# coyote rifle?



## the_rookie

hi everybody im new to this site and i was wondering if i was coyote hunting what would be my best gun ive done some research and ive come up with the .19 calhoon great ballistics i was wondering where i could find this on the internet links please? anyways anybody got suggestions or links that would be great


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## ND Five O

You'll probably get a variety of opinions on this but I tend to go with calibers that are cheap (ie. 22-250, .223, .243, etc). I don't reload (yet) and you can't beat the price and accuracy of some factory ammunition out there.

I shoot a Rem 700 in 22-250 and absolutely love the gun. It's cheap to shoot and never fails to impress me. I can get a box of 40 rounds for $17...that's tough to beat.

Good luck.


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## the_rookie

where i shoot is long distance so i need a long distance shooter the 19 calhoon drops 10 inches at 300 yards and has a 1/8" groups at 100 yards


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## Basshole

You can check out www.jamescalhoon.com for more info, they sell rifles, kits to rebarrel your current rifle, loaded ammo, bullets, brass, and dies. I've been considering one also, was looking for info from someone who has one. If you get one let me know how you like it.


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## coyotekiller

well despite what pople tend to believe I like my savage 17 hmr 
at 150 yards i place a 16th of an inch pattern an put a clean hole through quarters dimes and pennys without bending them too bad so I no longer believe those who tell me that a 17 should not be used for coyote
I wouldnt be afraid to take a 250 yd head shot any day
No drop at 175 yards when my gun is sighted for 100 yds
:sniper:


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## ND Five O

Wow....a 250 yard head shot. You must be a damn fine shot. I tend to think that I shoot pretty well and I wouldn't even attempt that with my .270. Good for you.

I also have the Savage .17 HMR with bull barrel and the 2 coyotes I shot with it last year needed to be tracked for longer than I'd like. Both were lung shots at about 75 yards.

I think people sometimes forget that energy and drift play a huge role with smaller calibers, not just how it shoots at the range. That 250 yard shot will be extremely difficult with any type of wind. And impact energy at those distances significantly decreases with that small of a round.

I'm not saying that you can't take a coyote with that caliber, because I have. To each his own. I'm just saying that we need to be careful to ensure as clean a kill as possible.


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## utahheadgear

I too have been hunting coyotes this season with a .17 HMR. Mine is a Marlin 917 VS. So far it has performed very well. It is a great rifle for the money (I paid $279 for mine) and will shoot with some of the most expensive rifles on the market. I average about 1" groups at 100 yds. and it shoots better than me. It's also very inexpensive to shoot. 50 rds. cost about $9.00.

So far I have taken five yotes with it at distances between 20 and 70 yds. Four of the five were one shot kills. All shots were in the chest. The fifth would have been one shot also but my brother shot him again as he was spinning and going down. Two of the five dropped in their tracks and the other three were down in less than ten steps. No tracking required.

The .17 does not hit them like a Mack truck, but it does a fine job and leaves absolutely no pelt damage. No exit wound and you generally can't even find the entry wound either.

I wouldn't say that the 17 HMR is the perfect coyote gun, but it is one to consider. I will continue to take mine out for coyotes and I suspect I will continue to be happy with the results.


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## the_rookie

wow thats pretty sweet buts thats at a close distance id have to say if i did have a 17 then i wouldnt go past anything then 125 cause the ke wouldnt be enough i have a 22mag i wouldnt go past anything then 150 even at 150 id still be a little etchy yet it is pretty accurate at 175-200 head shots would be absolute needed


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## GunRunner

coyotekiller said:


> well despite what pople tend to believe I like my savage 17 hmr
> at 150 yards i place a 16th of an inch pattern an put a clean hole through quarters dimes and pennys without bending them too bad so I no longer believe those who tell me that a 17 should not be used for coyote
> I wouldnt be afraid to take a 250 yd head shot any day
> No drop at 175 yards when my gun is sighted for 100 yds
> :sniper:


i fancy myself as a pretty fair shot, and a HUGH fan of smaller caliber rifles, but personally, i would not even consider a 250 yard headshot at a 'yote with a 17HMR.

as a couple of other guys have stated, go with the .223 or 22-250. there both fine caliber,cheap to shoot, and are dead on accurate.

if you dont mind me asking what brand of 17HMR ammo are you using, and what model savage?
im NOT calling you a liar, so dont think that, im just curious what model rifle/ammo combination your using to get such accuracy.


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## coyotekiller

My savage is a model 93R17 It has the heavy barrel a military style spring action bi pod and a barska 6-12x50 scope I have a very steady hand and lots target experience at long distances. Now I would not shoot a 17 grain bullet, however I do Trust hornadays new 20 grain xtp bullet
That is what I have a 1/16 inch pattern at 150 yds with and I put holes through dimes at that ditance too.

An experienced rifleman can adjust himself for windage and elevation


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## ND Five O

I have the same model rifle and it doesn't like to shoot the Hornady ammo very well; which is discouraging because in most publications, it's the most accurate in many .17's. I get at least one dud in every box of ammo that I shoot. Thankfully, the CCI shoots without problems....which is interesting because CCI makes the Hornady stuff too.

Anyway, I would love to see you shoot that .17 at 150 with those results. I too consider myself a pretty decent shot, but 1/16th of an inch at 150???? That's one ragged hole. It's not that I think you're lying, I'd just have to see it to believe it.

I've got a pretty good friend who's one of the snipers for Red River Valley SWAT. In fact, he helped set me up with my Rem VSSF. I've seen him shoot my .17 and didn't get those same results at 100 yards, _much less _150. And this boy can shoot....he wins most shooting competitions in the area that are open to regional SWAT teams.

Maybe it's my gun...who knows.

If you're getting those results, then you are truly a damn fine shooter.

Good luck.


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## coyotekiller

Yes but what scope do you have on your gun

and of course your friend isn't going to be as good with your rifle, it is not sighted for him my buddy is a good shot too but he cant shoot my gun just like i cant shoot his accurately anyways

Everyones view down a scope is different that is why you always must sight your gun yourself to be accurate
:sniper:


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## GunRunner

ye, its hard to get those kind of results with someone elses rifle, but with that guys experience behind the triger ( i myself spend about 8 1/2 years behind the trigger as a hitter in the USN) he can pick up just abut anty rifle, scoped or glassed, and get pretty god results.

im thinking maybe its got alot to do with the rifle ammo combination on the 17.....

anyway, goota go watch a movie


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## farmerj

Yes, the .17 HMR will get the job done. My cousin and I got lucky one day for grins and got a fox across the lake, 430 yds out and 11 shots later, the fox was on the ground. Would I do it again, NEVER, not with a .17 HMR.

For Varmits, I am setting up a Rem 788 in .243 Win. I like the terminal ballistics better than the .22-250 and it clobbers the .223/5.56 round to a non contender. Will make for a decent enough deer rifle as well. Matched with an identical rifle in .308, the pair will be death to many a varmit/critter.


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## ND Five O

It really doesn't matter what scope I have on my gun to determine how the gun shoots. Granted, it may not be the same "zero" for you as it is for me, but like GunRunner said, anyone should be able to grab a gun and shoot to determine accuracy (ie. group size) of the gun/shooter.

And I realize that my guns are sighted in for me and will shoot different for others, a non-disputed point.

My .17 is scoped with a Leupold VXIII 3-9X40mm.

I'm just saying that THAT type of accuracy with the .17 would be nearly impossible to accomplish without PERFECT conditions (ie. 1/16th inch groups at 150 yards). But that's my opinion.


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## GunRunner

ND Five O Wrote:

"I'm just saying that THAT type of accuracy with the .17 would be nearly impossible to accomplish without PERFECT conditions (ie. 1/16th inch groups at 150 yards). But that's my opinion."

man, i have to agree on that. i have seen 22 cal. centerfires drift wildly with a little bit of a breeze, i can imagine what a little breeze would do for the little 17.


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## coyotekiller

I truthfully was surprised when i was shooting that well, I did have a light cross breeze but that didnt affect the bullet travel that much maybe an 1/8 of an inch

and besides it has been proven in studies that th 22 bullet has much more wind resistance than the 17 therefor affecting the travel of the bullet more drastically
:sniper:


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## the_rookie

the 17 is a good coyote round but nothing past 100 yards i wouldnt go with anything past 175 with my 22 mag


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## Matt Fiala

Any one try out ruger's new .204?


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## the_rookie

no but ive seen a lot of good reviews about it the only problem being in one of the reviews the barrell in one of the rifles had a huge divvot in it


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## SniperPride

coyotekiller said:


> Everyones view down a scope is different that is why you always must sight your gun yourself to be accurate


I disagree with alot in the past few posts but this the most. Its true people look differently down the scope but someone is not doing it correctly :wink: Yes site in the gun yourself, but learn how to properly use your scope...parallax included. And a 250 yard head shot on a coyote with any crosswind using a .17 hmr thats a good bit of luck involved. 17 + distance x wind=luck :sniper:


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## ND Five O

Agreed.


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## wompus_cat

First of all a 1/16th of an inch equals .0625 and it is impossible to shoot that size of group with a .177 bullets (a group is measured out to out) or at least that is how i learned it

Personally i dislike those piss-ant little calibers, a 22-250 in 20 mph crosswind (like that never happens) is 2+ feet of windage.

With my .308 its 2 inches

I shot nosler 125 grain ballistic tip bullets (handloaded of course, its the only way to go) that are cooking along at an astonishing 3200+fps with up to 51 gr W748 ball powder. Ill take on any smaller caliber in any 20+mph wind 200 or more yards.


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## Brad.T

I find it funny to call these callibers "little pissants" when they are still one of the leading calibers for shooting predators. So millions of people are wrong i guess. I get a bang out of everyone making up all of these situations to make their personnel choice of rifle or caliber look better. I'm not often out in 20mph winds calling but sometimes i am and i can tell you that i've shot coyotes in wind like that and i'm pretty sure that i didn't have two feet of wind drift. I believe that the 308 is a great caliber and thats why the military uses it but i think its overkill as far as shooting coyotes and keeping the hides.
Just my two cents


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## farmerj

coyotekiller said:


> Yes but what scope do you have on your gun
> 
> and of course your friend isn't going to be as good with your rifle, it is not sighted for him my buddy is a good shot too but he cant shoot my gun just like i cant shoot his accurately anyways
> 
> Everyones view down a scope is different that is why you always must sight your gun yourself to be accurate
> :sniper:


I will respectfully have to disagree with you on this one.

In the Guard, there were three of us that would end up betting everyone who was willing to that ONE of the three would zero the weapon, the other two would all be able to qualify with that weapon. So long as we all HELD THE SAME SIGHT PICTURE, we all qualified. That sight picture was center mass. As far as sight picture goes, if you hold the sights the same, front post center in rear peep, or even with top of rear notch, there is ONE sight picture.

Now do you you shoot 6 o'clock hold or center mass? That would be the question that needs to be asked. Your shooting buddies that have spent so much time in the military as a "hitter" should know that. If the Navy is anything like the army, this gets thrown out every time you go to the range. And it gets spanked into the ground as a fallacy every time I have been to the range.

As to the Scope. There is only ONE way to look threw a scope. Parralax, eye relief dictate this. It's not something I or anyone else can change. So ANYONE can pick up that rifle and shoot it with the same POI/POA.

How do I KNOW that is true? Because I ZERO all our rifles. The wife doesn't like to spend that much time at the range. I also don't put the complimentary 10 rounds out and leave I will shoot 2-3 boxes until I am satidfied with a zero. Because I am not just zeroing the rifle, I am zeroing the package, Rifle, ammo, scope AND SHOOTER. Sometimes it will take 15-20 rounds for the shooter to settle in.

Once I get our zeroes set, then I take the wife and whoever else wants to come with and we go back to the range. It is then we will practice shooting.

I do not care what anyone says. You will not be able to make the shot if you do not practice. Practice is not taking one or two shots a week at a coyote and managing to hit it. It is taking the time in all weather, and shooting to learn what your rifle package will do.
Again, a rifle PACKAGE is:

Rifle[/*]
Sling[/*]
Scope[/*]
Ammunition[/*]
SHOOTER[/*]
Weather[/*]
If any part of that fails to perform, the shot is lost. Guess which part is likely to perform badly.


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## jgtalbot

Hey Rookie: You'll like a 19-223 Calhoon.

To respond to 17HMR and yotes... I had two opportunities, at 85 and 125 yards prox, and rolled 'em both. It can be done but the HMR is not reliable for everyday calling. Great gopher/rabbit cartridle.


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## the_rookie

this may sound retarded from me but whats the difference between the 19-223 and the 19 
speed...
accuracy...
grains...
????????


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