I shot a lot of coyotes hunting in Mexico late 70's and all through the 80's up to 1990. We played with a lot of different calibers and bullets, two guns per gun permit.
Bullet weight kills with speed. 22/250 AI and std 243 Win are hard to beat in terms of killing under actual calling experience.
22/250 AI, 24", 12 Twist, #4 contour, zero freebore chamber=55's at 4000 fps
220 Swift is 3850-3900, but the taper on swift brass is madness, I shot out 4 barrels
243 Win, 6 Rem with 12 Twists, 26", #5 Contours, zero freebore chambers shoot the 80g Berger and 80g Sierra Blitz BT at 3400 & 3500 respectively with IMR 4064, Fed 210's. Groups are very small in both of these calibers at these speeds. 60g Sierra's in both of these calibers are fantastic also.
Calling animals into the call, you often shoot them on the move, fast walk, trot, running, and more often than not, you do not lead them enough and hit them behind the diaphragm where they can lay down, recover and walk off. With the above combos, they are very dead when you hit them behind the diaphragm...very dead!
As bullet weight decreases, so do the hydrostatic shock...take that to the bank.
Learn to lead your coyotes on the run, follow through with your swing, and you will be happy with the results.
250-400 yards were our long shots, and the 243 and 6 Rem was king of the hill on shots of this range with the 80g. The 80g Sierra Single shot pistol bullets and the 80g Sierra Blitz BT(latest version) give the loudest WHOP sound you will ever hear when the bullet connects.
Later, Mexican President started requiring a guide to go with Americans, which ended our hunting down there. I moved to Az where the shots were closer, 85-125 yards was an average, and the long shots when they irrigated the fields where coyotes were catching gophers that were trying not to drown, were out to 400 yards. I shot a 223 Rem 700 sporter with a heavy load of Benchmark with the 55s at 3450 fps(this is not an AR load), and the 22/250 AI sporter with the 55's at 4000. The 223 loaded with the Sierra 55g Lead tip blitz just about shot coyotes in half, an amazing combo for killing tough coyotes. IMO, in a 223 bolt gun, a 55g Sierra Lead tip blitz is Magic on predators with tremendous expansion and penetration, great for shoulder and hip shots.
Later on, I started hunting coyotes off of gaited horses, we really worked the coyote over in hard-to-get places where there were no roads. Coyotes never see a man on a horse, just the horse.
Plenty of lions in Az as we found out when we started helping ranchers gather up the cows and calves in Feb before the lions and coyotes got them.
Through all of this predator hunting, I and others in my team learned, to always have enough gun. A coyote can twist and turn so crazy hits on the body are par for the course. You are going to pass up on a lot of coyotes if you wait till they stop, and we tried every trick in the book to get them to stop.
Your hunting terrain may be completely different than my experiences,
Losing brass is part of coyote hunting, make your choices wisely.
