coyotes and .223s

[itsmike762]

Anyone thats read my last post will know I'm new to hunting predators. And I'm looking for advice on bullet weights for the .223 Handi-Rifle. The white box Winchester in 45gr. JHP shoots like a dream for the "cheap gun cheap ammo" combo @ 3/4" from the bench. But do you all think that light of a round will drop the yotes when I do my part? Testing on paper has shown me I need to stay with 55gr or less in the NEF. If you shoot anything past that(62gr) in my rifle the groups turn into patterns.

[Warmouth]

You have slow twist rifling in the barrel, 1/14 twist vs 1/9 which is why the lighter, shorter bullets are more accurate. The faster 1/9 twist is needed to stabalize the longer bullets. The 223 will do fine for coyotes, just about perfect in fact. Shoot for the chest, heart lung area, and you should be fine. If for whatever reason they don't drop at the shot, wait 5 minutes and follow it up. That is if you want the skin, if you don't want the skin, let it go and shoot another, it will die eventually.



Good luck

[coyotewhacker]

I have the bull barrel HandiRifle, and it has performed great on coyotes. I use slightly heavier 52 grain pills, but if I stay within the accuracy range of the rifle (somewhere around 190 - 200 yards) the little gun shoots better than I can hold. One thing us Missourians have going for us is we have the Sierra bullet factory up in Sedalia, and they have some unbelieveable prices on "factory second" bullets...which in most cases is a discoloration of the bullet jacket or a lead extrusion on the nose that did not come off in the die....they sell these bullets by the pound, not by bullet count, and bottom line is after you discard the truly defective bullets, you still end up paying somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 the price at the store.
The guys up in the northern half of the state like to keep this secret, but Da Coyotewhacker believes in equal opportunity for all. If you shoot anything with a straight wall case, the Starline brass factory is right next door. A visit to Sedalia can be a great thing!