Match bullets for predator hunting?

O

okie24

New member
Anyone use match bullets for coyote hunting? I know they are not recomended for hunting. Just wondering if someone has tried them. Besides Bergers look pretty much like match bullets and people shoot elk with them. Do they fragment on inpact or do they pass right through?
 
Besides Bergers look pretty much like match bullets and people shoot elk with them.
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Keep in mind that Berger does not recommend their match bullets for hunting applications, so looks must be deceiving.

To answer your question I have never shot any living animal with a match bullet. I have read where some like to shoot deer using a Sierra match bullet in 243 caliber, and they report good results. I just feel that match bullets are meant for target shooting and hunting bullets are meant for hunting.
 
I get sub-MOA with almost all Sierras I've ever tried, and I've yet to have a varmint survive any of them. So, why bother with match bullets?
 
I use 52gr Sierra Matchking BTHP in my .22-250 for ground squirrels, prairie dogs and coyotes. It does severe damage to coyotes....
 
Aren't Sierra Match Kings the projectile of choice or issue with the snipers our services deploy? I wouldn't use a match bullet for a game animal that had a thick hide or heavy bone structure but I see no reason not to use them on light skinned game with a proper shot placement. Seiously its got a pointed end and goes above 2000fps, chances are its going to penerate pretty well and do massive damage. Doubtful its going to bounce off.
 
Depends on what caliber, but generally match ammunition is best suited to shooting target matches, & surprise, surprise hunting ammunition/bullets are best suited to hunting.
I got caught with 200 rounds of Lapua 150 grain match .308's. These Lapua's were extremely accurate out of my Sako .308, but tended to punch holes in game such as goats & pigs, without the shock normally associated with soft points.
I have used match FMJ .308 for culling water buffalo & for thick skinned game actually found in some cases the FMJ penetrated better than 180 grain "hunting" soft points. But generally speaking keep your match ammunition for targets.
I have no experience in hunting coyotes but have shot numerous wild dogs, dingoes & foxes with .22 centerfires. For head shots it doesnt matter what ammunition you use, the more accurate the better if pest culling under spotlight, but if I'm out stalking/hunting for dogs, I will specifically carry soft pointed varmit ammunition.
 
You can use a match type bullet on coyotes, in fact a heavily fragmenting bullet is prefered by many hunters because it does not exit and leaves the pelt in a better condition (if you care about the pelt). That being said, why spend the premium price for match bullets, my favorite bullet at the moment is a nosler balistic tip varmit, goes it and doesnt come back out, very interested to try their varmagedon bullets if they ever get them in stock in the local shops. A coyote is a relativly big target, sub MOA accuracy isn't required, prarie dogs are a differnt story, there you may want to move to a match bullet if you cannot get at least 1/2 MOA with standard bullets.
 
Besides Bergers look pretty much like match bullets and people shoot elk with them.
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Berger VLD's are not a "controlled expansion" design-they are designed to penetrate an inch or two and come apart. They have a thin jacket which is not chemically bonded to the soft lead core...... Not the best choice for Elk, I would not think, where good penetration is desired ....

Match bullets have no design considerations beyond precision (and sometimes high BC) ..... what happens after the target is hit was not a design concern. Sometimes they expand, sometimes they don't .... in the target game, it does not matter.....

Aren't Sierra Match Kings the projectile of choice or issue with the snipers our services deploy?
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Military applications are not real concerned with a "humane kill" ..... they just want a roughly centerline hit somewhere "between the beans and the bean".... whether this kills the enemy or just takes him out of the fight is of no concern to the .mil .....
 
Military applications are not real concerned with a "humane kill" ..... they just want a roughly centerline hit somewhere "between the beans and the bean".... whether this kills the enemy or just takes him out of the fight is of no concern to the .mil .....
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10-4. I have a couple hundred 130grn .284 bullets I aquired a while back but most of my 7mm guns like a 140 or 150grn bullet better. I tend to prefer the Ballistic tips for my hunting and switching to something like an Accubond doesn't change anything.

My varmint rifle is a Savage 10 .243 Predator using 70grn BT or 90grn BT's if deer are on the slate. Its been an absolutely deady combination on anything I've shot with it.
 
My experience with Varmint class bullets on coyotes has shown as long as you hit them somewhere between any two of the four legs, they will drop instantly. I don't know if the match bullets perform the same.

With correct bullets, the coyote will go down quicker than even raccoons. Raccoons sometimes need to be vaporized to die.
 
Yes, I use berger match for coyote in my. 17 rem. They fragment, preventing an exit and vresulting fur damage, while providing a quick kill.

That said, I doubt a larger calber would stop in a broadside coyote, and the exit would be nasty.
 
Yeah, Daryl, center punch a coyote with a .243 or '06 and fertilize about a half an acre.

Had a friend who shot a running-away coyote with a .25-'06. Heckuva note: Neither an entrance nor an exit wound. :D
 
groundhogs

My old Ruger 77V in 22-250 shot best with SMK 52 grainers. Never shot coyote, we didn't have'em in those days, but they were grim death on groundhogs, showing plenty of expansion. Inside 100 yds, they sometimes just seemed to blow craters on impact.
 
Yeah, I held a bit too low on that coyote. On my way to deer camp. '06, Federal Premium High Energy, 165-grain Sierra HPBT at 3,150. About forty yards, at most 50. Took out a fist-sized amount of chest, right behind the forelegs. Yuck.
 
Back in the "old days" when I shot (shot at) lots of coyotes, I used Sierra 70 HPBT match bullets in the 243 Win and Hornady 53 HPFB match in the 22/250. Both resulted in severe damage but quick kills. Most recent use was Nosler 155 HPBT out of .308 with not so good results. Punched through like a FMJ at 350 yards unlike the 165 Speer BTSP I'd been using previously.
 
Actually many of the .224 52gr HPBT's excel with predators especially when using the same .223 or .22-250 for both coyote and fox. They'll still tend to expand but don't blow up as bad as the true varmint bullets.

LK
 
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