Hunting House » Legal Hunting » .30-06 for Coyote
.30-06 for Coyote
Question:
> I’ve been thinking about trying coyote hunting this winter. Since this may > be a one-time experience, depending how I like, it, I’m not interested in > buying a new gun. My question is, would a .30-06 loaded in 55 grain > Accelerators be a good choice? I’ve never used this type of load before. > Also, does anyone have suggestions on where to hunt coyote in Illinois > (preferably central or nothern IL)? Could I hunt on public land with the > .30-06? > Forgive me if I sound a little "clueless", I live in IL but have always > hunted in Michigan as my family lives there (and owns great deer-hunting > property). > Eric
If you’re just going to give it a try, why not use your deer ammo? It will cost you less and any left over ammo is good for your next deer hunt if you don’t like it. You could blow a couple of boxes of Accelerators just sighting in and practicing, then have to buy more to hunt with. If you get hooked you will probably want a more accurate load, which probably means a full-caliber bullet in a weight suited to your rifle twist, which in turn probably means a 150 to 180 grain bullet. Or you will decide to get a good varmint caliber like a .223, .22-250, .243. etc. I hunted prairie dogs and coyotes with my 7mm Mag and 160 grain bullets until I was given a .22-250. (Truth be known, however, I have taken more of both with my .22 LR rifle and pistol than all my other guns combined.) as to whether a .30-06 is legal on public liand in IL, you’ll have to check the state game laws. I always keep a copy of the regs in my truck, but CO regs won’t help you. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’ve been thinking about trying coyote hunting this winter. Since this > may > be a one-time experience, depending how I like, it, I’m not interested in > buying a new gun. My question is, would a .30-06 loaded in 55 grain > Accelerators be a good choice? I’ve never used this type of load before. > Also, does anyone have suggestions on where to hunt coyote in Illinois > (preferably central or nothern IL)? Could I hunt on public land with the > .30-06? > Forgive me if I sound a little "clueless", I live in IL but have always > hunted in Michigan as my family lives there (and owns great deer-hunting > property). > Eric > If you’re just going to give it a try, why not use your deer ammo? It will > cost you less and any left over ammo is good for your next deer hunt if you > don’t like it. You could blow a couple of boxes of Accelerators just > sighting in and practicing, then have to buy more to hunt with. If you get > hooked you will probably want a more accurate load, which probably means a > full-caliber bullet in a weight suited to your rifle twist, which in turn > probably means a 150 to 180 grain bullet. Or you will decide to get a good > varmint caliber like a .223, .22-250, .243. etc. > I hunted prairie dogs and coyotes with my 7mm Mag and 160 grain bullets > until I was given a .22-250. (Truth be known, however, I have taken more of > both with my .22 LR rifle and pistol than all my other guns combined.) > as to whether a .30-06 is legal on public liand in IL, you’ll have to check > the state game laws. I always keep a copy of the regs in my truck, but CO > regs won’t help you.
naaa, a 30-06 is just fine… they have a little more recoil than the fast 22 centerfre (22-250, 220 swift) .. but will do just fine… not quite as flat shooting.. but in todays times, you don’y need to have flat shooting like before, today we have range finders.. Besides, you can reload your 30-06 with 110 or 125 gran spire ponts prett fast… the 110’s leave the muzzle faster, but the 125’s are way more coefficient.. they are faster past 150 yards even though they leave the muzzle slower than the 110’s … I used to load up Sierra 125’s in my M70 Winchester in .300 win mag.. the books call for 79 grns of IMR-4350, but my Win had kinda a long throat. I’d load em up to 88 Grns of IMR-4350.. even a 90 grns of 4350, they just started showing high pressure, (primmer starting to flatten out some etc etc) they cronoed like 3700 FPS with 85 grn loads.. the 88-90 gran loads I’m not sure.. imajine 3900 FPS from 125’s… for Coyote they were killers, they would expand and tear up pelts though.. I started using the Sierra 150 grn Match boat-tails…3400 fps, but they don’t expand. They was slightly more accurate than the 125’s.. I got 100 yard groups of around 1.25 inches on avg.. from a thin BBL in .300 mag thatsd not bad… the 150’s got around 1.00’s I bight two 3 lb rubber mallots, took off the heavy rubber.. mounteed them on the bbl to keep down bbl vibration/rotation while shooting, and (I have to re-ajust scope) groups droped to 0.75 – 0.90’s .. didn’t get alot of testing, but results seemed good.. at 300 yrs I got some 2.25 – 2.50’s inch groups.. all from a portable bench rest .. in your 30-06 you might do better, my friend has a cheap Savage S110 he bougyht for $179 mail order back in 1985.. with a cheap 3-9 x 32mm scope for $30 he bought at Sevice Merchandise back then.. he got 0.50 – 0.75 inch groups all the time with factory ammo… his Savage wasn’t a heavy bbl like a target one, but much heavier than a M70’s.. made a world of diffance.. I like the 30-06.. I have a 30 cal gun, and a 25-06 (thats another story).. the 06’s are great. also, in Illinois, you can hunt most anything with a Rifle except Deer.. I live in Indiana just 5 miles from state line of IL. .. both states are very simular.. scott Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
: As I recall, you can’t hunt dear witha high-power rifle, but can hunt furbearers when in season (coyote and woodchuck). I too have a 30-06, and if I were going after coyote, I would use a full metal jacket target round (like military ball ammo) if it shoots well in your gun. That way you won’t ruin the pelt when you do shoot the critter. Be sure of your backstop and shoot straight. : Steve Personally, if I were going to use my deer rifle, I’d use the exact same load I’d been using for deer, so I don’t have to go thru the trouble of re-zeroing the scope, both ways. samg Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
As I recall, you can’t hunt dear witha high-power rifle, but can hunt furbearers when in season (coyote and woodchuck). I too have a 30-06, and if I were going after coyote, I would use a full metal jacket target round (like military ball ammo) if it shoots well in your gun. That way you won’t ruin the pelt when you do shoot the critter. Be sure of your backstop and shoot straight. Steve Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
You can’t hunt with a high power rifle in Illinois, ANYWHERE! Read your Illinois hunting regulations. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ——Original Message—– >I’ve been thinking about trying coyote hunting this winter. Since this may >be a one-time experience, depending how I like, it, I’m not interested in >buying a new gun. My question is, would a .30-06 loaded in 55 grain >Accelerators be a good choice? I’ve never used this type of load before. >Also, does anyone have suggestions on where to hunt coyote in Illinois >(preferably central or nothern IL)? Could I hunt on public land with the >.30-06? >Forgive me if I sound a little "clueless", I live in IL but have always >hunted in Michigan as my family lives there (and owns great deer-hunting >property). >Eric >Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: > http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I’ve been thinking about trying coyote hunting this winter. Since this may be a one-time experience, depending how I like, it, I’m not interested in buying a new gun. My question is, would a .30-06 loaded in 55 grain Accelerators be a good choice? I’ve never used this type of load before. Also, does anyone have suggestions on where to hunt coyote in Illinois (preferably central or nothern IL)? Could I hunt on public land with the .30-06? Forgive me if I sound a little "clueless", I live in IL but have always hunted in Michigan as my family lives there (and owns great deer-hunting property). Eric Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
The Accelerator should work fine but you might want to try just using a 125 gr bullet as those are made for light game (can you say Wile E. Coyote ?). The Accelerators are very hard (never seen it here in fact) to find in my area. Mike Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
> I’ve been thinking about trying coyote hunting this winter. Since this may > be a one-time experience, depending how I like, it, I’m not interested in > buying a new gun. My question is, would a .30-06 loaded in 55 grain > Accelerators be a good choice? I’ve never used this type of load before. > Also, does anyone have suggestions on where to hunt coyote in Illinois > (preferably central or nothern IL)? Could I hunt on public land with the > .30-06? > Forgive me if I sound a little "clueless", I live in IL but have always > hunted in Michigan as my family lives there (and owns great deer-hunting > property). > Eric
Accelerators never had much of a reputation for accuracy. If you reload, a 110 grain spire point, or 125 grain Speer TNT or Nosler Ballistic Tip would work. Truth is, though … if you’re not sure you’re going to take this up as a serious endeavor, you might just want to use 150 grain "deer ammo". Tom Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/