having problems with the light .204 bullets on coyotes

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having problems with the light .204 bullets on coyotes

Post by Coyotehunter »

I have not been happy with the 32 gr. v-max in the .204 on coyotes. has anyone else had problems with this bullet in the .204 caliber?
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Post by Coyotehunter »

I shot a male last winter at 70 yards smack in the left shoulder. I watched him crumple in the hay meadow with his tail just a spinning in the air. I did a few distress calls in hopes the female would show herself only to watch the dog pick himself up and gimp off into the grass. I tracked him for 600 yards before seeing the first sign of blood in the new snow we had gotten that morning. At about a mile the dog coyote hooked back up with the female along side a small grove of trees. The tell tale smaller tracks and the ass sniffing was enough to give evidence of his mate checking on him. They ran together for awhile until they got to the farmstead. He bedded down twice in the stand of trees with ample blood at each location. The bitch going right through the front yard of the homestead, never stopped until she got to the draw that I had first spotted them 3 hours earlier. The dog had left the farm yard and headed across the field back to the South towards the same draw that ran back towards a local power companies sub stationback to the South East.

The whole affair had started with a pair of fresh tracks criss-crossing the road as I was heading to the first stand of the morning. It had only quite snowing a few hours prior so I new these to be fresh. I started glassing and slowly following those two as they worked down the road. I was telling my partner, Jason Erickson a pilot of a tanker for the US Airforce, to let me know when the tracks left the ditch. They eventually started heading out across the field towards the narrow gulley that ran North West towards the next county road. I started glassing straight North across the field then slowly looked for marks in the snow through the low drift that had formed on the north edge of the cut. As I was just bringing my Brunton Eterna's to rest on my chest I seen the first coyote breach the draw on the North side looking over its should at its mate he seen me up on the road about 400 yards due South. I put it in gear and headed west in hopes of picking up the next Northbound road to get ahead of them. I quickly marked where I was on the gps that was on the dash waiting for just this moment to help me stay directly North of them. 1 mile west, 2 miles North and back again to the East until I was exactly 2 miles North of where I had last seen the two grey ghosts trotting across the stubble field. I stashed the white chevy behind a shelter belt and headed South at nearly a full run to get to what I seen as the only spot to set up at. There was a piece of Farm equipment sitting along the belt about a 1/2 mile down the tree row. It was on the edge of a slight grade heading South towards the wash I had seen them come from less then 15 minutes prior. They had not looked spooked when they seen me on the road and I thought they would be back to mousing around once I was out of sight. We got where I thought we needed to be and immediatley set up and started calling. I had the male on me in record time with a couple of whimpers. I was waiting for Jason to shoot but he could not see the yote through the tall grass in front of him. Being new to the sport he had chosen to lay down in the belt and I did not notice until I was looking for him to shoot. At 35 yards this would have been a lay up with the SB2 topped with a Carlson extended extra full choke puking out #2 Hevi-shot, but I was waiting for Jason. When the dog had moved back after several seconds to about 70 yards I switched to my .204 caliber chambered 700 BDL. With a 26" Shilen screwed on tight mounted in a HS percision stock, I touched off what I thought was the knock down blow. I was shooting a 32 gr. V-max bullet, pushed by a load that my Gunsmith Gordy Linnel had worked up for me. Hitting him hard enough that the first thing to touch the ground was his nose and after several tail spinning seconds I watched in disbelief as he staggered to his feet and scurried straight off to the east through the tall grass. I did not have an oppurtunity at a second shot and thought I would find him rolled up in a heap several yards from where I had last seen him.

I tracked him for 3 hours covering around 2 miles before deciding I needed to get back to the truck and start heading the 7 hours back to the house. We had hunted all day Saturday and only had enough time to hunt for a few hours Sunday morning and we needed to be heading home.

As we head back to the east and over the 6 foot culvert that runs under the highway Jason seen my coyote headed deep into a heavily posted commercial property South of this remote North Dakota Highway. He had a bad limp and a tore up shoulder from what I believe to be a bullet that just blew up as it hit that dense shoulder bone. Know proof but I do not know how else to explain what had happened.

I have since quite using that bullet and have recently picked up a box of Berger 40 grain bullet that I have heard some good things about. I hate wounding animals and do try to make the necesary changes to help avoid a similar situation in the future.
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Post by Nitwit »

On Saturday I shot two coyotes with the Hornady 32gr. V-Max in .204. Both were bang-flops and there was no fur damage at all. I had to search to find the entrance wound - the only blood was out of the nose/mouth. One coyote was 124 steps, the other was 63 steps. I couldn't be more pleased with the performance of the bullet. I will say, though, that I normally shoot coyotes with a Sierra 60 grain hollow point out of a .223 AR-15, which has also been very fur friendly.
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Post by Coyotehunter »

Well, that is good to hear. I have heard of problems with the lighter bullets out of this caliber. Are these reloads or factory? Have you chronographed the load?
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Post by Nitwit »

They are factory loads and I have not chronographed them, but I think the box gave the muzzle velocity as around 4100 fps.
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Post by Coyotehunter »

I am sure the velocity of my hand loads are what is causing some of my problems with the lighter bullets. I have never gotten factory bullets to chronograph as advertised. Kind of like the advertised fuel economy of my Chevy P/U. It would always be about 5-10% below what was listed on the box. Elevation, barrel length, humidity, ect.
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Jerry Hunsley
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Post by Jerry Hunsley »

I have yet to have a coyote get away. Most are bang-flop. I use 32gr. v-max with H-4895. Chronographs 4000fps. Haven't shot anything more then 300yds. It does a fine job. Although I don't use my 204 as much as I probably should, my main coyote gun is .243 with 70gr. ballistic tips. I have heard a lot of good things about the .204. My friend shoots one with 39gr. bullets and is very pleased.
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Post by littlebigenuf »

Jerry,
What kind of damage does the ballistic tip do to the fur?
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Jerry Hunsley
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Post by Jerry Hunsley »

littlebigenuf wrote:Jerry,
What kind of damage does the ballistic tip do to the fur?
If you don't make a good solid hit , you get some damage, but most of the time bullet goes in and never comes out the other side. That is the only bullet I have used so I can't speak for other type bullets. It is chronographed at 3500fps with 41grs. of varget. On the 204 same thing. The nice thing about 204 is muzzle blast is minimal and you can see the animal drop when you pull trigger.
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Post by Prairie Ghost »

I'll second what Jerry i saying. I shoot factory 32 grainers and have been really happy with them so far
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Post by Coyotehunter »

I am thinking of those shoulder shots or ill placed hip shots. I want my bullets to stay intact enough to blwo through bone. My .22 mag will kill a coyote if I shoot him in the sweet spot. I just seen what that particulat combo would do when put to the test and was not impressed. Blowing the shoulder out of a animal and not anchoring him to the dirt is not useable in most of my hunting applications
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Post by Prairie Ghost »

I also agree with that Jamie. I have lost two coyotes in the two years that i have used the 204 one due to darkness i don't think he went far but couldn't track at all. The second was when you were with me and i winged one running away. (hit the shoulder from the top and didn't hit the vitals) I think that the light bullets will do fine in the shoulders broad side or on looking and standing still but i will be getting something else for tournament hunting to make sure that a hit will end up with dragging a coyote to the truck every coyote counts you know :D

It just depends on how much you want to give up to gain the fur damage aspect
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Post by Tim Anderson »

Last year i saw three coyotes shot with the 204 and this year i saw six shot by the same gun useing the lighter bullet (factory load)
I do most of the skinning and putting up the fur and i'm not very happy with the bullets performance. Most of the time its one big entrance hole, not good on fur and most of the coyotes had to be shot a second time, except for two, they where hit in the spine..
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Post by Coyotehunter »

Yep, that is the problem I have been hearing. I have bought some of the Berger 40 gr. bullets but have not had time to use them on fur yet. I will maybe get a chance this summer to give them a try.
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Re: having problems with the light .204 bullets on coyotes

Post by LowPro »

Any updates?!

Just wondering, because I'll be reloading .204 Ruger rounds soon...
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