.243 coyote load?

[nvbroncrider]

What bullet weight and velocity would be best for pelt hunting coyotes? I blew a pretty good hole in one last night.125 or 150 yards. Tried to put one in between his eyes pulled it high so 2nd round put it center mass hit him in the chest through the heart and out left shoulder. Pretty good sized exit hole. Shot him with a 70gr BT with 48 gr of IMR-4350.

 

[JD338]

The 243 Win is not a fur friendly round. The 55 gr BT might stay inside but I doubt it.
You might want to try the heavy bullets and stay off the shoulder bones.

I have had good luck with the 257 Roberts using the 100 gr BT and 110 gr AB. Keeping it off the big bones helps a lot.

JD338

 

[nvbroncrider]

Or just use the .223?

 

[Songdog]

All bets are off when a 6mm bullet hits fur... I've seen it happen hundreds of times on coyotes... with 55's@4k+ to 105's@sub-2600. But, I can tell you this with relitive certainty... you hit bones, and you'll be doing some sewing.

For what it's worth, my favorites are the 55 nbt @4k1100 loaded w/H4895& the awesome 87 vmax at around 3350the w/RE19.

 

[super-7]

I still prefer the 75 gr v-max in the 243. Maybe my test sample of only a dozen or so dogs last year is to small, I try and keep shots behind the shoulder although I shot a couple facing me, in the chest. My fur buyer said these were some of the best fur with very little damage he had seen last year, and he see thousands of dogs. He was very surprised when I told him it was a 243 and a 75 gr pill. It is a fairly long bullet and has a good BC/cal ratio for those longer pokes. My load( start below and work up) was 42.5 IMR 4320, cci 200 primer, rem brass, and 75 gr v-max. Chronoed right around 3200, or a hair under. Deadly yote medicene.IMHO.

 

[Songdog]

75 Vmax is also a great bullet no doubt....

 

[CatskillCrawler]

My friend has had good results using 80gr Hornady GMX for dogs. His loads are ~3300fps and they are leaving a golf ball size exit wound. He has only had to resort to major sewing once when he hit both shoulders.

Costly but no blow ups or splashes so far.

 

[nvbroncrider]

Maybe I'll test some loads with 4895 drop my velocity to around 31 or 3200 and see what happens cause I think I'm between 36 and 3700 right now.

 

[Murphdog]

The 100 grain partion is not hard on pelts provided you do not hit the shoulder blades or spine. It is the bullet I carry for Eastern Montana deer and antelope and the happen stance coyotes. You are looking at a 50 cent piece hole on the exit.

 

[Mountain Goat]

I like the 70grn Speer TNT, the sleek one, not the one with the parachute on the front. They seem to enter nicely and rarely exit, even on 'yotes. I've only shot a few with them, so it's a very small sample. My load for these is with Varget.

 

[onesonek]

For what it's worth, my favorites are the 55 nbt @4k1100 loaded w/H4895& the awesome 87 vmax at around 3350the w/RE19.

+1

 

[Thebear_78]

I had very good luck with the sierra 85gr gameking HPBT and the 100gr sierra gameking SBT. They worked very well on whitetails and wouldn't mess up a coyote or fox. They are fairly tough bullets and as long as you didn't hit the shoulders usually wouldn't put too much of a hole thru them. Fox would occasionally still pop like a balloon but I have found your likely to get that with anything over 3k FPS.

The light explosive bullets in the .243 aren't consistent enough for serious fur work. I've seen the 55gr BT and 60gr sierra make jigsaw puzzles of coyotes and fur confetti out of fox. I've also seen a few no exits. I have a buddy back in michigan that runs the 55gr BT at insane speeds out of his 6mm remington and the things they do to a coyote isn't pretty.

The hornady 80gr FMJ is an excellent fur bullet. I know a crazy russian who shoots a boatload of wolves with that bullet out of his 243 WSM. He also shoots fox, red and arctic with the same load and has had no problems. This guy shoots a lot of fur every year and swears that the 243 with 80gr FMJ is THE fur harvesting combo. Last I had heard he has shot close to 300 wolves so when he talks about fur harvesting I listen.