Best Possible Caliber

[Duffy]

Good afternoon. I am new to this site, having visited it as a guest periodically, and look forward to corresponding with you, sharing ideas and information, and just enjoying the site and all it has to offer.

Question: What are your thoughts as to the best all-around caliber for woodchuck and the occasional coyote? I suppose distance and accuracy are important, as is knock-down power, but nothing too overwhelming. I hunt whitetails in Pennsylvania, but I'd think my .30-30 or .30/06 are too much firepower, but my shotguns for squirrel and rabbit not enough. I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks!

[toxic111]

First, welcome to the site.

Second, it depends on the range you wil be shooting. If you are shooting moderate ranges 100-250 or so, then the .204 Ruger, .223, .222 would be a good choice. From 250-400 then I think I would go with a .22-250, any further I would jump to a .243 or 6mm Rem. Anything above will do what you need and probably more.

[Skinny Shooter]

Hey Duffy, welcome to the Hood.
I'll second what Toxic said. I currently use a 222 and 22-250. If I was starting over again I might go 223 and 243. That is if I could have 2 guns.
I also use my 12ga pump with super full choke and turkey loads. For predators anyways.

As to your '06, if you reload, find some lightweight 30cal varmint bullets and you'll flip chucks end over end. Great practice for the following deer season when you hunt with your deer rifle.

Allen

[jmarriott]

I shoot .222 and love it.

If you want to really take that very basic short fat cartridge and kick it up a notch or two then look at the .223 WSSM OR .25 WSSM.

I think even though these are fairly new cartridges i think they both are going to be real winners in the Target/varmint area.

That .25 WSSM will match that .30 cal varmint in the red mist department.

Plus if you look at those rounds they really look cool like a regular bullet with racing stripes.

I guess it would be what you might call a varmint. If it is a ground hog at tops then go small but if something as big as a real pig then kick it up to the .25

[skeet]

No rel best because of all the factors mentioned...BUT for the easiest to find probably 223. It'll do most of what you could want and it is usually easy to find a rifle. 222 isn't made much anymore...sadly. BTW welcome to the site. Know you'll be glad you came:D

[royinidaho]

How about this....

If you don't reload, spend the money that you'd spend on a basic set up. Then load the 06 with the lightest fastest bullet it will shoot well.

If you already reload then load the 06 with the lightest fastest bullet it will shoot well.

That way you're into what you want to do way cheaper and more versatile than you otherwise would be.

With that experience under your belt you'll know better what you want.

But if you wanna new/additiional rifle by something with the first two numbers of 22 ie, 222, 223, 22-250, 220 Swift.

But I'd give serious tho't to the ol' 06 just to getcha goin'.

[Catfish]

Duffy,
Welcome aboard.

Alot depends on wether your hide hunting or just trying to kill coyotes. Last I heard coyotes on the carcuss was $ 4 for tops and nothing for the rest. If you want to skin them you`ll get alittle more, but in my oppenion not worth carrying in. That said, if your still going to hide hunt the .17 Rem. would be the best choice for hitting power and lack of hide damage. I the .204 will give you alittle more range, but can do more damage. Right not I`m carrying a .204. If you just want to kill coyotes and you reload I would recomand the Speer 130 gn. HP`s in you .30-06. This is the litest bullet I found oin .30 cal. that will hold it`s accuracy at long ranges. It also does not rickochet far, but you will save no hides with this bullet. There are acouple of guys around here that are hunting coyotes with 06`s and killing coyotes. If your after the best round for range I would go with the .204, but when it come right down to it there is not all that much difference between it and your 06. The biggest thing is that the .204 is not as loud and does not richoet more than 100 ft. or so.

[Andy L]

There are alot of good coyote rounds. Like Catfish said, if your serious about fur, can shoot good and are willing to wait for a good shot and make good shot placement, the 17 Rem or some other variation of the 17 centerfire, cannot be beaten. Period.

I was pretty skeptical of the 204. It doesnt take rocket science to figger out that a bigger bullet flying the same speed or faster than a 17, will do more fur damage. But, I saw a few coyotes shot with one a while back. Pretty impressive. Only one damaged hide, the rest had no exit. And, the damaged one was shot in the shoulder joint. I dont care what your shooting, hit one there and you got damage. There werent enough coyotes killed with it to make a good test, but at least it has hope.

With a 22 centerfire, your going to get your fair share of exits. Ive tried, with limited success, to make a 22 centerfire perform as a 17, no exit. The best I came up with was 223AI with a 52gr AMax. You could get some to not exit, but a little off or a solid rib bone and you got a mess. IMO, you would be better off to use a little harder, heavier bullet, such as a deer bullet. You will still get an exit hole in your hide, but with a controlled expansion bullet, it should be fairly small. If you keep it under 200 yards, a 22 Hornet is excellent. Otherwise, I would say a 223 with a good 55-60gr controlled expansion bullet will do fairly minimal hide damage with well placed shots. The heavier bullets will also, should anyway, anchor the coyote a little better with a less than perfect hit.

If your not worried about hide, guess it dont matter what you shoot. As long as its big enough to make a clean kill without making the animal suffer. If I were just wanting to kill coyotes for the sake of killing, as some people do, I would probably shoot a 25-06 with a 75gr VMax. They wont be walking away from that one, good for a loooooong way and not rough on the shoulder. But, Im really not into wasting a viable resource, even if it is only for a few bucks.

Anyway, those are my opinions, experiences and thoughts on the subject.

Good Luck
Andy

[Duffy]

Thanks for all your input, guys! A lot of valuable information and opinion.

I'll keep researching and thinking about it, and I'll let you know what I finally decide on.

Thanks again.

[Dom]

Welcome to HC Duffy. Like said, there's a bunch of calibers out there that'll do the job for you. The best? Too subjective and personal, tho I'll jump on the .223 bandwagon, because it seems it would suit your purpose best.

And I noticed your avatar -- it's the Hirsch with the cross, which is in the St Hubertus story. Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[Evan03]

on a normal day id probly jump all over the 257 calibers and say these are the best.

but today im not, im going to sujest the 243.
factory loads from 58-100gr bullets, makes this caliber ideal for everything from flys to deer, cant get any better than that.

if ive already replied to this then i sure hope i am givin the same advice. ;)

[Hi Ball]

I realize that there don't seem to be many gun manufacturers chambering the "Triple Deuce" (.222) these days but I still feel it is one of the most accurate and fur friendly calibers out there today. It is easy to reload and very cheap to shoot as well. It handles coyotes out to 250 yards. Not near the muzzle blast of a 22-250 either. Just food for thought Gents!:)

Now if your looking for that "Dynamic Dual" caliber for hunting both whitetail deer or varmint/predators, you can't beat the .243 Winchester or 25/06 caliber in my humble opinion.;) ;)

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

If you want 'em dead, whack 'em with a .243 or 6mm. If other conditions factor in, such as pelt damage, or limited space for shooting, then use any good .224 cal. (.222, 223, 22-250 etc.)
.17's and 204's will work but you won't get the duality of use that you will from a .243 or 6mm (varmint/deer capabilities).

[teal325]

My .02

Depends on what you hunt - wide open places or the thickets but all around you really can not go wrong with the 223. Pleny of surplus ammo to shoot cheap, isn't hard on barrels and if you desire "just a bit more" have her punched out to 223AI.

My second choice would be the 22-250.

If primo fur is what you are after then a 17 cal would fit the bill.

[guido]

Whats a realistic "knock down" range when using a .17 Rem on coyote?

Thanks in Advance!

[gumpokc]

Duffy,

welcome to the board.

the 30-30 or 30/06 are both good, if your not going for hides.

I personally like to use my 8mm mauser, but thats just me :)

125gr bullet at 3100 fps, does a number on yodeldogs :)

[Evan03]

how bout a 325wsm:D :D :D :D :D

[Evan03]

hmmmmmm

i shot one yote with my 270wsm, with home brewd loads pushn a 140gr nolser balistic tip somewhere in the neigbore hood of 3100fps, maybe alittle faster than that. bullet impacted at 300yds but didnt exit. dog dropped like sack of bricks. no kicks or nothing just instantly dead. i was wide eyed to say the least

to start with i couldnt belive i made the shot. he spotted me at about 100yds from me and took of up the snowy mtn. deep snow. this dog was high jumpn and fast. i had the cross hairs on him waitn for my chance, when hed stop and look back or get tired and slow to a walk.
he decided to stop and look back, worst mistake he ever made. he no morre than started to turn his kneck to look at me and i sent the wsm to singing. it was far enough shot that i rebounded and saw the impact through the scope. pretty cool.

i hiked my lazy but all the way up because i just had to see what the bullet did. i knew thered be a football sized exit. i get up there and theres no blood spread all over the snow like the 2506 would have done.

i kick and nudge and prod trying to find and exit and i for the life of me couldnt and could only guess at the intrance because of where i was holding.

thats one of the reasons i stayed withh the load through deer season.

i got the unexspected a semi heavy balistic tipp id of thought would have blew him to peices. instead it seemed to have just scared that yote to death.

Evan

[SeaBreeze]

Welcome Duffy,
If memory serves me right they used to make a '06 accelerator. Not sure if they still do, but if so it may be an option.

[Duffy]

Thanks again for all the valuable advice. I think I might wind up with a .223. Given what people say and what I've read, it might be the best overall for what I'd like to do.

ANd SeaBreeze, I have heard of the '06 Accelerator round, but I haven't seen any for a long time. Worth looking for, I'd bet!

[Rocky Raab]

Amen, Duffy. EVERYBODY needs a 223. It's the centerfire equivalent of the 22LR.

Cheap ammo, great accuracy, very easy to reload, good for muzzle to 300 yards, no recoil, made in every action type available, and just a hoot to shoot.

If you want to be a walking varminter, seek out a small, light rifle. Rem-7, Ruger Lightweight, Browning Micro-Hunter, CZ American are just a few to check out. Even a T/C Contender carbine is great if you only need one shot.

[highthrill]

Best all around that I have found is a 22.250 period. It will out shoot the 223 and if your reload, you can shoot pretty easy out to 300 yards with it.

[gooser]

I use a .223 out to about 300yds. 55 gr hp
sight in at 1 1/2" high at 100. your dead on at 200 and only 7" low at 300. this is with factory loads at 3240.
:)

[Evan03]

i do alot of shooting, hunting, varmiting and reloading. these are few things ive found.

well start first with the 3006. as an all around hunter varmit rig.
im right now loading 180 nosler bts and 165s for deer. the rifle shoots these very acurately and i got to varmiting with the 165 loads wich do recoil a noticable amount.

i liked the rifle so much i decided id turn the bullet weight down some and try 125gr nosler bts to keep speeds up and get the recoil to drop. what i found is that to shoot these bullet acuratly the recoil was still almost as much as the 165s. so i see no reason to load the 125s but i didnt have the right powders to try going for slower reduced loads. wich would have been cool to try.

the best varmit slash hunting caliber ive used is the 2506. this rifle produces mild to moderate recoil in most rifles with full power loads usesing 75-120gr bullets. recoil is light enough that i can shoot rock chucks all day or spend time putn lots of holes in paper the recoil just isnt a concern. my 2506 has taken more coyotes and other varmits than it has big game, but just this last deer season i took my buck with it. useing 1 100gr nosler bt at about 3200fps.

i also own and shoot a 220 and 22/250 the 220 is kinda my new fun gun and has seen a few thousand rds in alittle less than a year that ive owned it. with this rifle im loading 40gr nosler bts and have loaded 55 bergers 55 vmaxes and 53gr tripple shocks. one good thing about shooting a flatt flying lazer beam like this is that you can hold the cross hairs on fur at out to 300yds with no hold over. mines actualy sited in 1" high at 100 and is printing 1" low at 300.
i now own one 22/250 and have owned 2 others in the past. this caliber is basicaly the same as the 220 pushes bullets about exackly the same almost within a few fps with most loads. but its case capicity is a few grains less.

one thing i have found is that i shoot alot of varmits at 200yds and closer. this is wear a 222 221 223 would be a very good caliber. burns less powder makes less noice and still gets the job done 80% of the time.

but its that other 20% of time out west here in idaho that the bigger 22 cals shine through. ranges can be long and wind is often into the 20's

i guess to boil things down youd have to take into concideration the area you hunt. what ranges youl mostly likly be shooting critters at. if youve got the possiblilty of shots over 300yds for that other 20% time is it worth shooting a small 22 or wondering why you missed that coyote that you thought was 200yds out. when it was actualy 300.

all that said i would like some day to have 223 in lighter weight walking varmit rig. and have lots of enespensive ammo loaded to shoot at whatever whenver i pleased.