30 caliber coyote rifle

[Bowhunter57]

I want to purchase a 30 caliber rifle for coyote hunting. Accuracy and speed are the main criteria that I want in a rifle...in that order. Accuracy out to 400 yards and speed for light weight bullets with good fragmentation. Brand-wise, I prefer Savage rifles...however, I may have to choose another brand due to available calibers.

A few caliber thoughts are .308, 300 Weatherby, 300 H&H, .30-06 and 300 SAUM.
Bullet availability is good in 30 caliber, which is another reason for this caliber choice.

If you have another caliber with good bullet availability and selection, please suggest your caliber.

Thank you, Bowhunter57

 

[SavageShtr]

How about the 300wsm? A little faster than the 300 saum and you can get it in a savage. A .308 win will do all you need to 400 yards with the lighter offerings. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Bowhunter57]

How about the 300wsm? A little faster than the 300 saum and you can get it in a savage. A .308 win will do all you need to 400 yards with the lighter offerings.

SavageShtr,
You are correct, sir. I had not looked at the reloading specs for the 300wsm, but it is considerably faster than the .308. I'm curious as to the recoil differences between the two cartridges.

Bowhunter57

 

[7magmike]

If your wanting a savage I would recommend the savage 111 long range hunter, you can get it in all these calibers
25-06 REM
260 REM
300 WIN MAG
300 WSM
308 WIN
338 LAPUA MAG
6.5 CREEDMOOR
6.5 x 284 NORMA
7MM REM MAG

If you looking for a realy flat round check out the 7mm rum, its a very flat shooting round, I have one and it will realy reach out there and knock about anything over.

 

[SavageShtr]

If you stick with the lighter pills its going to be marginal. The heavies will rock ya though. You could always put a break on it!

 

[westcliffe01]

The lightest 308 bullets are in the 110gr range and have a terrible BC for shooting to 400 yards. However a 100, 105 or even a 95 grain bullet in a 243 is a different story. If you want to up the ante you could go to a 6.5x55 and shoot 120's of 130's. But with a 308, you would need to go up to 175 or 185gr or 155's at a minimum and when you compare the 6 or 6.5 will still be better into the wind = less uncertainty of making at hit at long range. Hunting conditions are seldom perfect, in fact that is rather the exception than the rule.

I have a 308 and have been developing loads with 175SMK's and 185 VLD's but the purpose of that exercise is to develop skill in shooting a heavier recoiling rifle. The 6mm and 6.5mm cartridges are substantially superior ballistics wise and much easier to shoot. If your doing this as a method to hone your skill for shooting other game in winter with the same rifle, that may not be a bad idea. But to do it specifically for coyotes is not using the best tool for the job.

 

[liltank]

Tell what, I agree with Savageshtr. He has the right idea. I read an article where a guy built a 300WSM using the 125 Nosler ballistic tip. He was able to shoot accurately to 1k on groundhogs. Now he had a 1:14 twist barrel. But with a 1:10 twist you'll be able to drive that bullet to 3800fps easy and recoil should be comfortable. If you want a comp style bullet, then I suggest the 135smk.

Tank

 

[Bowhunter57]

westcliffe01,
I used to own a Remington 788, in .308. I reloaded some 110gr. Hornady V-Max bullets for it with some IMR-3031, that gave me a 3040 f.p.s. average and a 3 shot "clover leaf" group at 100 yards. I never tested it past that distance, so I have no idea of it's longer range abilities. However, I killed my share of groundhogs inside that distance and it ruined their day, every time.

I'm wanting to stay with lighter weight bullets and speed, so that I get good fragmentation, due to the "flatter than a road killed squirrel" area where I live.

Bowhunter57

 

[westcliffe01]

So when you choose a car for going fast on the highway, do you take a F250 truck (30 cal) or the Corvette ?

This

vs

Sorry, diameter is not representative

If you want to shoot a 110gr bullet fast, then shoot it out a 6 or 6.5mm barrel.

If you try to shoot the same weight bullet out a 7.62 barrel, you just increased the drag through the cross sectional area and then still more because the bullet is so squat shaped (to keep the weight down) as opposed to a 110VLD.

You can do what you like, but ballistically it will be a poorly performing combo.

As you go up in bore size, the bullet weight and amount of powder needed to try to mimic the same trajectory go up drastically. Basically, you need to be in magnum territory shooting 165gr+ weight bullets to be effective. Cost increases drastically for everything (brass bullets powder).

Now my initial plan was to shoot an 8x57 (I actually had a custom match barrel on order for 14 weeks which never saw the light of day) and I was going to shoot Yugo M75 sniper ammo with 196gr boat tail bullets.

Even at 60c/round it was not going to bankrupt me. Then Newtown happened, then the barrel just never showed up, finally I swapped the gun for a Savage 308 and started over.

 

[roninflag]

Bow- the rifle is more important than the cartridge. i would get a savage 12 lrp. or similar........... inter esting. we have a this thread - shooting coyotes with a 300 mag and another thread where you tell how far to kill an elk with a .243. having shot over 250 coyotes and guided guys to 40 elk some how we got things reversed.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Why would you want a .308 caliber to shoot coyotes with when there are much more efficient smaller calibers to do so...

For example...
.257 Roberts
.257 Roberts AI
25-06
25-06 AI
257 Weatherby
6.5-284 Norma
6.5x257 Wby Improved
6mm Rem
22-250
.220 Swift
.17 Rem Fireball
.257 STW

I've even taken my .17 HMR before.

The list goes on. Yotes aren't hard to kill with smaller bullets. For everything from whitetail bucks (inside of 500 yards) to coyotes (out to 1,000), I take my Weatherby Accumark chambered in .257 Wby Mag with me, when we go up to my buddy's farm. He's got some long powerlines to look down on his property, so sometimes I take the 7mmSTW, or 7mm RemMag for those long-range shots, if I'm gonna be hunting a powerline.

 

[xdeano]

Ive shot a few with a 308 win using 155grn lapuas at ~2900fps and they do an excellent job. Theyll take coyotes just as far as you can. I actually liked shooting the 308 but ive switched up to a 6mm and 105s because theyre faster and have a better bc.
Xdeano

 

[roninflag]

MUdRunner- i have a 6.5-284 sendero. just wondering how you like the 257 accumark??

 

[MudRunner2005]

MUdRunner- i have a 6.5-284 sendero. just wondering how you like the 257 accumark??

Man, I bet that's a shooter! Is it the older blued finish sendero, an SF, or SFII?

I love the .257 Accumark. I've had it since late 2008. I had to buy something after my main deer rifle got stolen, so I decided to buy that. I got a smokin deal on it, too. I used to know the owner of a store pretty well, he passed away last year from his cancer coming back, and he always would cut me good deals on new guns, so I didn't mind the drive up there. What I spent in fuel was significantly less than the discounts I received.

Anyway, back to the gun... Yeah, it has been an excellent rifle. It's a little too hefty to stalk-hunt with, b/c it weighs about 12-15 lbs with that big Zeiss Conquest 3-12x56 30mm on top of it (I need to put a lighter scope with more magnification on it). That thing is a laser gun. Ultra-flat trajectory out to 500 yards. I was mainly shooting the 110 Accubonds out of it, but now have some 115 Berger VLD's I'll be shooting.

I highly recommend that rifle & caliber to anyone who is interested in the 1/4 bores. Especially those who want one for deer hunting out to 500 yards (even though the caliber itself is capable out to 1,000). If I know there's a possibility of a shot beyond 500, I'll break out the 7mm STW with the big heavies (180 Berger VLD's) out of the safe and dust 'er off.