Light recoil rifle for coyotes and antelope?

I don't know of a Savage model that is not a good shooter. The choice is between a 24" barrel and a 26" barrel.

IIWM: 10/110 The Preditor Hunter Max 1 Savage Arms in 243.

All different types of factory ammo. All different ways to hand load.
Meets the weight and recoil parameters.
If it doesn't shoot, Savage will support it.

+1 I was thinking of that exact rifle.
 
They are hard to find but I bought a Wby Vanguard S2 in 6.5 Creedmoor last fall and I'm shooting steel at 500 yards with 120 Hornady AMAX. 3 shot groups are avg. 2.5 inches at 500! Ammo is all over the place on the web for around $21 a box. Basically no recoil and if you can see it you can zap it. :D
 
It's not a factory stock gun, but my Ruger M77 mk2, ER Shaw varmint barrel with JP Brake in 6.5 Creedmoor is right at 10lbs., has negligible recoil, and would wreck any coyote at the ranges you mentioned. I handload everything, but factory ammo is usually in stock at the places I buy my supplies. Several companies offer a similar product, although they don't all come with a brake as standard equipment. If you want to build the rifle yourself, grab any savage or stevens and make exactly what you like.
 
For antelope and coyotes out to 500+ we use 22-250's for the most part, killed piles of both! A 243 would be excellent as well! The Savage 10 Predator Max would be a solid platform.
 
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243 would be a great round. Lots of available factory ammo. If you wanted more energy then i might suggest the 308 but it wont be as flat shooting as the 243. My personal choice would be the 6.5 Creedmoor but ammo is not always available to some people. For a rifle choice Id look at the Savage lrp. I dont have any experience with it but I hear its a tack driver! That weighs in at 9.25 lbs and is chambered in both the 243 or 6.5cm.

I run the Savage LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor with a Vortex Viper 6x24 PST from 300-1000 yards in F Class. It is a tack driver. The HS Precision stock is fantastic. The only thing I lack is the wind reading ability to put me at the top of the winners podium.
 
If you want something with a heavy varmint barrel the Rem.SPS Varmint with 26" barrel in 243 will weigh under 12lbs with scope. Plenty of factory ammo from 55g to 100g bullets and you can build on it. A friend has a Savage Long range hunter in 25-06. Weighs 9lbs with scope. 87g, 100g, and 117g and 120g bullets. A 240 Weatherby is a lazer but expensive to shoot factory loads. 260, 7-08, 280 rem. 6-284,6.5-284 It is just so many choices. You will just have to weight out what you need in the way you hunt and what the factory ammo is available if you don't reload, in the bran of rifle you like. Good luck. I know I have pulled my hair out trying to deside what is the perfict rifle and cartridge. In time you just have to get one of each :D

BTDT with the Remington SPS Varmint in .243. Out of the box it shot 2.5 MOA with factory cheap ammo. Spent 6 months developing loads and modifying the rifle to get it to shoot. Stock replaced and bedded. Trigger replaced. Bore lapped. Recrowned. Was able to get it down to ~1 MOA with some loads. Sent a nasty letter to Remington about how I wanted to use this rifle to test the strength of the sphincter muscles. They told me to send it to them. I did. They sent it back saying the lapped the bore with a 100 yard test target. Their target, 1.5 MOA. That rifle went down the road the next day. Remington seems to have serious quality problems coupled with an "I don't give a ****" attitude. Don't go there unless the only varmints you'll be hunting are horses and asses at a limit of 200 yards.
 
BTDT with the Remington SPS Varmint in .243. Out of the box it shot 2.5 MOA with factory cheap ammo. Spent 6 months developing loads and modifying the rifle to get it to shoot. Stock replaced and bedded. Trigger replaced. Bore lapped. Recrowned. Was able to get it down to ~1 MOA with some loads. Sent a nasty letter to Remington about how I wanted to use this rifle to test the strength of the sphincter muscles. They told me to send it to them. I did. They sent it back saying the lapped the bore with a 100 yard test target. Their target, 1.5 MOA. That rifle went down the road the next day. Remington seems to have serious quality problems coupled with an "I don't give a ****" attitude. Don't go there unless the only varmints you'll be hunting are horses and asses at a limit of 200 yards.

I have the same story with a Savage that a friend has. It is a 308. It shot 4" groups. We put it in a Laminated Stock and pillow bedded it, Then Lapped the barrel and trying load after load with several differend brans of 150g,165g bullets and even 175 smk the best we can get it to do is 1.5 MOA. Everyone runs across a lemon every now and then. He bought another savage in 25-06 and it shoots good. I don't have a 243 but have a 308 SPS Varmint and it shoots 1/2 moa at 500yds. easy. I did bed it in a laminated stock but it shot so good with the cheep plastic stock and cheep factory 150 g Federal ammo. I did not reload for it untill I started shooting longrange.
 
As many others have said, I'd look at a 243. Lots factory ammo available. A Tikka would be a great choice of rifle.
 
If you don't absolutely have to have stainless: a .243 in the aforementioned Savage Predator Max 1, or the similar Sako A7 Varmint sold at Cabela's (24" fluted barrel, B&C stock, dbm; I have one). Or, how about buying a Howa stainless barreled (24") action and buying a good aftermarket stock?
Any of these should allow the purchase of a good quality scope also and still come in at under 2 grand.
 
243 for sure. The 100-105 {factory ammo} will hammer coyotes and goats. The new Legendary Arms Works with a $400 scope of your choice will work awesome. You don't need to step up to a 25 or 26 for your purposes. Good luck!
 
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