7 twist 5.56/223 Coyote Bullet? Scope suggestion?
 

What's your 5.56/223 coyote bullet for a 7 twist?


ar15 scope recommendation?
I was thinking something like 1-6x...


but am open to all suggestions.
Thanks!

55gr. V-max

4X - 16X 44MM

IMO - Dogs look pretty small through a 6X scope at 500 + yards

50 V-max (53 and 55 great too) or 69SMK.

For coyotes, minium 3-9x40mm for me, prefer 4-12x, 4-16x, 4.5-14x, 2.5-16x, etc.

Here's why: the entire ribcage on a coyote is smaller than the lung of a whitetail deer, and the vital zone is under 1/4 the size. So a vital zone on a coyote is about the same size at 100yrds as that of a whitetail at 400!

1-6x will work, but more magnification is worth the weight.

What barrel length are you shooting?

16"

first ar, and kind of my target, plinking, zombie, and the occasional coyote setup... that's the plan at least. May want a more specialized coyote setup in the future, but also have a .243 if I really needed to reach out there.

At least a 4x12x scope.

Depending on how far you intend to shoot, I'd say a 3-9x power absolute minimum, with a 4-12x being preferable.

If it's 16" in an Hbar profile, with a flat top (which almost all of them are these days), then you might never need to do anything except change optics to convert from a coyote rig to a "zombie" rig. I'd assume it's NOT an Hbar, and not free floating, both of which would be nice, but not 100% necessary. 16" is a little short for my taste, but it's really nice carrying a carbine for coyotes, especially getting in and out of the truck over and over.

The carbine barrel won't get you down range as far as a long barrel, but from sticks, you can kill coyotes past 300 with a straight shooting 16" carbine.

The easy part here - I know you have other rifles and optics, so you can test for yourself: Grab a 1/2 gallon milk jug or a 2L soda bottle and a 20oz soda bottle and head for the field. Lay both on their side down range, and look through your scopes at different magnification. These two bottle types are about the same difference in size as the vital area difference between a coyote and a whitetail (both respectively smaller than either game's lungs, of course). It'll give you an idea of how much higher magnification you might want for a coyote rifle than you would for deer.

Depending upon your terrain, you'll also often hunt deer and coyotes at different ranges by nature. I tend to call coyotes over open ground much more than I'm able to hunt deer. I can draw coyotes into the open, or across open ground, and they commonly live out in open pasture, whereas when I'm hunting deer, it's either in draws or in wooded cover. I about have to try to set up a shot for deer over 200-300yrds, but I could find myself wanting to shoot 600-800yrds any day of the week on coyote sets.

I did have that thought, 2 scopes, or perhaps flip up rifle sights and then high magnification scope, but I haven't figured it out yet.

16" mid length gas system, barrel made by FN.
does have the flat top,

Also 2 guys, 1 with a .243win for the long stuff, 2nd guy with the .223 would have it covered pretty well.

I have;

AR 20" (.223/5.56) with 4X - 16X 44MM

For "Stands" where I call and I am expecting multiple dogs.

and

Boltgun (.223) with 6X - 24X 44MM

For spot and stalk hunts.

I've used multiple "multi-sight" systems, and I do highly recommend it as a great way to get more versatility out of a single platform.

• QD mounts on a big scope with folding irons & a QD on a red dot - This is what I'm using now on 2 of my rifles. If I hunt at night, I pull the big scope, put on the red dot. Takes 3 min, and comes back within 1/2MOA every time.

• Moderate or big scope with 45degree offset irons or red dot - have each of these on one rifle currently, both work well, but unnecessary if you don't need both immediately back to back. I snag those sights on F'ing EVERYTHING. Red dot off of the side works well for 3gun.

• Red dots & irons cowitnessed - doesn't really turn my crank, doesn't work with big scopes. Mall Ninja's swear by it for the tacops world they live in, but I want more magnification for hunting, and if it breaks, I go home, not hunt with irons.

• Red dot on top of a scope - doesn't work for me, cheek weld is poor, big objectives get in the way on a ring mount, wouldn't ever do it again.

What I would like to try next: Folding iron sights on a 45degree offset mount. MAYBE they wouldn't snag as much if I used folding sights, even though they'd be a little larger than fixed off-set sights. Wouldn't be as good as a red dot on the side for precision, but would be smaller and less likely to snag.