Coyote loads for MPBR vs dial/holdover.

[longrangehunter]

Last month I missed the opportunity to take one of two coyotes ranging to dial or knowing where to hold, Mil based reticle, rather then just shoot the damn thing.

Which got me thinking about going back to Maximum Point Blank Range for a 4” kill zone. So I got out my .223 Remington 700 Mil-Spec to see how far out a 100 yard zero would get me?

My Shooter App was just about spot on for the drop at 250 yards, (-6.2”) w/a .25” high 100 yards zero. Which was confirmed today.

This would be basically identical even with a high BC Bullet from my 25x47 Lapua shooting a 133 Elite Hunter going roughly the same speed!

It’s not about BC in this instance, but rather lots of speed just like back in the days of the past to achieve a 3”-4” kill zone. Both would require a 2.75” high 100 yard zero to maintain a 4” window out to 300 yards. Thus allowing you to just hold center of your reticle on a Coyote and still slip the bullet into the vitals without any dialing or holding over.

Now beyond that it would require you to hold over or dial the known distance, but it might help not raising your arms up to range and then get on your gun which might mean the difference between getting a shot or not!?!

This is what got me to wanting to build a 25/7 PRC in the first place, and avoid having to range and dial below 300 yards.

This was why the 22-250, 220 Swift, and now the .22GT, and .22 Creedmoor are playing the field at this game. Point and shoot.

But yes, I certainly could have just held the reticle on his back line and pulled the trigger, but I was waiting to get a precise shot off instead.

This is where BDC reticles are handy as long as you’ve mapped out your kill zone area out in front of you and your mental memory is still there….. Hand drawn diagrams are useful in case your sitting there long enough. Movement should always be at a minimum and why I like having my rifle mounted to a tripod in front of me.

We’ll see if this helps, and I think it will if I can do my part on calling in a Coyote.

Thanks in advance for reading this, and good luck with your own endeavors whatever they may be.

 

[longrangehunter]

I reshot the target at 250 yards again after seeing what 6/10ths of a Mil would do at 100 yards which was just about 2.25” high, so I reduced it to .5 Mrad and was able to stay within the 4” window at 250, which would be just about 1.875” high at 100, but I did not confirm that.

Here’s 250 holding dead on center mass. No adjustments for wind or spin drift.


I will test out a Berger 135 LRHT with a BC of .650 out of my 25x47 going 2,850 which is nearly identical to the 73 grain Berger BT from which I shot this test. Just to prove my point that BC has little to do with MPBR Models for hunting.

My property has more timber than open fields and a 250 yard no hold over should work well for Coyote/Wolf hunting.

I might add that I could easily hold a 1/2 Mil high and accomplish the same thing with out dialing anything.

 

[salmonchaser]

Sometimes old school is just better. What really got my attention was a 25/7prc!

 

[Guy Miner]

I haven't slain any great number of coyotes over the years. Some. Farthest was about 420 yards with my deer load from the 25-06, a 115 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3150 fps. Zeroed the 6x scope (simple duplex crosshairs) at 300 yards.


I don't recall missing any coyotes with this setup, though I did refuse to shoot at a couple that just didn't give me a good shot opportunity. The one at 420 yards was heading uphill, away from me, and paused. I held on his nose and the bullet dropped right into his chest, dropping him on the spot. Simple setup, the flat trajectory did him in. Faster, flatter shooting loads would do even better at this. I like using my favorite deer rifle and load for coyote shooting. Keeps me familiar with things. In recent years I've branched out too much with too many different cartridges, scopes, rifles and loads. That's why I treasure my pair of Remigtons in 30-06 and 25-06 even more. I keep 'em set up just the way I like them in case I just need to grab a rifle and go shoot something.

Regards, Guy

 

[longrangehunter]

Sometimes old school is just better. What really got my attention was a 25/7prc!

I have most of the parts, waiting on the stock to be made, and a magnum bolt from Jim Borden. A good friend of mine put one together last year and was a outstandingly accurate rifle at 1,200 yards with the ELDX bullets going a little over 3,200 fps from a 22" bbl using VV N570.

I went with a 24" CF Benchmark because I don't really want to use the 5 series VV powders? I have N560 just is case the N160, N165, H1000, Retumbo, combos don't pan out? Oh, I plan on using more traditional hunting bullets in the 25/7 PRC i.e. 115 BT, 115/120 Partition, or something else but nothing that Hornady makes I can assure you of that.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

For Coyote Hunting I like 1 1/2inch high at 100 yards, if I am thinking red Fox 1 inch high is perfect. Bob Hagel wrote about sighting like this years ago and I just followed his advice.

 

[longrangehunter]

For Coyote Hunting I like 1 1/2inch high at 100 yards, if I am thinking red Fox 1 inch high is perfect. Bob Hagel wrote about sighting like this years ago and I just followed his advice.

Rather than readjusting my zero I just added .5 Mrad/Mil to the scope which I was able to hit a 3.5” circle holding dead on at 250 yards as seen in the picture.

It’s super simple to just adjust the poi to achieve MBR impact at X distance depending upon how far away you want to go.

 

[longrangehunter]

I shot thus ten round group at 250 W/O adding anything to the scope adjustment. It was shooting a half inch high at 100 yards.

I wish I had not walked out after shooting 3 rounds, I didn’t want to find out the tall grass was effecting my POI. Which I don’t think they were, but I went to finish shooting it and it wasn’t as good as the first 3.

They all were basically 6” low. Not bad for a 10x scope and a factory rifle with hand loads.

 

[Ridge_Runner]

sight in 2.5" high at 100, the extra 2" amounts to 5" at 250 yards,, then just hold a bit lower than you want to hit up close.

 

[longrangehunter]

sight in 2.5" high at 100, the extra 2" amounts to 5" at 250 yards,, then just hold a bit lower than you want to hit up close.

I was testing that at distance to see why my Shooter App was not lining up with what was happening down range on steel.

I had not accounted for a 1/2” high 100 yard zero in the App, and why I was shooting high the previous day.

 

[longrangehunter]

For some odd reason it won’t let me fully download the picture of the target. I’ll have to blame that on T-Mobile for selling off their cell tower they got from Sprint, which was 5G. Now it’s owned by Horizon LLC and over the last six months has been pathetically slow and only getting worse! I’m ready to find a different service provider!

Sprint was 5G out in this area long before anybody else. Unfortunately T-Mobile bought them out, I say, unfortunately because now my service sucks!

 

[RL338]

For some odd reason it won’t let me fully download the picture of the target.

You’re not alone , I can’t upload anything either.

 

[longrangehunter]

You’re not alone , I can’t upload anything either.

Well that’s good to know that it’s not just me.
Thank you for the reply.