I know that a FMJ bullet will not open up when it goes through an animal (for most cases anyway). When I mentioned fragmenting, I was referring to a bullet hitting a rock, or other solid object, which would cause it to fragment, so the bullet will not travel very far. I am not concerned about ricochet either way, and I think a lot of people put too much thought into it. Say a coyote is about 200 yds out, you are in a prone position, so you are about 10" off the ground anyway. The coyotes chest is about 14" off the ground. By the time the bullet gets to the coyote, it will be doing probably around 2300-2400 FPS, it hits the coyote, causing hydrostatic shock, displacing the liquid in the dog's chest, and still exiting with a bigger hole than a 22 caliber bullet will leave. It leaves the coyote with a good portion of its energy expended. After about another 200 yds, the bullet will have dropped a total of about 30 something inches, easily putting it right into the dirt. If it hits a rock at that distance, chances are it would ricochet, but again, would not go very far because of the energy lost when a bullet hits an object. This would be if you were shooting on a perfectly level piece of property. I know of very few areas that offer such a luxury. The bullet would easily encounter other objects, like logs, brush, or a hillside before it even made it to 400 yds. If you are shooting in an area where there is a chance of even shooting in the direction of a house anyway, and the distance is not at least a mile away, the .308 would just be a bad choice overall anyway.