Favorite 223 varmint/predator loads

[Bfh_auto]

Definitely try the 53 VMAX for coyotes. If your gun likes them, they are amazing.
I go for destruction without thought of saving pelts though.
Bullet number 2 is a 55spsx. It's over designed speed enough that it acts like a VMAX.

 

[jmorris]

Right all i have are 52gr and 69gr matchkings. I have shot a couple boxes of vmax in the past but i just wanted to know what people used for hunting. Foxes and cats need to be pelt friendly and coyotes i dont care

The VMax bullets are the opposite of what you want destruction wise. If you want the pelts just use an FMJ, they work on coyotes too. As far as that goes, NATO requires them for humans as well.

 

[Varminterror]

FMJ’s on yotes - illegal in many states - also mean you won’t recover about half of what you shoot. No speculation or inexperienced BS here - FMJ’s don’t kill coyotes fast enough, even putting it through the heart and lungs, to put them down for recovery. You might get lucky and the blood won’t matte in the hair enough or they won’t run far enough to get lost, but in harvesting thousands of coyote pelts over the last 30yrs of my life, having hunted FMJ’s myself, and hunting with many others who have drank that particular koolaid, it’s just not a winning proposition. Growing up, half of the cattle ranchers who had me call coyotes to protect their property had some old mil-surp by their back door, loaded with FMJ’s, they’d all tell stories about last week they shot a coyote that rolled and ran off, even after being hit by their big 30cal bullet, so my 22-250 or 223 wasn’t going to be enough - and at the end of a weekend, I’d have a pile of fur off of their property stretching on the boards.

Sewing up a half dollar to golfball sized hole in about half of your coyotes brings a lot more money at auction than does losing half of your coyotes to run off and die in a hole somewhere far away and never be recovered. With 50 vmax’s (given literally hundreds of opportunities to examine real world results), half of my hides have exit holes smaller than my thumb - which is really about the half which give a broadside shot. Half take a bit more angle and I bang into something too hard and end up with a half dollar to golfball sized hole.

Coyotes aren’t prairie dogs. A Vmax won’t turn a coyote into mist. They dig in a few inches, tear themselves apart, and a small bit pushes out the back side. The permanent cavity is tiny, but the internal trauma is extreme. Same with an NBT or CT-BST, and really the same with the old Amax and new ELD’s.

 

[Kaldor]

FMJ’s on yotes - illegal in many states - also mean you won’t recover about half of what you shoot. No speculation or inexperienced BS here - FMJ’s don’t kill coyotes fast enough, even putting it through the heart and lungs, to put them down for recovery. You might get lucky and the blood won’t matte in the hair enough or they won’t run far enough to get lost, but in harvesting thousands of coyote pelts over the last 30yrs of my life, having hunted FMJ’s myself, and hunting with many others who have drank that particular koolaid, it’s just not a winning proposition. Growing up, half of the cattle ranchers who had me call coyotes to protect their property had some old mil-surp by their back door, loaded with FMJ’s, they’d all tell stories about last week they shot a coyote that rolled and ran off, even after being hit by their big 30cal bullet, so my 22-250 or 223 wasn’t going to be enough - and at the end of a weekend, I’d have a pile of fur off of their property stretching on the boards.

Sewing up a half dollar to golfball sized hole in about half of your coyotes brings a lot more money at auction than does losing half of your coyotes to run off and die in a hole somewhere far away and never be recovered. With 50 vmax’s (given literally hundreds of opportunities to examine real world results), half of my hides have exit holes smaller than my thumb - which is really about the half which give a broadside shot. Half take a bit more angle and I bang into something too hard and end up with a half dollar to golfball sized hole.

Coyotes aren’t prairie dogs. A Vmax won’t turn a coyote into mist. They dig in a few inches, tear themselves apart, and a small bit pushes out the back side. The permanent cavity is tiny, but the internal trauma is extreme. Same with an NBT or CT-BST, and really the same with the old Amax and new ELD’s.

Im not a coyote hunter, but would something like a 55gr Hornady SP be a good choice? Not sure if a coyote has enough mass to get good expansion. I guess thats the question.

 

[irishlad]

22.5 gr of Benchmark with 55gr V-max work well for me.

 

[Varminterror]

Im not a coyote hunter, but would something like a 55gr Hornady SP be a good choice? Not sure if a coyote has enough mass to get good expansion. I guess thats the question.

I’ve not used them for coyotes, but have for deer. I’d expect worse exit wounds and not as fast of anchoring on coyotes.

 

[jmorris]

FMJ’s on yotes - illegal in many states - also mean you won’t recover about half of what you shoot. No speculation or inexperienced BS here - FMJ’s don’t kill coyotes fast enough, even putting it through the heart and lungs, to put them down for recovery.

With any shooting of any sort I would always suggest knowing the laws where you are at before pulling the trigger. My State has restrictions for game animals

Game animals and non-migratory game birds may be hunted with any legal firearm, EXCEPT:

• Rimfire Ammunition (of any caliber) may NOT be used to hunt white-tailed deer, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, or pronghorn.

but centerfire FMJ is legal for them if you wanted to use them. No restrictions on varmits or other non game animals as to bullet style either. What States won’t allow FMJ’s for varmits? I do a lot of things but speculation or BS isn’t one of them unless I use qualifiers like, might, maybe, could, etc.

Not that the OP even wanted recovery of the coyotes I think his exact words were “i don’t care” but even an FMJ from a 9mm can put them down so fast I have to get the 4 wheeler and drag the thing away from the house so the buzzards will eat it.



That said, I don’t kill things for money and have given a number of coyotes a pass on other properties. Around the chicken coop, even a .22 lr bullet is as effective as poison and you don’t have to move the carcass as often.

If you want a good testing ground for various rounds you can setup a motion sensor by a chicken coop and setup a rifle rest upstairs so all you have to do is crack the door and shoot. Then there is no need to speculate. Everything likes the way chicken tastes. You’ll get lots of other stuff too.

 

[Steve in NC]

I'm surprised my old go to accuracy load hasn't been mentioned yet. WW748 is my go to load with 50gr BT bullets and CCI450 primers. Now when the temps get down below say 45F the accuracy will fall off. But above that its my go to load for many years out of an old Rem 700 Varmint Special (12" twist).

My WW748 load shot very good in my AR (8" twist) also but my AR is a defensive weapon I was looking for something different. I was looking for less muzzle flash in low light and simply use less powder to be cheaper and its only a 16" barrel as compared to the 24" barrel on the Rem 700V bolt gun.

I ended up using a load that has been mentioned a couple of times already. 25gr of benchmark with 50gr bullets and about any SR primer. Easily shoots 3 to 5 shot groups under an inch from the bench with this load and the velocity is around 3075fps from the 16" barrel. Nothing fancy. Use SB dies and seat to 2.26" OAL and that is it and it will flat shoot.

Here is a pic captured from a video that was taken at night to see how much muzzle flash this load did or didn't create. This is with a YHM Phantom II flash hider. I was watching the muzzle when it was fired while my son pulled the trigger and my buddy was videoing it. I never actually saw the flash it was so quick. Not until we went back and looked at the slow-motion video did we actually see the flash you see in this screen capture.

Many of the other powders that have been posted above are very good choices also. I have shot H335, BL-C2, N135, N140, Varget, Benchmark and others... all with very good results. The 223 is a very forgiving round when it comes to developing an accuracy load.

 

[AR-Bossman]

If you want a good testing ground for various rounds you can setup a motion sensor by a chicken coop and setup a rifle rest upstairs so all you have to do is crack the door and shoot. Then there is no need to speculate. Everything likes the way chicken tastes. You’ll get lots of other stuff too.

View attachment 832001

The only thing surprising about this is that you didn't rig up the gun for some sort of automated target acquisition and firing protocols.

 

[jmorris]

I have played with that as well but the .gov in my State did create laws against shooting animals by remote.



As above know the laws and follow them. They didn’t even leave any room for varmits.

1) “Computer-assisted remote hunting” means the use of a computer or any other device, equipment, or software, to remotely control the aiming and discharge of archery equipment, a crossbow, or a firearm to hunt an animal, including a bird.

 

[Varminterror]

I do kill things for money. I suppose you kill coyotes after your chickens because the birds are your friends? Or is it because you keep chickens to either sell eggs yourself, or avoid buying? Maybe even sell fryers? When one of my neighbor loses 13 calves in a winter last winter), you might imagine it affects his ability to provide for his family.

Sure, I could perforate the animals and leave them lay, or rather I can add value to an otherwise worthless carcass (even add to the national GDP in doing so) by making use of the animal. If I ever pretended it was profitable, it would be an outright lie, but it protects my families means of living (7th generation American Cattleman), and that of my neighbors - so the killing of livestock predators is justified. The use of the hides is more of a responsibility of a person harvesting natural resources.

What value did you make of that coyote you killed while protecting your chickens?

 

[hdwhit]

I load a lot of 0.223 and 0.224 bullets with weights ranging from 35 grains to 62 grains into several cartridges and I don't have any record of ever having loaded a 50 grain bullet.

 

[Varminterror]

I load a lot of 0.223 and 0.224 bullets with weights ranging from 35 grains to 62 grains into several cartridges and I don't have any record of ever having loaded a 50 grain bullet.

THAT is surprising! 50’s are hugely popular for 22cal CF’s. I would think a guy would almost have to have been TRYING to avoid them, to have never loaded a 50 in a 22CF.

I just sorted Midway’s site for: reloading supplies, bullets, diameter = .224”, then looked at the available options listed under each “grain weight” selection:

#1 = 55 grains with 45 bullets available
#2 = 50 grains with 25 bullet options
#3 = 40 grains with 13
#4 = tie between 52 and 77 grains with 11

 

[Bfh_auto]

THAT is surprising! 50’s are hugely popular for 22cal CF’s. I would think a guy would almost have to have been TRYING to avoid them, to have never loaded a 50 in a 22CF.

I just sorted Midway’s site for: reloading supplies, bullets, diameter = .224”, then looked at the available options listed under each “grain weight” selection:

#1 = 55 grains with 45 bullets available
#2 = 50 grains with 25 bullet options
#3 = 40 grains with 13
#4 = tie between 52 and 77 grains with 11

I haven't loaded 50s either. I mainly used 52,53,55 and 77.
My brother loves 52s, 53 VMAX has a very high bc for the weight, 55s are cheap, and 77s work well in my AR.

 

[NoName47]

53 VMAX has a very high bc for the weight

I remember reading a post somewhere about how the posted bc was bs. Some people measured it and found the bc to only be in the .250s or .260s not .290

 

[Bfh_auto]

I remember reading a post somewhere about how the posted bc was bs. Some people measured it and found the bc to only be in the .250s or .260s not .290

All I found was someone saying .271. I know they blow around less than the 55sp.

 

[balderclev]

36 gr Barnes Varmint Grenade over 26 gr Benchmark. Very accurate and extremely fast. Very seldom an exit hole but explodes inside. Never had a coyote make a step after a rib cage shot.

 

[Mr.Revolverguy]

For the 1/8 twist barrels the op has I believe the 60grvmax is deadly. I was looking for the same thing a general load for varmint and 300yard target shooting.