.22-250 vs .223 for eastern coyote hunting

In my opinion both cartridges require good shot placement. You'll find that to be the case with most anything you shoot. I've lost coyotes with both the .223 and the 22-250 due to poor shot placement. A coyote hit in the guts can run a long, long ways before piling up. One thing I've noticed between the two cartridges is if you hit them in the right spot they fall down and die. As you'll find with any cartridge you choose. So basically what I'm saying is every coyote I've hit in the vitals from 300 yards or closer with the .223 wasn't any less dead than any coyote I've ever shot from the same distance with the 22-250. And the ones I lost after shooting them in the guts with the 22-250 weren't any easier to find than the ones I lost using the .223, they both ran the same distance after being shot as far as I'm concerned. Can't confirm that because I never found either. You can probably get where I'm going with this.

The 22-250 really shines when you're shooting coyotes at 300+ yards. And even at 300 yards I don't feel under gunned with the .223 by any means. If you hit coyotes in the head, neck, lungs or heart they're gonna be laying right there well beyond that with a .223 if you have the know how to make that happen. The flatter shooting cartridges like the 22-250 make hits easier at a distance because you can hold on fur at greater distances. If you can put that bullet in those places I mentioned above anyway. If not, you'll just have to walk further to try and find it and further to drag it if you do.

Regardless of how fast it's shooting, bullet weight or type of bullet you're going to have to shoot the coyote in the vitals. I don't care if you're shooting a .270, if a coyote is standing out there broadside at 200 yards you're not gonna shoot it in the ass or in the guts. It's gonna have disappointing results if you do. It's a good practice to shoot them where they'll die regardless of cartridge.
 
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If y'all had to take a wild guess, how far would you say these two made it after 55 grain SP's fired from a .223 hit 'em? They couldn't tell it wasn't a 22-250, that I can assure you. That one with his leg on backwards stopped to take a dump at the worst time ever. Took out his gears and one wheel with the same bullet.
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Y’all are WAY more experienced than I am and have been doing it a lot longer, but that’s one of the reasons I shoot a larger caliber. I don’t get “perfect” shots and not gonna pass a coyote or hog just because it doesn’t offer me the ideal perfect shot.
Knock on wood, haven’t lost one yet. They may be field dressed with some shots, but they’re down and dead by the time I get to them. When money is involved you’ll go with the largest caliber you can to get paid. Both my rifles are under 10lbs with thermal, suppressor, and ammo and both are .308’s. Yeah, probably serious overkill, but it does kill with less than perfect shots. I’m sure smaller calibers in others hands would do the same, but reading on here there’s a lot of lost critters with smaller calibers. I never figured out if it’s a fad to shoot smaller or if ego has something to do with it.
Like I said, it’s money for me so 20 coyotes, fox, bobcats or hogs buys me a new suppressor.
I don’t count for critters hit and not recovered and show my landowners pics of bodies. They don’t require it, but I never want someone doubting me or think I’m charging for something not accounted for.
 
I will do everything I can to use my 223 as long as possible. It does seem in my area that later in the “season” the coyotes hang up further out and I’m not a good enough caller to get them to come in closer so that’s when I start using my 6 Creed. But I love using my 223 until then. I just use 55gr Vmax and so far, no bullet splash and no runners. I think part of the reason I like my 223 so much is it suppresses so well.
 
I really like how well 223 suppresses as well. There aren't many private tracts of land that I hunt so having a suppressor really helps keep noise down. When calling on smaller tracts of land the landowners appreciate not bothering their neighbors.
 
I prefer 223 as cost to shoot is alot less for me so I can shoot and practice a lot more. That being said 250 or 22 creed or any of those are far better rounds ballistically.
 
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Russell10 said:
I don’t think I’ll put a suppressor on right now if I get the ruger ranch so I’ll probably use earplugs until then. I had almost bought a .223 a while back but I didn’t pull the trigger on it. A friend of mine had a .223 and he said he kept getting runners so he switched to a 22-250. Although his problem probably was shot placement not that he didn’t have enough gun. I know they’re called barrel burners for a reason but I like a pretty fast bullet from a 22-250. The only thing is ammo is a little more scarce and a bit higher.
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Bullets matter more than headstamps. If he kept getting runners with the 223, id say he was using the wrong bullets, not the wrong cartridge
 
Spurchaser said:
Y’all are WAY more experienced than I am and have been doing it a lot longer, but that’s one of the reasons I shoot a larger caliber. I don’t get “perfect” shots and not gonna pass a coyote or hog just because it doesn’t offer me the ideal perfect shot.
Knock on wood, haven’t lost one yet. They may be field dressed with some shots, but they’re down and dead by the time I get to them. When money is involved you’ll go with the largest caliber you can to get paid. Both my rifles are under 10lbs with thermal, suppressor, and ammo and both are .308’s. Yeah, probably serious overkill, but it does kill with less than perfect shots. I’m sure smaller calibers in others hands would do the same, but reading on here there’s a lot of lost critters with smaller calibers. I never figured out if it’s a fad to shoot smaller or if ego has something to do with it.
Like I said, it’s money for me so 20 coyotes, fox, bobcats or hogs buys me a new suppressor.
I don’t count for critters hit and not recovered and show my landowners pics of bodies. They don’t require it, but I never want someone doubting me or think I’m charging for something not accounted for.
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In your situation I can understand shootin something that's more likely to knock one down in every scenario imaginable. Especially since hogs are involved. Can hogs be killed with smaller cartridges? Absolutely, I've done it but I also shot them in the head to get it done. Once they start running a headshot isn't doable every time. Or let me say, I can't do it. That's where you need a cartridge that will knock them down with a shot to the body. I don't know that I'd be using anything less than a 6mm bullet for that application. So I can understand where you're coming from.

Having said that I saw my buddy shoot a coyote with a .308 using Hornady American Whitetail ammunition and that coyote was never recovered because it was hit through the guts. So shot placement was still a factor in that scenario. Coyotes are tougher animals than most people give them credit for. Very tough.

Heavier bullets do help when you cannot get the perfect shot undoubtedly. But shot placement is still something to focus on. For me personally, I've always been a fur hunter. I've always shot bullets that didn't tear them up but still anchored them on the spot. As time went on I cared less about tearing them up too bad and focused on a bullet that would guarantee they weren't going anywhere even if my shot placement wasn't perfect. That's why I started shooting 55 grain Softpoints. They leave a little room for error in my opinion. Do some have big holes where the bullet exits? Sometimes, as you can see from the picture above. But most of the time they're not bad at all. Quarter sized exits mostly. That's good enough for me. Above all else recovering the animal and making a quick, clean kill is the most important thing.
 
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I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about those bullets, even on deer with a double lung shot. I’m overkill on the bullets as well…168gr CoreLokts. I didn’t pick that grain for more “killing” power, my guns just like that better than the 150gr.
Fur down here isn’t worth the effort or freezer space unfortunately. Guess I seem to forget that other areas fur does have value and less damage equals money.
 
It does but another factor I took into account other than my rifle shoots them really well was I hunt in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. In Texas I may run into a situation where I just have a .223 and I do see a hog. I'm going to want to shoot it so I want a pretty tough bullet that won't fragment as easily as a V-Max or something similar. Not only that but they're relatively cheap and no matter where I'm at I can go into any sporting goods store and buy those. I have handloads with bullets that I really like but if I happen to forget ammo or run out I can't just drive a few hours back home to get them.

A lot of times with bullets that were good on fur I was sacrificing the ability to make a clean kill on a less than perfect shot. I figured what good is the fur if I risk losing an animal? The way I figured was it's better to get docked on the fur check than take one less coyote to the fur buyer. That fur ain't worth nothin if the carrier done carried it off and died under a plumb thicket. That's just my thought process on that end of it. I try to account for worst case scenario and I think a lot of guys may forget that aspect of bullet selection. You don't wanna paint yourself into a corner and short yourself on that end of it. One day you may get somewhere and you realize your bullets are on the kitchen table 2 1/2 hours away. I like to shoot pretty common stuff for that reason.

Wildcat cartridges and new stuff is fun for sure. But always bring a backup that's easy to feed.
 
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The proper answer for any rifle loony is one of each.

However, forced to choose, I'd go with the 22-250, & plan on reloading sooner than later.
 
Slagiatt said:
Well please, explain to me the intricacies of how sometimes dead is deader than other times.
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I will do my best.

Well I suppose your logic holds true if you don't really care about recovering an animal 🤔 Dead is dead, and there is no such thing as "more" dead. However...........you can shoot an elk, through the rib cage, in the perfect spot, with a 22 Long rifle and it will most definitely die. Most likely after traveling a great distance and leaving no blood trail, making that animal almost impossible to recover. Not to mention the excessive amount of time that it will take that animal to succumb to that injury. Now.............shoot that same elk, in the same exact spot with a 7 PRC. That elk will most likely die within your sight and there is even a high probability that it won't even take a step. Extreme example? Yes.......,but it hopefully helps you understand the fact that some cartridges are "more effective" and "more efficient" at killing than others.
 
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