What's your favorite yote caliber?
 

Just curious what my fellow hunters prefer. What's the most favored caliber when you take all things in account. Range, accuracy, price of ammo, etc.


.204
.220 swift
.223
22-250
.243
other...

My favorite would have to be the .22-250. I had never dealt with one till last year and after my buddy dropped a dog at 325 yds I was hooked on the caliber it was amazing I thought he had missed because it took the bullet so long to get there but that loud solid thump left no doubt as to whether or not he hit it. We started doing research and that is a flat round you can sight it in at 200 and be on at 4 to 250 yds and only drop 5 inches at 300 yds and about 16 inches at 400 yds. Very useful for us flatlanders you can easily nail a dog out to 400 yds with his gun. But the caliber I most commonly use, until I can afford a .22-250 in the AR-15 platform, is the .223 shooting USA 45gr HP's out of a Colt accurized CR6724 flat-top AR-15 with a flat silver nikon scope on it and it looks awesome. Sweet rifle that will shoot a dime sized group if I do my part and has killed some dogs, hogs, and a fox.
That is my long range preferences but for the nitty gritty in your face shots I like a mossberg 835 12 gauge loaded with some 3.5 inch BB's.

Ain't she purty. I just had to post a pic of her.

.243 (I use 75gr V-max bullets)


first - puts them right down.

second - shoots pretty darn flat

third - bucks wind better, beyond 300 yards.

forth - even at $1 per round, how many are you going to shoot ?

I'm a big fan of AR-15 platform, a fast handling accurized AR in .223rem is hard to beat for coyotes. I never lose the dog in the scope, so follow up shots are a piece of cake. Knocking down two coyotes with a bolt gun is a chore, not so for an AR platform. I primarily use two different uppers, an accurized 16" heavy barrel carbine for shorter, faster work, and a 24" heavy barrel rifle for longer range, stationary work. My wife shoots a .223 bolt gun (Savage 12 Varminter) for coyotes...

I've dropped coyotes with 50grn A-max's and V-max's past 600yrds with no problem.

Beyond 600-700yrds, 7mm WSM or 6.5-284. Way overkill on energy, but it takes a bit of bullet weight and velocity to get to 1000yrds accurately, regardless of what you want to kill once you get there.

"......past 600yrds with no problem.......1,000 yards..."

That's some good shootin' - with "no problem" that is !


What power scope is that you're using ?

Lol, well, I guess I shouldn't be so cavalier and say "no problem". The energy to do the job once it gets there isn't a problem, but getting it there still is.

Since you asked, some of my favored scopes that my wife and I cycle on and off our coyote rigs:

Nightforce 5.5-22x56 NXS with NP-R2
Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30x50mm
Nightforce 8-32x56 BR with NP-2DD
Leupold VX-3 LRT 6.5-20x50mm and 8.5-25x50mm
Ziess MC Conquest 6.5-20x50mm

I have a few 6-24x50mm scopes (bushnells, nikons, etc) that I've used in the past as well, but they (for whatever reason) typically have poor internal adjustment ranges, so we basically rely on the above list (except the Zeiss, which has poor internal adjustment as well, but my wife likes that scope A LOT, so it's sitting on an angled mount on her 6.5-284).

The Leupold VX-3 LRT's are fantastic for internal adjustment. I prefer the Nightforces for quality, but it's sure nice being able to scroll to whatever range you want with the Leup's without needing angled bases.

Beyond that, I've recently became sold on the Burris Signature Zee Rings. It's pretty sweet being able to forego an angled base simply by changing the ring inserts.

EDIT: The Nightforce BR 8-32x is a little too much scope for short range shots, so it presents it's own list of problems, and the adjustable objective isn't ideal for fast focusing on moving coyotes, but at $500+ less than the NXS, it's hard to say anything bad about the benchrest series! Usually when I take this out (mounted on a 7mm WSM Stiller), my wife picks up the shorter range shots with her Zeiss on her 6.5-284.

No Mercy,

I wish I had the $$$$ to own scopes like these !

Nightforce 5.5-22x56 NXS with NP-R2
Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30x50mm
Nightforce 8-32x56 BR with NP-2DD
Leupold VX-3 LRT 6.5-20x50mm and 8.5-25x50mm
Ziess MC Conquest 6.5-20x50mm

I'm not a bright guy, so I put the same scope on all my rifles; so I always have the same sight picture (no matter which caliber) & I can use the adjustments with my eyes closed. LOL

Burris Signature Select 4X-16X 44MM with ballistic plex illuminated reticle.

I always mount my scopes with Burris "Zee" rings and the off-set inserts.

I can only tell you how small those dirty dogs appear even with 16X at 500 + yards.


Nightforce - Maybe one day.................no wonder you're talking 600 + yards.

Good for you buddy !!!

.220 Swift, Ruger 77 MK2 Target, Ruger No.1 and Savage 112 BVSS- S, 55grn V-Max's with 4064 powder, Leupold VX3's and Nightforce glass.

.308 Win, Savage 10 BAS Tactical, 155 grnBerger VLD's, RE-15 powder. BlackHawk Tactical glass.

I use Burris Signature rings and bases as well. Tough and solid. Great customer service, if ever needed.

I started out using my Browning bolt-action .243 Rifle,it works great in calm to windy conditions,my next choice for knock-down power and affordability in ammo would be a .223 Rifle.

My choice I went with was the CZ-USA "Varmint" in a .204 Ruger...talk about a long range Rifle that is very accurate and it has taken down every Coyote I have hit with it.I'm using Winchester 32 grain ballistic-tip bullets but plan on going with the Sierra Blitz Kings in 39 grain becasue of better accuracy.I'm completely thrilled with the .204 Bolt-action Rifle,can't say enough praise about it!The shells range from around $16.00 to $25.00 range per box of 20 shells depending on the brand and when they are on sale.

Great cartridge inside 400yds as long as its not too windy. We have shot them side by side with the .223's in various platforms and those little bullets really start to drift after 350 and really get goofy after that. We shoot a 1K range (family owned farm) all the time for our sniper rifles and get to play alot at long range. We shoot them side by side with same holds to see what the drift differences are. We shoot our 308's, 338 Lapua and now we have two Barrett M107 .50 BMG's to use.
Enjoy the new toy and post pics of results.

Just had a AR platform built in .223/5.56, as a walking stick for predators.

18" stainless steel barrel, 4X-16X Burris w/ ballistic plex reticle & JP Enterprise single stag trigger.

Can't tell you how many opportunities I've "missed", because I couldn't get my gun off my shoulder quick enough (...and, yes I come under on my mount) !


Still love my .204 when I make stands; or the .243 if it's windy that day.

I'm just REALLY "ANALytical" when it comes to my rigs, so I take the extra time to save up for quality glass. My philosophy is what's the point of buying a rifle and cartridge that's capable of taking game out to 600-1000yrds if you don't respect it enough to put enough scope on it?

I figure even a heavy barrel factory bolt action will run $800+, and an accurized AR is going to run $1200, let alone if I'd admit to what I paid for the custom rigs we're running (luckily I've been able to build most of them myself). A $5 horse and a $40 saddle doesn't make much sense, but either does a $40 horse and a $5 saddle. I wouldn't put a Nightforce on an H&R Handi-rifle, so why would I put a Tasco on a custom AR-15 right? Same deal for ammo, I may not reload ammo to burn through an SKS, but I'm not going to feed Rem Corelokts to a $3000 rig.

I'm an engineer by trade, so frankly, I tend to look at EVERYTHING through my "engineer eyes". If the rifle is the operating equipment, then the scope is the control system. No matter how advanced the equipment is, if you can't control it precisely, it's just a fancy paperweight. They don't put stick tillers in combat helicopters for a reason.

I typically use Mil-dot reticles, even though I very rarely use them as they're intended. I don't believe in bullet drop compensating reticles, and actually find them to be a major downside for a scope. I do like your idea of using the same reticle on different scopes though. I really hadn't considered it before, I guess it hasn't been a major issue for me. Other than the Nightforce reticles, I use Mil-dot or Plex reticles. I rarely hold over on any shot, but rather use some reticles to validate my range estimations (backing up my "eyeball guess" and laser rangefinder).

No Mercy,

All very valid points; or should I say, I concur.


I picked that Burris scope (Signature Select 4X-16X 44MM ballistic plex illuminated reticle) out with the idea in mind that I would outfit all my future bolt guns with the same model.

So, I had to know I wasn't going to break the bank every time I brought a new rifle/caliber.




This new rig is a walking stick for me, so more often I will be shooting at 300 yards and in (walk with it on lowest power).

It would have to be the .223 and the 22-250. If just out having fun I would take my little Sako Vixen .223, if participating in a contest hunt I would use the Rem Mod 7 in 22-250. I have no need for anything larger, call them in and "most" shots will be under 50 yards. Granted some coyotes will hang up on you but even at 300 yards the .223 is more than gun.

I agree all the way!

25 06 ya baby!
Treebeard

I started upteen years ago with a .270. It was all I had at the time. Then I went down to the .243 and found it did as much damage or more than the .270 so I went down to the 22-250 and used it for many many years. Then the .204 came along and I've shot a couple truck loads of coyotes with a D-Tech built AR and now it is my preferred caliber, except I just got my D-Tech built .223 threaded for my suppressor and it's getting the most action as of late. SO even though I prefer the .204, shooting suppressed in .223 is winning out in the action department for me.
I'd shoot my .204 suppressed except it has a 23" barrel, plus Mike's compensator, plus it's camo dipped. I gotta figure out if I can get Mike's comp. unthreaded and also find out what threads Mike uses for his comp., so I can figure out if I can get my suppressor on the .204. And I'm not sure if I want to add a 7" suppressor to the end of a 23" barrel.