162 Amax - 7RM Vs. Coyote

[lanman]

I recovered this 162 grain AMAX from a coyote this week. I shot him at about 100 yards. Almost straight on. It entered the left shoulder blade and I found it just under the hide about mid belly. It weighed 23 grains as found. Needless to say, It crushed the yote. His shoulder felt like soup.

 

[DrMike]

That would do a heckuva job on a coyote. The only coyotes I ever shot with my 7 RM took a 175 grain TBBC at 225 yards. The bullet entered just above the sternum, continued through the body and exited the anus. Nothing but soup inside. The coyote disappeared so fast I thought she was part of a magic act. The following week, I shot one at about 200 yards. The bullet took off both front legs. Good job recovering the bullet.

 

[FOTIS]

And yet some use them on deer and elk. I do not see how

 

[truck driver]

And yet some use them on deer and elk. I do not see how

Hmmm I take it they are too explosive for big game :?:

 

[lanman]

And yet some use them on deer and elk. I do not see how

I'm with you Fotis... That doesn't seem like a lot of penetration. especially for an Elk.. MAYBE a whitetail.

 

[JD338]

Interesting. I have never been a fan of the A-Max and this is a fine example as to why.
My buddy shot a few into water jugs and we recovered the 30 cal 165 gr in the 3-4th jug.
The wide mushroom limits expansion and they seem pretty soft to me.
I'll stick to the Nosler offerings. YMMV.

JD338

 

[Charlie-NY]

The 162gr A-Max bullet is very effective at taking whitetails. Either on the shoulder or just behind, they are DOA. Guess how I know.

 

[Guy Miner]

And yet some use them on deer and elk. I do not see how

Because they take shots into the ribcage, where penetration is not an issue - and the destruction inside the chest cavity is phenomenal.

Me... For elk, I figure I'd like some more penetration capability and will stick with Noslers for that chore.

Guy

 

[IdahoCTD]

They don't penetrate very deep typically but they make a mess for 12 inches or so. My dads shot a cow through both front shoulders this year at 306yds. It went 20yds and fell over. That is about the furthest they will go when you put them in the lungs and most fall within feet. The shock they inflict is pretty phenomenal. I've seen a dozen or so elk and moose shot with them and none of them escaped or have even gone more than 30-35yds. I use to be a hard core max penetration person too. I even shot 375's and 416's to get that max effect. While there is no replacement for large calibers, heavy for caliber quickly expanding bullets going fast create the "Shock and Awe".

 

[Thebear_78]

At least it killed your coyote! The one and only coyote I ever shot with a 7mm mag almost ate me!

I shot one with a 150gr Sierra gameking as it ran away from me at 150 yards. Bullet entered inside of its rear leg and zipped into its guts before exiting near front of its chest.

It dropped at the shot but was still breathing when I came up to it. I poked it a couple times and got no reaction so I assumed it was in a comma.

Not wanting to put another hole in it and not wanting to get it all muddy stomping on it I decided I would just dip its head into the nearby drainage ditch and drown it in its sleep.

Mind you I was only 16 and not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

As you can imagine I quickly had a very upset and very alive coyote by the hind legs while standing in a steep banked drainage ditch, screaming for my sister to shoot him. She wouldn't shoot him considering I was holding him at arms length and he was wildly lunging at me.

I hurled him as far as I could and scrambled up the bank expecting to be chewed up the whole time.

He was hurt bad enough not to give chase and hide be damned I put another hole in him with my sisters 243.

That's when I learned while dynamite on whitetails and other big game the 7mm rem mag just isn't enough gun for coyotes,

Got a nice rug made from that 40 pound coyote.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HeathSexton]

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread ... x_up_close

 

[Guy Miner]

That's when I learned while dunk mite on whitetails and other big game the 7mm rem mag just isn't enough gun for coyotes,

Got a nice rug made from that 40 pound coyote.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love it!

 

[lanman]

I got a little real world experience with the amax this year. After not getting a passthru on the coyote I shot I was very nervous about using them. Unfortunately, they were all I brought for my longer range rig this year. I took one for a test run on a doe early in the season. I shot her just behind the shoulder but she was quartered harder than I thought. I dug the slug out of the center of the scapula on the off side shoulder. She went down where she stood but she flopped around a lot longer than I thought she should have. If it had been a buck, I would have put a second one in him. I shot her at 170 yards.

The recovered Bullet weighed 54.3 grains but I am sure a significant amount of that is entrained meat and bone.

I used a second one a week or so later. This one more as they are designed for I suspect. I shot a nine point on a cotton field at 352 yards. complete passthru just behind the shoulders. The buck never took a step.

The amax will work...I'm still nervous about a strong quartered shot.. They do fly straight out of my rifle though.

Dan-O

 

[bobnob]

Not too much wrong with that DanO. I myself prefer NBTs, Interlocks or similar for deer.

I wet newspaper tested some 30 cal 168 g Amaxes comparing them to Interlocks; they're definitely softer.

 

[bobnob]

At least it killed your coyote! The one and only coyote I ever shot with a 7mm mag almost ate me!

I shot one with a 150gr Sierra gameking as it ran away from me at 150 yards. Bullet entered inside of its rear leg and zipped into its guts before exiting near front of its chest.

It dropped at the shot but was still breathing when I came up to it. I poked it a couple times and got no reaction so I assumed it was in a comma.

Not wanting to put another hole in it and not wanting to get it all muddy stomping on it I decided I would just dip its head into the nearby drainage ditch and drown it in its sleep.

Mind you I was only 16 and not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

As you can imagine I quickly had a very upset and very alive coyote by the hind legs while standing in a steep banked drainage ditch, screaming for my sister to shoot him. She wouldn't shoot him considering I was holding him at arms length and he was wildly lunging at me.

I hurled him as far as I could and scrambled up the bank expecting to be chewed up the whole time.

He was hurt bad enough not to give chase and hide be damned I put another hole in him with my sisters 243.

That's when I learned while dynamite on whitetails and other big game the 7mm rem mag just isn't enough gun for coyotes,

Got a nice rug made from that 40 pound coyote.

That, is FUNNY!

 

[adccoyote428]

You must remember the Amax is not designed to be a hunting bullet, it is a match grade target round, because of that accuracy people have taken it upon themselves to try and use it for hunting purposes on game like, deer,antelope and the such.

The AMP jacket makes then very consistent but if you look at the bullet the jacket is thin from tip to base, so they are not a hunting bullet although some have killed game with them.

One just needs to look at the cut view of an Amax versus a bad tip the bal tip has more jacket as you get closer to the base, the Honrady SST would be more in line with a bal tip than thr Amax for sure. They are highly accurate in many guns but again made for targets not game.

 

[Charlie-NY]

You must remember the Amax is not designed to be a hunting bullet, it is a match grade target round, because of that accuracy people have taken it upon themselves to try and use it for hunting purposes on game like, deer,antelope and the such.

The AMP jacket makes then very consistent but if you look at the bullet the jacket is thin from tip to base, so they are not a hunting bullet although some have killed game with them.

One just needs to look at the cut view of an Amax versus a bad tip the bal tip has more jacket as you get closer to the base, the Honrady SST would be more in line with a bal tip than thr Amax for sure. They are highly accurate in many guns but again made for targets not game.

If you review the older Hornady manuals, Hornady did, in fact, recommend the A-Max bullet for "thin skinned large game animals".

My experience with the 162 A-Max, fired from a custom 7 STW, was that the bullet was extremely effective at taking whitetails at any range. High shoulder shots dropped them on the spot, exits were rare. Classic behind the shoulder hits left silver dollar size exits and deer that either dropped where they stood or ran off 20-40 yds, no farther.

I took only one coyote with the 162 A-Max while i was hunting pronghorns in Wyoming. Broadside shot at about 100yds or so. Dang flop - bullet easily passed through.

I'd just add this about the A-Max bullet line - Considering all of my rifles, the A-Max is one of the easiest bullets to tune and is frequently (not always) one of the most accurate bullets in any given rifle after careful tuning.

However, after shooting a gagillion bullets over the years, I remain a die hard Nosler bullet fan.

 

[adccoyote428]

People can call it what they wish, the construction of this bullet is going to tell a person it is not made to hit bone what so ever. The jacket stays the same for the entire length the reason they are easier to tune IMO, like many other match paper bulles. I have shot deer with Amax as well and the results are hit and miss for sure and far better game bullets to be had from many manufactures than the Amax again due to construction and physics and shot placement.

No different than any bullet manufacture that considers a coyote a varmint again IMO. I have killed my fair share of coyotes In the last 27 years pursuing them and many wonder why when they hit bone they get extreme splash and they are chasing coyotes down with little to no penetration when things aren't just right and hit bone.

Coyotes body mass and size are not close to a ground squirrel, p dog or other rodent type critters. I am all about efficientcy and want a very high rate of dead coyotes and then fur recovery at those times when available.

To me a hunting bullet designed like a Nosler BT game type of Hornady SST far better for anchoring a majority of coyotes than a highly frangiable or light jacketed varmint bullet. While impressive on p dogs and the such when shooting these varmint types not so impressive on coyotes when the shot varies.

I used both the Amax 52 grain in a 22-250 and Nolser varmint BT's and 12-13 years ago I wanted more, I have switched to a 243 because of more bullet choices and better wind deflection and use the Nosler 95 grain BT for all coyotes, very accurate, very deadly and the results remain the same time and again. The bullet to me is better built for a coyote and the fur damage is of little worry. I know the recovery rate has went up leaps and bounds across all ranges of shooting coyotes.

When I give a calling seminar I ask guys what they shoot and how many have had the twirl and run coyote when using the 223,22-250 and 204 calibers? they all have, I explain my reason for making a switch to a better bullet designed for the game at hand. If I where to use a 22 caliber again for coyotes it would be with a Nosler Partition, again because the laws of physics and construction .

 

[BF375]

I love the bullet for practice...very accurate in a couple of 7 mags for me. I'd whack a deer at distance with one but for most stuff like elk on up I like the Partitions.

 

[TackDriver284]

I never shot an AMax so I won't have anything to say about them, but I have cut open a Nosler Ball Tip and a AccuBond from nose to shank with a Dremel and noticed that it took longer to cut the AccuBond because of its thicker jacket. I used an AccuBond 140 on the 7mm STW( 3470 fps)a few years ago and shot at a coyote at 225 ish yards and in and out from left ribcage to the right leaving a grapefruit sized hole on exit and lots of fur floating in the air. Wonderful bullet and still use it on my 7 Mag.