coyote pills

[vanguard138]

I saw in another thread that fmj was recommended for coyote hunting if you had any intent on keeping the pelts. Would the sierra 123 mk be too much?
What other recommendations for bullets that are readily available?

[Variable]

The Sierra isn't an FMJ, and they do fragment. Norma does make a 120gr. FMJ. They are the only ones that I'm currently aware of. If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will chime in.

[stokesrj]

I've only shot one coyote with a fmj in my life, so don't have a wide experience with that type of bullet. This was with a 55 grain fmj .223 and was because it was the only ammo I had with me, not because it would be my choice. The shot was 224 yards so relatively close. At the shot the coyote spun around in a circle several times and went down. I watched him with my binoculars for a few minutes to make sure he was down for good and then started over to pick him up. The route I took to get to him prevented me from keeping eyes on him the whole way and I was quite surprised when I arrived only to find hair and blood, no coyote and no trail to tell me which direction he had taken. I searched a grid for a few hundred yards for several hours but never found him and don't know what happened.
I'm not insinuating this would be a consistent result if you were to use a 6.5 Grendel with fmj bullets but it is a possibility. I've shot a lot of coyotes with a wide variety of calibers, gauges, and types of bullets and shot and the one I described is the only one I ever lost.
So, if it were me, and with my limited experience with FMJ bullets on coyotes I would use a conventional hunting bullet.
The 123 SMK will sometimes rip the hide excessively, most often you will get a quarter sized exit hole. If your gun shoots the Hornady 95 V-Max well, I would consider it. Often it will fragment so violently that the exit will be small and the forces contained within the chest cavity, but again occasionally on the right kind of shot it will rip the hid a few inches, just sew it up.
That's what I do.
Bob

[vanguard138]

Thanks Bob.

[bwaites]

For saving pelts, I would consider one of the solids, thats what the light solids were developed for, supposedly.

I just don't know if you can find them, after the ATF got all weird last fall!

[vanguard138]

Can you give me some examples pf the light solids?

[LRRPF52]

I've only shot one coyote with a fmj in my life, so don't have a wide experience with that type of bullet. This was with a 55 grain fmj .223 and was because it was the only ammo I had with me, not because it would be my choice. The shot was 224 yards so relatively close. At the shot the coyote spun around in a circle several times and went down. I watched him with my binoculars for a few minutes to make sure he was down for good and then started over to pick him up. The route I took to get to him prevented me from keeping eyes on him the whole way and I was quite surprised when I arrived only to find hair and blood, no coyote and no trail to tell me which direction he had taken. I searched a grid for a few hundred yards for several hours but never found him and don't know what happened.
I'm not insinuating this would be a consistent result if you were to use a 6.5 Grendel with fmj bullets but it is a possibility. I've shot a lot of coyotes with a wide variety of calibers, gauges, and types of bullets and shot and the one I described is the only one I ever lost.
So, if it were me, and with my limited experience with FMJ bullets on coyotes I would use a conventional hunting bullet.
The 123 SMK will sometimes rip the hide excessively, most often you will get a quarter sized exit hole. If your gun shoots the Hornady 95 V-Max well, I would consider it. Often it will fragment so violently that the exit will be small and the forces contained within the chest cavity, but again occasionally on the right kind of shot it will rip the hid a few inches, just sew it up.
That's what I do.
Bob

The hair and lack of blood trail is evidence that he was snatched by a rapid pterodactyl out of the sky, then lifted off to some hidden cliff-dwelling to be fed to baby pterodactyls. It is the way of the wild....

[bwaites]

Can you give me some examples pf the light solids?

As seen here:

http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/ri...ed-solids/

However, currently Barnes is saying this:

Dear Customer:

There has been speculation regarding certain component and ammunition products within the
shooting community. The purpose of this letter is to inform our valued customers of the status of
Barnes Banded Solids’ availability as components, and in Barnes VOR-TX Safari ammunition.
In October 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF” classified
twelve individual Barnes Banded Solid projectiles as armor piercing ammunition. Following
these classifications, Barnes submitted individual “exemption request” petitions to ATF. If the
petitions are approved, the projectiles will be removed from the statutory definition of armor
piercing ammunition, and therefore Barnes will have clearance to continue manufacturing and
selling these projectiles.

As of today’s date, ATF has not ruled on any of the petitions requesting the removal of the
Banded Solid projectiles from the statutory definition of armor piercing ammunition.
Accordingly, the following eleven Banded Solid projectiles (currently listed in the 2012 Barnes
Catalog) are subject to exemption requests that are pending with ATF. Please note that Barnes is
not pursuing an exemption for the .223 caliber Banded Solid projectile at this time. The .223
caliber Banded Solids are not listed in the 2012 Barnes catalog or on the Barnes website:

25 Cal 243 Cal 264 Cal 270 Cal
284 Cal 308 Cal 338 Cal 375 Cal
410 Cal 458 Cal (45-70) 458 SOCOM

While we await determination from ATF on these calibers, and in compliance with the original
classification by ATF, the projectiles listed above will not be available for purchase from Barnes.
However, if and when the exemption requests are approved, the projectiles at issue will become
available for purchase at that time.

We are confident that most, if not all, of our removal requests with ATF will be successful, and
that we will soon be able to provide these calibers to our hunting and sport-shooting customers
around the world. In the meantime, we will be happy to answer questions regarding these
projectiles and/or the VOR-TX Safari ammunition loaded with these projectiles. Please note the
Banded Solids components and VOR-TX Safari ammunition products loaded with Banded
Solids not included in the aforementioned calibers (e.g. 416, 470 and 500) and TSX bullets are
not subject to the current armor piercing classification and continue to be available for purchase.
We at Barnes recognize the inconvenience caused by lack of access to the appropriate products
for individual sporting or hunting purposes. We will continue to aggressively seek immediate
resolution to this issue, and inform our customers as further information is provided by ATF.
Please refer to http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/ri...ed-solids/ for future updates.

We look forward to your continued business and wish you the best in the New Year.

[LRRPF52]

Don't even get me started....

[bwaites]

Don't even get me started....

Oh, but I wanted to!! LOL!!!!

Still jonesing over those solids from Elite?

Sorry 'bout that!!

[LRRPF52]

Every firearms, ammunition, LE supply, and industry member needs to cut BATFE off of any and all future sales. Anyone who doesn't see it this way should be boycotted. They'd probably rather buy from Europe anyway. Bite the hand that feeds you, and expect a meal? Seriously?

[mwilkins]

My brothers area has a bad Yote problem. I did a bit of reading on best shot placement, calling Yotes in and so on. The one thing that stuck out was the guys that were harvesting for the pelts. Obviously big holes are harding to mend and take away from the hide. To combat that, these guys were using little bitty projectiles. Best I can recall, they were down in the low 40 gr counts pushing them real hard with high muzzle velocity numbers. The idea was to take the small projectile and leave the smallest entry wound possible but with the low weight, it would come apart in the wound track and never exit the animal.

Took a pause while typing this and found the site with the article. It has load data within it and results.

Enjoy..... http://www.coyotecanada.ca/terminal_ballistics.html

Here is a better article from the same site...... http://www.coyotecanada.ca/weapons.html

[bwaites]

There is no doubt that pushing light varmint bullets fast will make them blow up in most cases, and not exit. However, I've seen nice pelts that looked like someone ripped open a zipper on the back side when those bullets didn't upset and blow up early, and they exited, taking huge chunks with them. Most of the pelt hunters in my area belong to one of two schools:

1) Shoot solids or FMJ's and deal with two small holes in almost every pelt.

2) Shoot light varmint bullets fast and deal with the occasional lost pelt.

I'm not a pelt hunter, so I shoot them with whatever I have. I've seen a 100 grain Berger completely destroy a pelt on an otherwise beautiful coyote bitch, and I've seen the light bullets function exactly as I would expect, blow up on impact without an exit.

I shoot coyotes all year, whenever I can find them, mostly as targets of opportunity, so I don't really care what I use as long as I drop them, and do so humanely. It seems that all the Grendel bullets work pretty well for that.

[RangerRick]

The Norma 6.5mm 120 grain FMJ is an excellent bullet. Very Accurate. Midaway had them for awhile, but I don't see them listed any longer.

A group of us did a special order for them from Sports World Tulsa. Don't know if they still have any, though.

RR

[jwilson1985]

i wouldnt use over the 95gr as stated above. And for sure no a-max and thats from exp lol

[Variable]

Oh, but I wanted to!! LOL!!!!

Still jonesing over those solids from Elite?

Sorry 'bout that!!

You're trying to elevate all of our blood pressures!:p

[Drifter]

The Norma 6.5mm 120 grain FMJ is an excellent bullet. Very Accurate. Midaway had them for awhile, but I don't see them listed any longer.

A group of us did a special order for them from Sports World Tulsa. Don't know if they still have any, though.

RR

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/464397/...box-of-100