Rimfire for coyotes?

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
"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.
 
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
 
5mm

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.
 
Rimfore for coyotes

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.
 
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