Fur friendly 223 (coyote)

[Leveraction35]

—Fiocchi 50gr vmax hyperformance 3300fps
—Hornady 53gr VMAX Superformance 3464fps
—Hornady 35gr NTX Superformance 4000fps

Feedback on these??

Looking for no exit if possible, majority of shots from 50-125 yards

Feel free to recommend others

 

[603Country]

40 gr Ballistic Tips

 

[JB10]

Id say under a 50gr and slow it down. I use 50gr vmax and nosler ballistic tips. If shot middle and back will go through

 

[searcher]

The lighter sintered metal bullets (Varmint Grenade, NTX, Lead Free Ballistic Tip, etc.) all work really well in dumping energy and not exiting. They come apart really well on impact. There are tradeoffs with any bullet, though. Shoot the light ones and you don't get great penetration at closer ranges. Shoot the heavier ones and you risk exits if shot within around 100 yards. I've shot all of these quite a bit and I always felt lacking shooting the lighter versions of each - like 32-40 grains. Many wounded with both leaded and non-leaded bullets. The best all-around weight seemed to be 50 grains. There are fewer pass-throughs as compared to a 50-grain lead core bullet (mostly experienced with 50 V-Max and 55 Blitz king). I think the 50 Varmint Grenade is the best overall coyote killer I've shot. When they do exit, can be a little messier than a lead-core bullet. Of course, one must put them down to compare exits. The VG does that very well. I like it for out to around 350 yards +/-. Seldom exits - and fewer exist than lead-core.

 

[Clancy]

55 grain blitzking load from ADI, or 55 varmageddon

 

[Seagull]

I use 55 grn sierra super roos for all my paddock work . From foxes and upwards never had 1 go thro thro that i remember . Head shot skull collapses thats the end of fall over dead . Been using the same load for 25 years

 

[varmintshooter]

Shot placement is just as important as bullet if not more so

 

[spencerhenry]

I did a considerable amount of bullet testing on coyotes about 20 years ago. I tried nosler tipped 55gr, I had never seen splash, but I did with those. 60gr sierra, exited unless you hit the shoulder bone on entry. 55gr Hornady spire points and 55gr winchester both had inconsistent results with some exits some not, but exits were 1.5". I am sure I tried some others as well, but don't recall. What I do recall is that once I tried a 55gr vmax, which I ran at 3050 fps, I never tried another bullet. Almost never an exit hole, only once on a 35 yard shot. Killed a couple hundred coyotes with the 55gr vmax, all the way out to 612 yards with most shot between 150 and 220 yards. I sold fur, I switched to a 17-223 because my fur buyer was complaining about 22 caliber entrance holes.
Broadside, quarter toward, straight on, or running away, those bullets worked well for me. Never a follow up shot unless I totally blew it and hit them in the back 1/3 of the body.

 

[predator.wright]

50gr V-Max for many years now. As noted, if placement in forward 1/2 of body, very few exit.

Similar results with Nosler 70gr ballistic tip in .243 Winchester.

Having written this, I generally don't worry about fur condition. Not worth the time and effort to process.

I always go back to a phrase of mine from many years ago that still rings true, "I never found a coyote that made me any money."

 

[timeout]

I always go back to a phrase of mine from many years ago that still rings true, "I never found a coyote that made me any money."

Fur markets vary wildly with fads, demand, and a country's money supply. There was a time when Western "white belly" coyotes demanded a high dollar on the fur market. Another time period when raccoon fetched a "pretty penny". Right now skunks are golden. I guess it just depends on one's bank balance, but a lot of us have highly valued the fur we gathered.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I shot a small female coyote last night at 140 yards with the 40 gr NBT , no exit. Nosler has that bullet in a 223 load, they recommend not to use in AR's. I measured a few and the coal was long for some magazines, 2.260.

 

[Jrjones]

50gr hornady sp sx

 

[jds holler]

For called coyotes I've always loved the 40 gr V-max, for both 222 and 218 Bee. That's mostly 200 yds or less. It seldom exits.
For 223, I'd push that up to one of the 50 or 55's.

And heck-- I'm just happy to hear of someone who see's some value in the pelts. I always feel bad about wasting one. jd

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I still put up,tan nice male winter pelts. With feet attached, sell them at gunshows.

 

[jds holler]

I still put up,tan nice male winter pelts. With feet attached, sell them at gunshows.

That's great! I hope you're getting enough to make it worth your time.
I've always thought that trendy, touristy shops in the right areas (cow country especially) would be good also. A lot of folks aren't as "anti-kill greenies" after they get to handle some REAL beautiful fur. jd

 

[WV Hitman]

Definitely 40 gr. BT. Used them on groundhogs, badger, even deer in my .22-250XP handgun. No exits. Great internal damage. That's based on around 2000 kills with this bullet.

 

[jds holler]

Back in the days before they invented SX and Blitz bullets, we had to be pretty good with a needle and thread.
A lot of coyotes looked like Frankenstein until ya turned them "fur out" on the stretcher. jd

 

[Gman]

I still put up,tan nice male winter pelts. With feet attached, sell them at gunshows.

What's the going rate to tan an average coyote hide?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

45$ for a single shipped to Moyles. Much less home tanning.

 

[Leveraction35]

I did a considerable amount of bullet testing on coyotes about 20 years ago. I tried nosler tipped 55gr, I had never seen splash, but I did with those. 60gr sierra, exited unless you hit the shoulder bone on entry. 55gr Hornady spire points and 55gr winchester both had inconsistent results with some exits some not, but exits were 1.5". I am sure I tried some others as well, but don't recall. What I do recall is that once I tried a 55gr vmax, which I ran at 3050 fps, I never tried another bullet. Almost never an exit hole, only once on a 35 yard shot. Killed a couple hundred coyotes with the 55gr vmax, all the way out to 612 yards with most shot between 150 and 220 yards. I sold fur, I switched to a 17-223 because my fur buyer was complaining about 22 caliber entrance holes.
Broadside, quarter toward, straight on, or running away, those bullets worked well for me. Never a follow up shot unless I totally blew it and hit them in the back 1/3 of the body.

Phenomenal info, thank you. I want a 17-223 bad… or a fireball