.204 pelt damage

[Coyotehunter]

I shot a few this summer with mine, 6 or so (fox), and it hits them pretty hard. If I used it just for fox that I was going to put up I would slow it down. I have just shot 2 coyotes with mine and had one just fold and the other ran off. the run off was a should shot with the 32 gr. V-max and the one I anchored was with a 35 gr. Berger. Prairie Ghost shot a pile of coyotes with his but for me I like to have plenty of gun for coyotes. I use mine as a truck gun; prairie dogs, rabbits and the occasional fox, fingers crossed I think it would make a great cat gun.

[Dusty]

Where is the shot placement on the coyotes that got away?

On the ones that have gotten away they were facing straight towards me and i shot just to the right and the bullet coud have glanced off or the bullet fraged out on the hide. But you guys should have seen all the fur that went flying it looked like a cloud of smoke. I have it recorded and will put it up on youtube, but the coyote basically took off running just fine i went to where he was and found a few drops of blood and tracked him for 500 yards or so before the trail went cold but the trail was nothing more than just a drop here and their. Also i'm not trying to knock the .204 caliber the same can happen with a 22-250 i just need to find the perfect combo of speed mixed with the right bullet but then again if i slow the bullets down that kinda defeats the purpose of the .204, imo atleast. Either way I'm haveing a blast i just don't like wounding coyotes.

[barebackjack]

Ive seen three shot with the .204. All were solid hits at what I consider average range. 125-200 yards. All were runners. Two were recovered (thanks to the 250), the third was a loss. Both animals recovered were chest/shoulder hits (the lost animals im guessing was a high shoulder hit that missed the spine and went over the lungs). We experienced very little penetration, just surface damage. (Would they have only ran 200-300 yards, I dont know as I wasnt about to find out, but from judging how fast and easy they were trucking, im betting they would have been losses as well). What I saw in the wounds told me the light bullet wasnt transferring its energy well to the target, hence the poor penetration and wound damage.

On paper, the .204 looks awesome, I just dont think it has the terminal ballistics for serious coyote work. Granted, its great at not doing fur damage (from what ive seen), but what good is little fur damage if the animal gets away?

Under close range (<200 yards) with good shot placement, it will work, but id rather error on the large side in case of a bad hit. And if you shoot enough of em, your bound to get some bad hits.

If we had fox, it would make a GREAT fox gun.

[wizbang]

I have it recorded and will put it up on youtube...

Hey, Dusty-- do you happen to have the video posted?? In the general discussion forum (topic '204 rifle') we've been discussing the 204 and I'd be interested in the glancing shot you talked about... Thoughts?

[Dusty]

sorry guys i've been busy with the holidays and what not, i will try and get that video posted on their soon.