Rimfire for coyotes?

[Deerhunt]

What rimfire is best for coyotes? I would use my 243 but at night all I can use is rimfires

[buck460XVR]

My son and I have had good luck with .17HMR. Sighted in @ 100 yards with a 20 gr bullet, it hits just a hair high @ 50 and about 3" low @ 150. Past that, the little bullet gets a little screwy, especially if there's any wind. The 17 grainers shoot a little flatter, but tend to drift more in the wind and are more fragile if one is looking to save the pelts.

[Deerhunt]

I do have a 17hmr so I'll try it out

[Wyosmith]

I have killed quite a few with the standard 22 LR. Works OK.

[rickyrick]

I've heard thru those that have done it is that .17 hmr or similar does the trick

[Mobuck]

Results with 17 HMR have been quite variable for us. Some die right away while others with similar chest hits are lost due to no blood trail. Just not acceptable for critters bigger than groundhogs and raccoons. I, personally never witnessed a coyote killed outright with a 22lr(discounting headshots)-all required running them down with hounds even after multiple body hits.

[CCCLVII]

I was shooting a buddy's 17 wsm and it worked great.

[Gunplummer]

Kind of a dieing round, but I body shot a few large coons with a .22 Magnum. It hits hard.

[10-96]

Gunplummer- Amen to it being a dying ctg. Those things just aren't around like they used to be. I see where quite a few firearms are still being made in that caliber, but there sure isn't much ammo available like there used to be. Sure, it's still out there on line, but not much of it is back to the $8-$10 a box.

[Gunplummer]

Was my favorite turkey rifle when I was younger.

[jimbob86]

.22lr out of a rifle will kill coyotes.

[T. O'Heir]

The .22 Mag isn't dying. It's certainly ill though. It's just not readily available these days. Oddly there lots up here, but none on the assorted on-line sites like Midway and Graf's.
Kind of suspect it may be a holdover from your recent .22 ammo shortage.
Wouldn't think twice about using a LR myself. I'd lean towards one of the hyper-velocity loads, but mostly because I have some Yellow Jacket ammo.

[Scorch]

22 Mag certainly is not dying any time soon. Like all rimfire ammo, dealers just don't want to buy ammo that may cost 20% less next week.

As far as "will it work?", I used to hunt coyotes for pelts, and one of my hunting buddies swore up and down about how great the 22 Mag was on coyotes. Out to 50 yds, it worked great, oat 100 yds it worked pretty good. Doesn't anchor them right there, but they fold up pretty quickly.

[taylorce1]

I don't like the B-Mag, but the Ruger M77/17 is pretty nice but expensive. I'd like to try the .17 WSM, but I'd love it if they actually brought it out in a .20 or .22 caliber. I've just held off hoping Savage would bring it out in the 93 or Ruger in the American line up.

[Don Fischer]

I don't hunt coyote's much but a do have a 243 just for that! But I suspect that the 22 mag won't do a coyote any good. My son has a 17 and loves it. I was with him one time when he got a box of ammo for it, couldn't get me to pay that much for rim fire ammo. 22 mag is expensive enough. Anymore all my 22 mag is used for is predator's around my pigeon pens. Really tall cottonwood across the road from me about 100yds. Knocked a poultry eating coon right out of the to half! Instand dead.

[Gunplummer]

I don't know, but isn't the .17 mag just a necked down .22 mag? I have really had no dealings with them.

[Mobuck]

"but isn't the .17 mag just a necked down .22 mag? "

17 HMR--Yes. but has higher velocity due to much lighter bullet(16 to 20 grains). Very destructive on smaller varmints and very flat trajectory but extremely wind sensitive.
17 WSM is more like a rimfire 17 Hornet.

[Hunter Customs]

My old 5mm magnum works pretty well on coyotes, I try to keep my shots at 100 yards or less.
I prefer the original Remington 38gr HP load over the newer Centurion 30gr HP load.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[bamaranger]

Well, well, another 5mm shooter! Hello Hunter Customs, I've got one of those too. MOst curious as to why you prefer the vintage ammo?????

I've not shot enough critters with the new (and then discontiuned?) Centurion ammo, but the initial offering with the blunter, exposed lead HP configuration is really accurate from my old rifle, say 1 MOA at 100 yds. The sleeker, "Varmint" fully jacketed HP shoots more into 1.5-1.75, but I believe is a bit faster and flatter, I was surprised when shooting it a 200 how close the POI was to my POA.

The old 5mm never got a fair shake........had it been more fully supported by the industry, we might never have seem the .17 HMR. But while the industry jumped on the .17 bandwagon and everybody made firearms for the cartridge, nobody produced a 5mm rifle except Remington, ......seems like I've read T/C made some barrels for their switch barrel pistol.

I believe the 5mm Mag was the best high performance rimfire, faster and flatter than a .22 WSM, and more bullet weight than the diminutive .17's.

[Tinbucket]

I received an email add from Surplus Ammo.com for Arsmcorp 40 grain soft nose hollow point for 10.99 box, including shipping of bricks,at $104.99..
I have a sufficent supply to wait a bit longer.
Need a different rifle as the 10-.22 magnum is in collector territory and don't want to crack the bolt.

[Okieflash]

I have good results with the good ol' 22lr. I used to hunt with a friend that loved his .243 for deer I thought it was light for deer but was amazed at the performance it had as well as the lethality. Witnessed two deer downed one @ 153 yds and the longest @ 237 yds the latter was devastating we never found the heart. The former it looked as though (on impact) it was picked up and body slammed. In both the internal damage was outstanding. Just goes to show the importance of proper shot placement.

[Hunter Customs]

Well, well, another 5mm shooter! Hello Hunter Customs, I've got one of those too. MOst curious as to why you prefer the vintage ammo?????

I actually owned two of them. My original one I purchased in 1970 right after they came out, it's a 592M tube feed. The second one I owned was a 591M magazine fed rifle I purchased from a friend of mine which I later traded for a nice old LC Smith shotgun.

As for why I choose the vintage ammo, from my personal experience it does a better job of one shot stops, however I will say that may not be a fair assessment for the new ammo because now I only use my 5MM to hunt coyotes during the firearms portion of Missouri Deer season, I've not shot that many coyotes with the new ammo.

The old 5mm never got a fair shake........had it been more fully supported by the industry, we might never have seem the .17 HMR. But while the industry jumped on the .17 bandwagon and everybody made firearms for the cartridge, nobody produced a 5mm rifle except Remington, ......seems like I've read T/C made some barrels for their switch barrel pistol.

I agree, I was always a strong supporter of Remintong rifles until they did the dis-service to a lot of loyal customers by discontinuing the rifles and then discontinuing the ammo, no longer a Remington fanboy.
In my Opinion the 5MM will out perform the 17HMR hands down if one needs to shoot anything bigger them small pest.
I have a friend that has a 17 HMR he uses it to shoot Starlings around his place, he calls it his high speed BB gun, I believe he's got that right.

I believe the 5mm Mag was the best high performance rimfire, faster and flatter than a .22 WSM, and more bullet weight than the diminutive .17's.

Again I agree, I even frog hunted with mine, no matter if I was shooting them across the pond or close in front of me it would put them out on dry land, never got my feet wet using it.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[roarshock]

You can kill a coyote with a pointed stick. It's easy I hear, if they hold still. I did kill a few with a 22 magnum at 50 yards and keep one loaded for the back yard just in case. One hopped and bounced then ran off (if that counts.) One dropped and stopped period. One took a few more rounds and finally succumbed to a 22 pistol up close. Forget what you heard, see? It can be done!

[kenny53]

I killed a small coyote with a 22lr. It was about a 10 yard shot. He just sat there and looked at me. I don't know,maybe I should have let him go.

[smee78]

I have always heard the 22mag does well on them. I also know a few guys who use their AR-15's with 223 ammo loaded with the 40grn varmit bullets. They say it works just fine, they reload so ammo prices stay super low.