Predator rifle cal
 

I've been told that the 204 Ruger is a top choice for coyote hunting. Also considering 22-250, 223,& 243cal.Your input is greatly appreciated.

What predators are you planning on taking with this weapon? Yotes and fox, the 204 will serve you well and within reasonable distance, under 400 yds with minor winds.
Larger critters, hogs and such, you may be better off with the 223 or 250 for they have a heavier bullet selection and kinetic energy better suited for this and wind bucking abilities.
Maybe you may decide to use this for hogs and maybe upto deer, you will be better off with the 243 for its even heavier bullet selection as well wind bucking capabilities.

Second Chance pretty well covered it and told you most of the reasons why.

I own;

.204 (40gr V-max) Wanted the latest & greatest - use it when I'm making stands
.223 (55gr V-max) AR platform - use as a walking stick with a one point sling
.243 (75gr V-max) First predator gun I brought - doubles as my small deer gun

Kill coyotes with all of them.

Mostly depends on the ranges you'll be faced with.I use a .223 but for longer shots I would go with the 22-250.In thick stuff where shots will be within 50 yds or so a 12g with 3" shells is the way to go.

fox and coyotes, .17 fireball
Coyotes only .22-.250 remington
foxes only .22 mag hollow points

Ryan.

For coyotes, a .22-250, .223, .220swift, and .204 Ruger will all offer pretty similar performace on coyotes (or .222 rem, or .222rem mag, among others). They're all going to do the job out to 600-700yrds if you can place the bullet well. The .204 Ruger generally runs lighter bullets than the other 3, but still offers great down range performance on coyotes.

My personal choice is the .223rem. Then again, I'm a fanatic for the AR-15 platform. I ran a .22-250 for coyotes for 10yrs, then gave up the .22-250 when I transitioned over to AR's, and haven't looked back.

The major advantage of the .223rem is that it's the lowest pressure of the lot, and therefore the nicest on barrels. If it's JUST a coyote rifle, you'll never notice the difference, but if you run it over a bench much, or do much prairie dog hunting with it, you can easily burn up a barrel with a .22-250 or .220swift (making the same bet for .204 Ruger and .223WSSM).

I've put several Coyotes down with my Browning A-bolt Hunter .243 Rifle using 100 grain Hornady Custom shells and I use the same Rifle for Hunting Deer.It can be a little hard on the Coyote hides and if You plan on shooting any smaller Predators like Foxes and Bobcats I would consider a smaller Caliber Rifle...or dropped down to a lighter grain bullet in 50-75 grains.

I have a CZ-USA Model 527 .204 Rifle in the "Varmint" with the heavy/longer barrel,started out sighting my Rifle in using 40 grain Hornady bullets,went to the Winchester 32 grain bullets and it will put down a Coyote in its tracks...I'm highly impressed with the .204 Caliber and plan on going with the Federal V-Shok Sierra Blitz Kings in 39 grains because I have talked with several Shooters that say the 39 SBK group much better.You can also check out the CZ Model 527 "American" .204 which is lighter weight Rifle and it has a little shorter barrel...and these CZ .204's have a trigger that can be push forward and its a lighter pull.Whats great is You can shoot the .204 and with such light recoil You can watch Your target or Predator get hit and not loose sight of it.

Next Caliber if any I would get for good accurate long shooting would be a .223 because its easy to find ammo for it,You have lots of different grain choices,it will stay stable if it gets windy and it will have plenty of knock-down power for most all Predators/Varmints.Its a fun Caliber to have and shoot and it can be used for many purposes!



The 22-250 are nice Caliber Rifles that will also be accurate and shoot long range with a lot of knock-down power,not sure how easy it will be on the Predator Hides/Pelts if You plan on selling or having it mounted?

Check all Your options,what Your planning on Hunting and what You are going to do with when You shoot a Coyote,Bobcat or a Fox or even Varmints like Prarie Dogs or even a Ground Hog for that matter? :D ;)

Comparing the .223rem and .22-250, the power difference under 400-500yrds is moot, since the weaker of the two (.223rem) has more than enough energy, then once you get to 400-500yrds, 50grn loads in each will only be off by about 50yrds (i.e. a .22-250 at 550 has the same energy as a .223rem at 500yrds), then once you get to 700-750yrds, the two will be running about EXACTLY the same velocity and energy. Ultimately, the only advantage is that the .22-250 is flatter shooting. The .223 will have about 40" more drop at 750yrds than the .22-250, but when you compare energy and pelt damage, there isn't much difference between the two (or 4 really, adding in the .204ruger and .220swift).

Hide Hunting is honestly about bullet choice. The cartridge energy level can help control damage, but a good bullet can make up ground for a cartridge with too much energy.

Nomercy,

The .204 uses approx. 1/3 less powder although duplicating (+/-) the ballistics of a .22-250 (understand 32gr bullet vs 55gr bullet).

Do you still feel that the .204 is a barrel burner ?

any should do the job, if less than 300yds I think a 223rem in an ar15 is pretty ideal.

I think if long range were at hand I might take a .243win over a 22-250rem.

the 204 has the higher bc's and less powder etc... w/40grs/39grs...etc... I kinda like the idea of a 22+ on coyotes especially at 300yds etc... but maybe that's just a myth of mine right now...

does the 204 rip big holes in yotes?

my vote would be .223rem in ar15, then if you're left wanting more or something else, get something else and sell which you dont like of the 2, although if you have a specific task, let us know... ie yotes at 500yds, or prairie dogs... ground hogs etc...

let us know and we could maybe be more specific...

I may not have stated it well, but I was meaning to say that I expect the .204 Ruger to burn barrels faster than the .223rem. No, I wouldn't expect it to be a "barrel burner", in the sense of say a 6.5-284, 7mm WSM, or .220 swift would be, but I was trying to point out that I think the .204ruger, like the other 3 I mentioned, would have shorter barrel life than a .223rem.

Ultimately, of course it all depends on the loads a guy is running. I've seen load maps that are all over the board, but the loads I hear guys bragging about (i.e. 32grn bullets running 4100-4200fps, or 40grn pills pushing 3800-3900fps) are always at the top end of the range. Afterall, we're all usually pretty guilty of pushing the limits with any load, right?

At any rate, yes, it burns 1/3 less powder than a .22-250, however, it's running about the SAME powder charge as a .223rem. The problem in my eyes with that is that it also has 20% less cross sectional "flow area" (aka bore cross section). Obviously, the .204 Ruger is running higher pressure than the .223rem (58-60kpsi in the maps I've seen, compared to a 52-55kpsi for the .223). Even compared to the .22-250, you'd be talking about a 10% improvement in "powder per bore" (powder charge down 30%, but bore area down 20%). But ultimately, my point was that the .204 actually has a WORSE "powder per bore" than the .223rem (same powder through a smaller tube).

Combining the 1) higher pressure, 2) higher velocity, 3) reduced "flow area", and 4) same powder charge, yeah, I would still expect a .204 ruger to burn out faster than a .223rem.

No, of course I wouldn't expect it to fall off nearly as fast as a .223WSSM, .220swift, or .22-250, because none of the above statements are true comparing the .204 ruger to these 3 (except the relative "flow area". These 3 are just as fast as the .204, all 3 burn considerably more powder, and all 3 are higher pressure. Barrel life wise, I'd rank them worst to best as: 223 WSSM, 220 swift, .22-250, .204 ruger, and .223rem.

Of course, if you compare a "conservative" 204 load to a HOT 223 load, you can probably flip a coin for which will burn out faster.

Sorry for the confusion, I was really trying to point out the .223rem as being the most "bore friendly" of the common coyote cartridges, not really trying to say the .204 was "as bad" as the .220swift.

Nomercy - Thanks !

Not a reloader - to tedious for me (no offense to those who do).

I use the 40gr V-max, 3900 + fps is good enough for me !

Wanted better BC and was concerned about barrel wear using those 32gr pills at 4225 fps.

BTW - I love this round, super fast and flat = accurate !!!

"Flow area" is way over my head, but I always appreciate all your imput !

I was just using "flow area" as a term for the "cross sectional area of the bore", i.e. the area which the gases are "flowing" through.

As an engineer, I can't ever help but consider everything around me the same way I would consider something at work, so when I think of throat erosion in a firing rifle, I tend to think of it in terms of transient combustion venting through a restricted tube, rather than simply a rifle firing.

I definitely agree that the .204 Ruger is a fantastic round, and if I didn't already own too many .223 rems and a few .22mags, it would certainly find a place in my safe. It's really the only popular commercial cartridge in its class (especially considering 32grn bullets), and has really came to dominate it's niche as the "lightweight" centerfire.

It seems to bridge the gap between the 22 cal rimfires and 22cal centerfires incredibly well, offering pelt damage more comparable to the rimfires, with an effective range nearly equal to that of the heavier 22 centerfires... Definitely an "efficiency round". Much like a .243win for deer, definitely enough power, but not as much "over kill" as the 30cal's, and a money saver on powder.

I prefer the 22-250... except for the pelt damage it causes. I know the 17 Rem. crowd prefer using the Berger "target" bullets as the "varmint" series is to frangible, and lack penetration. Anyone ever try the Berger target bullets in their 22 cals for coyotes?

Salukipv1...I've shot 5 Coyotes so far with my CZ .204 Varmint Rifle and it leaves a very small hole and only 1 of the Coyote's had an exit-hole because I shot it too low and it literaly gutted that Coyote.I highly reccomend the .204 caliber...it has low recoil,shoots nice and flat out to long ranges and has some great knock-down power and is easy on Predator/Varmint hides!

This is using 32 grain Winchester Ballistic-tip shells,I tried the Hornady 40 grain V-Max and they did really well but opted for the lighter 32 grainers...after I use up thses 32's I'm going with the 39 grain Sierra Blitz Kings loaded from Federal V-Shok because they are suppose to be more accurate and group better.