.22 lr for Coyote? Really?

From Library of Medicine. Here is one doc I will present. It is what's called a Tangential gunshot wound. If you dig, you can find your docs. i.e. Johns Hopkins trauma surgeons, 68W medics, FBI, and also CAG operators who have experienced it first hand. If ones head turned and bullet trajectory is say 40deg, and the other conditions are right, bullets can deflect. Doesnt mean person wont die, just sayin.

Even when a 5.56 round deflects or fails to fully penetrate, the resulting injury is often severe and life-threatening. Possible outcomes include:
  • Skull fractures: The impact can still cause the skull to fracture, potentially sending bone fragments into the brain.
  • Intracranial bleeding: The blunt force trauma can cause bleeding within the skull, such as subdural or epidural hematomas.
  • Brain contusions: The high energy of the impact can cause the brain to slam against the inside of the skull, leading to bruising and significant tissue damage.
  • Permanent disability: Surviving such an injury often results in long-term complications, such as loss of motor skills, hearing, or other senses.
 
Thank You Sir
For posting information to the documentation that you referenced.
I've not opened it yet, and read it but will do so in it's entirety .
Respectfully
Mike
 
Sgt_Mike said:
Thank You Sir
For posting information to the documentation that you referenced.
I've not opened it yet, and read it but will do so in it's entirety .
Respectfully
Mike
Click to expand...
No problem Sgt. Mike, I can tell by where you said you served you have been around. I am not questioning your experience or knowledge.
 
A pellet gun will kill a coyote or human with the right shot. Is it a practical weapon for a coyote? No and neither is a .22. Yeah, people will kill them with that caliber but how many do they wound and never find. It’s not the lethality of the cartridge it’s if you can put the bullet exactly in the right spot every time. Down here you’ll never find one unless it’s a brain shot and it dropped on the spot. They aren’t going to leave a blood trail with a heart or even a lung shot. I use a .22 on the trap line and heart/lung shoot them to keep from bloodying up a set.
The question is “why” use a .22 when there are much better calibers out there. If they’re close enough for a .22 to be effective then use a shotgun with TSS or buck shot. You’d definitely have a better chance of killing them.
 
I have killed a raccoon and possums at 80 yards plus with CCI Mini Mags. Raccoons imparticularly are pretty tough critters, so I am just stating the power this little cartridge has, but not that I recommend the 22 long rifle for coyotes. I have never killed a coyote, nor even shot at one with a long rifle round so this alone doesn’t qualify me to say yeah nor nay. I’m sure it’s probably been done many times. I did kill one coyote one time (head shot) with a 22 magnum. However, I have enough experience on coyotes with numerous centerfire cartridges to form an opinion, and that is that I don’t want to deliberately use the 22 long rifle myself. Oh, there’s always that “what if” - like, you have a 22 in your hands and suddenly a coyote shows up, he is close and you feel confident in the shot. There’s sometimes that scenario. I don’t condemn anyone who uses a 22 long rifle and repeatedly kills coyotes. I try to be open minded enough to realize that what float’s one guys boat may not another.
 
My first coyote kill was with a Nylon 66 using CCI stinger 22lr while I was squirrel hunting 40+ years ago.
I was using squirrel distress call's and sneaking up on a squirrel when two coyote came barreling in on me.
I was only able to drop the one due to a young mans reflex's.
From that day on I was a coyote hunter and used a 22lr for years until graduating to larger calibers as time and pay advanced.
Is it the best cartridge for coyote and what I would choose to use, nope.
Can it kill coyote, I guarantee it.
SJC
 
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