.204 coyote hunters

J

jmeddy

Well-known member
I am setting up a spare rifle (Savage 11, no groundhogs anymore) for night hunting. It is somewhat 'underpowered' in my mind, but I know several of you like it. I have a few hundred 39 SBKs loaded at 3450 fps. In you guys' opinion, is this a 300yd round or should I stay shorter?
Thanks in advance, Mike
 
I never used the 39 SBK’s Mike. I remember when I first started shooting the 204 for coyotes it was around 2007 or 08. That bullet was considered one of the best for coyotes. Not being a reloader, I never found anything in a factory load with that bullet. I seem to remember reading that guys felt like Sierra did something to change the bullet. I remember guys on forums saying they suddenly got a lot more splashing and runners with them. I have no way to confirm or deny this having never used them.

I have only taken a couple with the 204 at 300ish. Neither was a bang flop. Those were with NBT 40 gr. I have hit a couple from 250 to 300 that were not recovered with Vmax 40’s. Over time I limited my shots to 250 and in due to runners and unrecoverable coyotes and zero blood to track them. 35 Bergers and 40 NBT were my bullets of choice.

Sorry, not much help with your actual question.
 
I've never had a .204R. But have been playing with .20's since long before the .204R existed. My experience with the 39BK on coyote has all been at much higher velocity. From about 4,000 to 4,300 fps. At much above 4,000 they have been pretty much a fail. Just too splashy. At 4,000, I have gotten mostly bang flops. But, the occasional splash/runner too. Erratic performance, in other words. I've given up on them as a Big Twenty coyote bullet. Although, I'll go ahead and use up the ones I still have loaded, maybe 30 rounds or so. Because, they have been "mostly" bang flops.

At only 3,450 fps I don't think splash will be of any concern. And I'd just purely guess you'll get more consistent, less erratic performance. I'm just guessing they'll kill like gangbusters. Only one way to actually know though...

- DAA
 
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i am carrying my Thompson center predator.204 Ruger 1/10 twist barrel.99% of the time I am calling and it took awhile to get a good bullet and load that we found works good on coyotes and didn't blow up fox and this is the load pictured unfortunately those bullets were discontinued which sent me on a crazy search to find anyone stashing them. I was lucky to come up with a little over 700 more of them so I should be good for awhile. I try to keep all of my shots on coyotes under 300 yards still just because of there more than likely isn't much of a blood trail if they do take off especially if there is no snow to at least track them but I did shoot one Thursday night that left a good blood trail in the over knee deep snow from where I shot him to the edge of the field, about 40 yards where I found him under a bush at the fields edge. That shot was around 250 yards. Now, I love this .204 because of the very little to no fur damage on coyotes and fox also BUT I have been considering a .223 just because. My son shoots a .223 and has been doing great on coyotes with the 55 grain soft points but it can make a mess on a fox.
 
I have killed hundreds of coyotes from a few feet to about 400 yards with the 204. The 35 Bergers running at about 4000 fps have been and still are my choice, a few got away but not very many… just my two cents..!
 
2Rope said:
I have killed hundreds of coyotes from a few feet to about 400 yards with the 204. The 35 Bergers running at about 4000 fps have been and still are my choice, a few got away but not very many… just my two cents..!
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I have heard good things about those bullets and may try some if I ever run out of these 45 grain soft points 😁 I'll just have to figure out a good load for them 👍
 
35 Bergers are amazing coyote medicine. Best fur bullet in my opinion. Killed lots with them and never had one splash, and only one exit ever. They will pretty regularly rip a broadside fox open though inside 100 yards.
 
Another vote for the 35 Bergers. I have over 600 on them loaded up (use them for p-dogs too) with 27.5 grains of H5895 going 3868 fps out of my CZ 527. I have also shot a lot of Coyotes with 39 grain Sierra bullets with 27.0 gr. of IMR 8208 XBR going 3750 fps. Both loads are under published maximum and are safe in my rifle.
 
I like the 35 grain Bergers. I’ve been using them for 20 years and are still my favorite bullet for coyotes. Mine shoots best with 28.2 grains H4895 in my CZ527 with a 20” barrel, they are running around 3850 fps. Good little setup for coyotes out to 300 yards.
 
I do not use my 204s for night calling. On day calling I’ve used 35 Berger’s with good results. There’s enough challenges in night calling that I prefer more HP, so I use a 22-250, loaded fast with 50 grain ballistic tips.
 
dale06 said:
I do not use my 204s for night calling. On day calling I’ve used 35 Berger’s with good results. There’s enough challenges in night calling that I prefer more HP, so I use a 22-250, loaded fast with 50 grain ballistic tips.
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I totally agree about the HP esp. in my terrain, just don't want to buy another gun to have as a back-up. Might change my mind in the future. There is a story behind this endeavor, but not part of this question ;).
 
Can you say WIND?
A buddy of mine uses a 204 for P dog and coyotes. It's a 300-yard coyote gun and a bit farther with P Dogs, on a calm day. You can dial up, drop the wind is the unknown. A 20 mph wind on a 300-yard P dog will not be in your scope, according to him. It is nice to see your hits, and they suppress quite well.
 
Badbrass said:
A 20 mph wind on a 300-yard P dog will not be in your scope, according to him.
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Utter nonsense. Unless your scope only has about a 15" FOV at 300 yards :ROFLMAO: .

Can you say B.C. and Velocity are the only two variables that matter for wind deflection? Can you also say that the .20 caliber 39BK compares very favorably to most .22 centerfire rounds for those two variables? Can you say BS?

- DAA
 
Your setup should be capable and fairly reliable out to 300. However.......I would have loaded them considerably hotter than 3450.
 
Badbrass said:
Can you say WIND?
A buddy of mine uses a 204 for P dog and coyotes. It's a 300-yard coyote gun and a bit farther with P Dogs, on a calm day. You can dial up, drop the wind is the unknown. A 20 mph wind on a 300-yard P dog will not be in your scope, according to him. It is nice to see your hits, and they suppress quite well.
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Must be using one of those scopes with a 10 mm objective lense🤪
 
22-250 w/55vmax @3700 = 93" drift @600 yds
204 w/40vmax @ 3700 = 83" drift @600 yds
I cant understand why people think the 204 or any 20 cal for that matter is no good in the wind. Of course the fast twist with heavy high BC bullets will do better but when you compare apples to apples the 204 will hold its own. JMHO
 
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