Whats a good gun for coyotes??

[Andrew Dueck]

I live in Manitoba on a cow farm and we got tons of coyotes. The other morning my brother scared up 5 not 400 yards from our house in our bale yard! I've been using a Weatherby Vangaurd .270 win gun) its my cousins and I'm am looking for a good solid yote gun. I like the 22-250 but is it good for wind( which we have tons of). Another thing is I do some bear and deer hunting and so would it work to have a single gun battery to cover all these animals or should I get 2 guns?? I have thought of the .30.06 for which I can get factory ammo at 55 grain all the way up to 220 grain. What should i think of doing?? And as far as Brands and models what is a good budget rifle??

 

[westcliffe01]

3006 with a 55gr bullet ? The lightest I know of is a 110gr round nose from Hornady. But the wind drift on one of those would be worse than a 22-250.

My suggestion is a 243. The factory 243's will shoot up to the 95 gr SST. To shoot low drag high BC bullets for wind, you will need to go with a custom barrel. I have a 243 AI barrel, 26" 1:8 twist and I can shoot up to the 105gr Berger VLD's.

For a friend of mine, we just bought a Savage model 12 in 243 and a 6.5x47 Lapua match barrel. The day the rifle arrived, we swapped out the barrel and head spaced it ($30 for a go gauge). There is excellent Lapua brass for it, and also excellent 6.5mm bullets from a few different manufacturers.

Either the 6.5x47 or the 243 with an 8 twist barrel make a great multi purpose rifle. Factory rifles are more limited. The Savage rifles are much more economical for this kind of "tuning". This most recent case, the match barrel was $319, the factory stainless 26" fluted barrel will bring about $180 and we bought a NSS nut and ground recoil lug, which added $60. So $319-$180 + $60 = $199 out of pocket.

 

[Bullet bumper]

The one you have when you see a coyote . All jokes aside the 243W ( 6mm08) or for more wind bucking ability the 260 Rem. (6.5mm 08) , 6.5 x 55 Sw would be ok. A lot depends on how you want to shoot . Bigger cases and heavier bullets from a bi-pod. Maybe 6.5 -06 or 6.5 x 284

 

[tt35]

Westcliffe: I think he's referring to the sabot load with a 55grain .224 bullet. The load may not be able to hit a coyote past 100 yards however.

Andrew: I'm making an assumption from your post that you don't currently handload. If you aren't saving the hides, choose your deer and bear rifle and kill coyotes. Any of the standard calibers from .260 to .30-06 would make an easy shooting rifle. If you want to put up hides to sell, I'd recommend the .243. The Hornady 58 grain Superformance is a good fur load and there are quite a few decent deer/bear bullets available for it. A savage rifle is about as inexpensive as you can get and they usually shoot very well. If you are going to call coyotes, don't go over board on the scope power. I've missed far more coyotes due to too small a field of view than because of too little magnification.

 

[threejones]

Just for some flavor, I'll toss in the 25-06 as well. It spits a out pretty quick bullet. (I'm working on a Tikka T3 in 25-06, so I'm just pumped up on quarter bores right now) But the 243 is probably as good as a guy could do. Ammo everywhere, cheap(ish) most of the time, a wide selection of it too. Plus a used 243 always easy to come by at any pawn shop/gun store.

 

[wklman]

I don't know if ar rifles are legal in Canada but if they are I'd go with a ar-10 in 243. I've got a dpms lite hunter in 243 and love it as a dual purpose gun.

 

[RustyRick]

For my 2 cents worth - I'd dido the 243. Good all round caliber. But don't cheapen out on the scope. That's what makes the gun. I used to run the typical 3x9, but upgraded a lot of money on a 3x18. WOW I rarely used 9 power on the cheap scope but uses basically nothing but 18x on the good one.

 

[tt35]

VX-6, Rick? I put a 2-12X on my .243AI calling rifle. It's the cat's poop! (I mean, I love it.)

 

[DPO]

I have used the 243 for coyotes with 70gr. Nosler ballistic tip and was super impressed. Acouple kills past 600yds. But loaded 90 grainers for whitetails and it just wasnt enough. If i was looking for a gun for both yotes and deer sized animals i would use one of the 6.5s. My fav is 6.5-284 norma you can load light bullets or the 140s for bigger critters. Savage offers a couple diff rifles in in the 6.5-284 norma at a decent price. Easier to find factory ammo for the 260 though. I am now using a 22-250 for yotes shot one today at 400yds. It would have probally died from the first shot but i put a second one in him to end it faster.

 

[earlcurtis67]

If any one cartridge could run the gammet of coyote to bear it seems that a 30-06 could... if youre willing to reload. the Hodgen reloading page has the trusty 06 bullet weights ranging from the 110gn hdy sp, all the way to a 220gn hdy jrn. If reloading is not something you want to get into, then maybe you should consider two guns. Given the wind conditions you mentioned, the 243 will fill the coyote bill just fine, also rifles and ammo are plentifull and so is reloading supplys in case you decide to go that route later on. As for deer and larger game ( you mentioned bear) the 30-06 would be, in my opion a good choice. Like the 243, lots of bullet choices and weights to choose from. As far as a "budget rifle" look into savage, vanguard s-2, tika, theres a lot of good rifles out there in the 600ish range. Choosing a scope can be daunting what with all the choices out there. Try to choose one by the quality of glass and light transmission than by weather or not you can see a fly on a fence post at a mile. I will say that a mill dot reticle would come in handy in windy conditions. Do youre homework, there is a lot of info out there to help you along the way.......E

 

[RustyRick]

Yep - I'm almost embarrassed to admit I spent that kinda money, but amazed at how well I get along with it. I never crank it down of the 18x mark. It's so clear. I've decided you can't properly check out hand loads with anything less, because you can't see enough of your own movement to eliminate it.

 

[Andrew Dueck]

Thanks guys!!! I am very interested in reloading just not sure on were to begin when it comes to ALL the options!! There daunting!! Keep replying cause your being big helps!!!My current scope is just a plain jane Bushnell Elite!! 3x9 by 40!!

 

[Damol]

Since you are in Canada your gun prices wont be the same as ours, and you may not even be able to get some of what we can, but you might have choices we dont. We can toss around models and calibers all day
but if they are not avalible in your area then we have only wasted your time. Some good info in some of these posts but it will still be up to you to find out what is around your area. If we new what you could get it would help. So my advice is to look at what you can find that fits your price range, talk to some of the locals and come back here and post up what you find out. We would love to know what you end up with or help you pick out that perfect rifle.

 

[Danehunter]

CARTRIDGE: 6.5 CREEDMOOR OR 280 REM.

RIFLE: WEATHERBY VANGUARD

I just bought a Ruger American 22-250 for $365. from Sportsman's Warehouse just for coyote hunting in Nevada.

Low price but very high in quality of design ans accuracy.

-> 3 lug bolt (only 70 deg. lift)
-> innovative aluminum bedding block
-> hammer forged barrel
-> detachable 4 round rotary magazine
-> great adjustable trigger
-> tang safety & trigger blade safety
-> nice polymer stock & free strap on cheekrest/pouch