away from long & heavy bullets. </p><p></p><p>That leaves another option, which is waiting for the animal to turn more nearly broadside. Doing this will often lead to not getting any shot at all on a sneaky predator. They don't hang around very long in my experience. I think that the better choice would be to use a slightly heavier bullet in a 20 or 22 centerfire cartridge ( or one that is somewhat more stoutly constructed ) and see if maybe it won't penetrate full-length and exit a coyote. There are probably guys on this forum who can recommend a bullet weight or design, but the question will still be what happens when the animal is broadside and an exit wound is a lot more likely. Quite possibly one of the monolithic bullets that is designed to have the front end fragment and the shank remain intact would do the trick. The Hammer looks to be that kind of design, and they are available in these small diameters. With them, the exit may be no larger than the entry. Are two small holes in the pelt much worse than one ?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="nicholasjohn, post: 1880334, member: 109113"] The frontal chest shot can be troublesome because of the animal's anatomy, regardless of the animal being shot - coyotes, deer, elk, etc. The front of the rib cage is shaped a lot like the bow of a ship, and bullets often glance off and slide along the first couple of ribs without penetrating into the boiler room. This has been a problem for me for decades, especially when rattling in deer. I have shot a couple of bucks right in the front of the chest, and had them turn to run. Luckily, another one in the back end of the rib cage ranged forward into the chest cavity, and I got the animals. After doing a post-mortem, I found that the bullets from the first shot had followed the rib cage rearward, slipping between the shoulders and ribs, doing no damage whatsoever to any internal organs or plumbing. If I hadn't shot again, I would definitely have lost those animals. They were not going to die from the first shot. [I]ANY[/I] animals coming to a call are going to present this same shot much of the time, and I would expect the same results. What to do about it ? I have had somewhat better results on rattled-in bucks, both blacktails & whitetails, by using hard and heavy-for-caliber bullets. I probably haven't done enough of this to call it conclusive, but when I shot 150- to 200-pound deer with the 30-06 and 180-grain monolithic bullets, they got inside the rib cage and killed the animals right now. They also penetrated the entire animal and exited. Obviously, this would be un-sat with coyotes, because they are going to completely trash the pelt. In the effort to avoid having an exit wound, most guys stay away from long & heavy bullets. That leaves another option, which is waiting for the animal to turn more nearly broadside. Doing this will often lead to not getting any shot at all on a sneaky predator. They don't hang around very long in my experience. I think that the better choice would be to use a slightly heavier bullet in a 20 or 22 centerfire cartridge ( or one that is somewhat more stoutly constructed ) and see if maybe it won't penetrate full-length and exit a coyote. There are probably guys on this forum who can recommend a bullet weight or design, but the question will still be what happens when the animal is broadside and an exit wound is a lot more likely. Quite possibly one of the monolithic bullets that is designed to have the front end fragment and the shank remain intact would do the trick. The Hammer looks to be that kind of design, and they are available in these small diameters. With them, the exit may be no larger than the entry. Are two small holes in the pelt much worse than one ? [/QUOTE]
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Coyote Hunting - From 10 Yards to over 1,000 Yards
.204 Ruger for Coyotes, what is your opinion?
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