coyotejim

If the .22, 17, and .357 are your only choices I would use the rifle that you are most comfortable with and most accurate. However, I would keep all my shots at 100 yards or less.

mrbb

the OP also didn;t mention if he is trying to save pelts
if so, I don;t think the .357 is a good choice at all here, as it will damage the most fur, as will any LARGER caliber center fire caliber will, that some mentioned as in .234-.270 and so on!
yes they will kill them but at a cost to the fur!

most any center-fire .22 caliber would be a better choice for coyote work from a 100+ yrds , with limits set on what caliber .22 is used!
.222, .22-250, .223 .224 all fine coyote calibers for longer ranges with advantages based again on caliber and bullet being used in each!

Nomercy448

I’ve not found deer-worthy handgun bullets, whether fired from 357mag, 32 H&R, 327 Fed, 357/44 mag, 41 mag, 44special, 44mag, 45 colt, or 454 Casull to be unacceptably damaging to coyote hides. Save the 454casull and the B&D mag, none even come close to having enough speed necessary to creating a big hydrostatic temporary cavity which blows out the back side, and most of the HUNTING (not personal defense) bullets on the market are hard enough to have relatively limited expansion when the game target is less than half as thick and under a quarter as massive as the intended species for which the bullet was designed. I tend to get worse exit wounds with a 77smk in 223rem than I do with the 300XTP in 44mag - even when stoking the 44 with Ruger only, over length, over charged loads.

The real problem for any cartridge to do a lot of pelt damage is bullet construction and placement. If you’re running your bullet into hard stuff, it’s pretty common to see bad exits. Trying to push a shoulder joint through the skin on the back side has that effect. Super frangible stuff with a lot of horsepower behind it - big temporary cavity loads - will push the largest portion of the wound tract at the back side surface, so stuff like a 150 NBT in 308win will get nasty.

But I haven’t ever been able to push hunting class revolver bullets hard enough to create that kind of result in a coyote, as long as I lay off the hard stuff.

Wifeshusband

I'm tempted to say anything, but that would not be fair to the yote, even though I don't care for them. I don't know that you have
guns that could be considered "fair and humane," for them. I believe a .233 is the humane route. Course, if you had a good whitetail
rifle like a .243 you could drop down to 85 grain bullets and put them out of their misery instantly and I do mean instantly! Just a thought.

MudderChuck

I shoot a lot of Fox with my .308 Corelokt 165grn. lung shots are almost always hole in, hole out. Gut shooting one gives entirely unsatisfactory results. My best guess is the Deer loads are through before they have a chance to expand and don't meet any significant fluid inside the animal while traveling through the lungs. I've opened a few up on the exit side, no more than 3-4 stitches to close the exit hole.

elkman30

Tyl3r, it sounds like it's time for your dad to get you an new rifle. Any of the centerfires will do in 17, 20 or 22 caliber. If you want something simple, consider a 223 since you can find ammo for them everywhere.

Tyl3r

Sorry i couldnt respond sooner, ran into a problem. Yes i will be saving the hides which was the reason I got the 17 in 2014 cause I couldnt hunt with a 223 at night at the time and I knew a guy who also coyote hunted with one. I would use the 357 if I knew what kind of hide damage it would do. And I dont have quite enough to get a 223 or 243 or anything yet and my dad doesnt just buy all my guns for me.

mrbb

you can use the rifles you have, but you really need to stay at closer ranges for them to work for you
22 50 yrd and less IMO and the 17 a 100 or less!

I still am not going to say the .357 is a good caliber, based on MY experience with it, its JUST a larger hole, and if things are closer, (i've seen what they can do to smaller things)
I wouldn't say there good on pelts if, your planning to save them!
maybe some better bullets and shot placement?? but I wouldnl;t call it a great coyote caliber, or one I would use is I had better options!
you might benefit from reading up on some ballistics's on the 22 and 17 and see where the energy levels are at at ranges!, and then base your distance on shots to take from some of that, and also consider when hunting and when stats on PAPER, are two different things and to maybe take shots slightly LESS than what things say they will do!


and these days when you have saved up a little $$ < there are a TON of great low costing options for rifles of better calibers!
.22 hornet .222-.223-.22-250 would be my 3 suggestions, with the .22-250 being my choice here, second would be the .223, , these two will also be found in the most rifles out there,makes/models!~
and last would be the .222, or 22 hornet , but less rifles will be chambered in these two calibers, making both less rifles offered in them, and ammo will be harder to find and just less options of it!

the .223 and .22-250 are both super popular and well tested and proven with LOTS of data and load options and have plenty of reach for hunting coyotes!

CalHunter

That does change things a bit knowing that you're saving the pelts and hunting at night.

MudderChuck

Maybe it is just my experience and how I place my shots, but my .222 is more prone to tear up a Fox than my .308 is. Just don't shot them head-on, in the gut, or moving away (straight in the ass). A quartering shot or a side shot through the lungs rarely does any major damage. I shot one Fox pup about the same size as a Cat behind the shoulder, hole in hole out. Where I've shot Fox and had the .222 hit a rib or something change directions and pretty much explode the Fox.