Which Varmint Cartridge?
 

Looking at purchasing new Varmint Rifle, primarily for cleaning out the overpopulated Coyote situation that are constantly on my farm.


Pick a Cartridge!

If you choose other please post with what your choice would be and why.

22 sabot through my trusty old SMLE 30-06. Cheap and very effective.

I should clarify, I want something that shoots factory Ammo with ranges around 300 yards.

Well I voted .22 before reading you said 300 yds. I guess I would say something a bit bigger for coyotes at 300 yds.

I personally would go with a 6.5 Grendel in an AR based rifle for 'Yotes at 300 yards. 6.8 Remington would do the same thing at that range, but doesn't stretch it's legs nearly as well when you have to reach out there.

The Grendel was SAMMI certified, so I am sure there will be even more factory loads available, rumor has it that Wolf is importing steel cased ammo now.

.300 Blackout is another choice, but 300 is just about the range limits.

Thinking the same......300 Magnum..That will get your 300 yards...

Set up an AR based piece properly and knocking on 300 or more isn't an issue.

There are some potent .223 factory rounds out there.

Jeff

.220 Swift.A quick dart.

I'd look at the .270. It's pretty good on deer at extended ranges. Do you know someone that would loan you something to try?

And 1 seriously flat shooting gun!!

22-250's are real common around here for yotes. Very easy to find in the local stores.

I was thinking the Remington accelerator, which used to be available in 30-06, .308, and 30-30. I just found out they were forced to pull the 30-06 and .308 off the market because no rifling marks are left on the projectile, making it anonymous for forensic purposes.

You can buy the sabots and load your own if you wish.

Cartridge Information
Index Number Cartridge Type Weight (grs.) Bullet Style Primer No. Ballistic Coefficient
R30069 Remington® Express® 55 Pointed Soft Point 9 1/2 0.197

Velocity (ft/sec)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 55 4080 3484 2964 2499 2080 1706

Energy (ft-lbs)
Cartridge_Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 55 2033 1482 1073 763 528 355

Short-Range Trajectory
Cartridge Type Bullet 50 100 150 200 250 300
Remington® Express® 55 0.0 0.2 zero -1.0 -3.0 -6.2

Long-Range Trajectory
Cartridge Type Bullet 100 150 200 250 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 55 1.4 1.8 1.4 zero -2.6 -12.2 -30.0

I have a Weatheyby in .270 Win with a nice walnut stock, stainless barrel and action which I have used on lots of 'yotes and sees Deer Duty as well. The reason for the new small Cal dedicated Coyote rig is that this rifle will be mounted almost permanently in the chore tractor cab. Sometimes shots are necesary out of the tractor cab or in close vicinity and the muzzle blast etc of a big cal rifle is NASTY in that kind of a confined space.

Also, I cry a little everytime I get a ding in the stock of my Weatherby, so this would be something in synthetic stock/ stainless action to avoid some of the cosmetic dammage.

You changed the game in my opinion. You already have a .270 Win., and the blast isn't much different than the smaller calibers, so why change calibers? Savage makes a really NICE beat around rifle in the Axis, mid to high 300's, and available in not only .22-250, .223, but also .270 Winchester. They shoot sub 1" MOA out of the box, and have much of the nice Savage stuff short of the accutrigger.

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/axis

Along with that, if you do choose the .270, you might try the Remington reduced recoil 115 Gr. ammo.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/882...oint-box-of-20

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/c....aspx?a=359293

I have a dedicated Yote rifle, it is a 25-06. Google it, a 95 grain .25 cal slug in front of a necked down 30-06 cartridge. Really high muzzle velocity and moderate weight slug for long flat trajectory Yote shooting on the prairies. My rifle is a Ruger with Leupold optics, the cartridges are readily available at most gun shops.

Okay so it's a varmint problem but you want a clean kill. You also want to do it on the cheap.

Honestly, I would go with a decent AR platform in 5.56x45 with a JSP or JHP. It'll shoot cheap and 300 yards is easy even with irons, more so with some glass from Leupold's Redfield line of scopes.