ARRGGGGGG .223 AGAIN???

[Joe]

OK guys......I am ready to pull my hair out. I called in my first triple yesterday evening....was great. The lead dog was standing out about 60 yards sniffing the air...I put the little 50 gr TNT in the middle of the chest and squeezed. Upon impact, the coyote went to it's front knees hard, bit at it's forleg, and fell. At this time another that I hadn't seen ran from behind the hit one, and the hit one YELPED, got up and sort of ran off with the other one. A third one ran out from about 15 yards away and ran with the other two. I never saw the other two until I shot the first one. I went to where the first one was shot and found loads of bright red frothy blood (lung hit) and followed it about 100 yards finding lots of blood...got too dark and came home. I am sure that yote is lying right there and I am going back this morning. I shot one last week with the same ammo and she fell hard without a step.......what gives??

I am fixin' to go get another rifle.....243, 25/06 or 22/250 or 223 wssm I guess.....I love this little rifle but the places we hunt are thick and if they don't go down right there you may not find them.

Perhaps go to a soft point bullet and try again...

What are the suggestions??


Help...


Joe

[Bobcat]

Hey Joe,

I personally don't like the TNT's. They are way too explosive for coyotes, IMHO. I would either try a 50 gr. BT if you want to stick with that type of bullet. My pill of choice is the #1365 Sierra 55 gr. Spitzer Boat Tail.

That is really frustrating......I feel your pain!

Good Hunting,

Bob

[RidgeRunner]

Try a 64 gr winchester power point!
RR

[Rancher]

I use the 50 grain Dogtown bullets from Midway or the CritterRidders from Cabela's. They're a softpoint bullet, so they dont explode and penetrate better, they're cheap to shoot and while not as accurate in some of my rifles as a V-Max, for the price difference the'll do and they should increase your 223's terminal performance to the level you are looking for, especially at that 60 yard range you mentioned.

[Joe]

Thanks guys.......I will certainly do something...no more of these TNT's, although I have dropped them in their tracks with the TNT, I don't think it is a choice..I was wrong.

[cdngunner]

went out and got my first coyote last weekend.

I used.233 45 grain winchester white box

First shot, it spun around and nipped at where I shot her, then she laid down. 20 minutes later she was still lthere in the same spot. As i got close she lifted her head so I obliged her with another shot. Din't move after that. No exit wounds and could hardly see the entry wounds.

oh by the way first shot was about 150 yards and second at 80.

[Joe]

Gonna give it one more chance.....bought the Sierra #1365 55 BTSP...............if it works I can keep my little gun ( man I LOVE that little bitty gun)...if not......the decision on what to get next will be upon me.

Bobcat......do you have any favorite loads with that bullet?



Joe

[okcoyote]

hey joe,,,,,,,,,

do not give up on the .223. it is not the problem. while i favor the 22-250 i find not many fllies on the .223. back 25-30 years ago we toyed with many kinds of bullets. we fournd that what suited our needs as hide collectors was the eithe the horn. sx's or the sierra blitz. these were thin skinned soft points. actually they were designed for 222 and 223 velocities. we had to load them down to 3500 fps for the 22-250. but they were little bombs. yes the could and would blow up on a shoulder. i personally have been having about the same luck as u as of late.. last year i shot a 223 with 40 vmax's. arrgggg.. blow ups on the shoulder. dont hit em in the shoulder ya say.....sometimes it cannot be helped. so i went back to the 22-250 this year and started with the 55 bthp sierra loaded by pmc and fedeeral.. they worked well....not especially fur friendly... friend say try the 55 vmax......super accurate for sure...... still blows up on the shoulder and then to make things even worse i have been having the critters run off with behind the shoulder shots. these are yotes that were shot at anywhere from 40 to 250 yds. i realize that no bullet is going to perform the way we want all the time. my father in law shoots the green and yellow box remington 50gr. psp and they work well. so i am going to try them in 55gr. i believe that bobcat is right on the money about the 1365 sierra. the hornady 55 sp (not the spsx) might work also. but no longer than i have been on this board .... i believe bo knows.....i mean bobcat know bullets. hang in there. its gotta get better.......

okcoyote

[Joe]

Roger that...will keep ya'll posted

[CoonDawg]

"Hey Joe" sounds like it could be a great song ;D if I could come up with some words

On a serious note the 223 isn't a bad choice, you might want to check out www.rbcd.net they have some good ammo that should work

[Joe]

LOL Coondog............whatch doin' with that gun in yo' hand

Oops....flashbacks...sorry, back to the matter at hand....

OK guys...loaded up some...got a good zero...Sierra #1365...55 gr BTSP...24.4 gr AA #2230......chrony died...guessing about 3175.......but get this........1 hole...one jagged hole, 3 rds....cover with a dime...boy am I impressed...can't wait to see what they will do to a coyote....going right now as a matter of fact...Later guys....

[Bobcat]

See.......everything we tell you isn't BS!

Congrats!

Bob

[hunter9850]

i am new at this here predator hunting but i bought me a .223 barrel for my encore and have been hammerin at them since. i shoot the winchester varmit pack (white box) 45 gr. hollow point. so far i have shot 5 coyotes with them. 1 at 200 yards 2 at about 125 yards 1 at about 60 yards and 1 at about 30 yards. none of them have left their tracks. i try to shoot directly into the shoulder to get maximum shock and bone damage. so far it has worked for me. good luck.
HUNTER

[Okieyoter]

;D If I use factory loads in my Savage .223 I use Remington Core Lokt 55 grain soft point . Handload is the same as Bobcats 55 grain Sieara BT soft point . Been using these for 2 years after I retired my old .218Bee to the gun safe . As of yet I haven't lost a yote or cat . I have only had one cat run any distance and had hit him high while he was on the run , I found this one under a brush pile and he was in a foul mood but dispached him with one to the chest . Good luck .

[Joe]

Roger that.......I think it is going to be my answer....what powder, and how much........