My two current favorite coyote hunting rigs.
.17 Predator (.223 necked down, shoulder moved forward and blown out to 30*, body taper reduced etc.), w/.197 neck, 1.5 degree lead and zero freebore.
Model Seven donor action, fully blueprinted, double pinned thick lug, bolt bushed etc. by Greg Tannel.
Had the Rem. factory trigger worked by Neil Jones back when the world was still young, it's at 24 oz.
Lilja #4, 10 twist, crowned at 24"
McMillan Rem. Classic, pillar bedded
Leupold 4.5-14x40 in Burris Sig. rings
Working load is a custom 30 gr. boat tail leaving the muzzle at 4080 fps
All my predator rigs are zeroed for MPBR on a 4" target, putting the .17P about 1.75" high at 100 yards, dead on at 325 yards, 6" low at 400. It's genuine hold on fur to 400, which makes is a simple point and shoot affair on stand.
I'm not much of a paper puncher and actually avoid it with my hot rods. Basically, I work up a load, I get zeroed, then I might check zero once every two years after that. I build these things for killing stuff and while I don't mind wearing out barrels, I prefer not wasting barrel life on stuff that doesn't bleed. All that said, I've shot enough paper with this rifle to know it will agg in the low 4's with five shot groups. Tight ragged holes are expected. It's a legitimate sub .5MOA rifle. Below is a typical group, eight shots from a cold clean barrel, with the cartridge itself featured prominently.
This rifle is just almost too much fun to use on coyote. Recoil is non existent, incredibly flat mid range trajectory, superb accuracy, folds up coyotes like cheap lawn chairs while putting scarcely a mark on them. It's the closest thing to a perfect fur rifle for my purposes I have used to date - and I've used a lot of them...
And some glamor shots from the field.
My other current favorite coyote hunting rig:
6-284 (.284 Win. necked down to .243), w/.272 neck 1.5 degree lead and zero freebore
Nesika T w/Rem. tang, Rem. trigger pins, tacticool shifter knob, BDL bottom metal and magazine, thick lug (double pinned)
Jewel HVR w/top safety @ 28 oz.
Lilja #4, 13 twist, crowned at 25"
McMillan Rem. Classic, pillar bedded
Zeiss 4.5-14x44 in Talley rings
Working load is a 55 NBT leaving the muzzle at over 4200 fps
MPBR on a 4" target, puts this one about 1.6 high at 100 yards, dead on at 335 yards, 6" low at 400. Again, genuine hold on fur to 400, point and shoot deal. Delivering about 1,000 ft/lbs at 400 yards, and just laser beam flat, but minimal recoil that allows seeing hits through the scope, this rig is pure hell on wheels for coyote. It really is just a freaking death ray on them.
I only shoot three shot groups with this one, that barrel gets real hot, real fast, but with the working load, it prints three shot bugholes in the 2's and 3's - the average of all the groups I've ever shot with it using that load is about .325 @ 100 yards. Another genuine sub .5 MOA rifle. But again, punching paper just bores me to death, I do it as little as possible.
Just a couple pics of the rifle in progress (had two barrels chambered at the same time, the other is a .20-250) and a couple glamor shots from the field.
- DAA