Calling coyotes and pistols

Livetrap

New member
How many of you have used pistols when calling for coyotes? I've got a GP100 with a 4" barrel in .357mag that I usually keep loaded with snake shot when hunting the desert.
 
While your pistol will do it, you may find that it's short barrel may hinder you alot from making a quick kill.

LOL And you'll need to replace that birdshot with a good cylinder of hollow points.
 
I also carry a 2.5" .357 with 3 rds of birdshot and 3 of standard ammo (just for snakes of all kinds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif).
 
A 4 inch barrel will be diffcult to hit anything with, not to mention open sighted. I wacked one coyote last year with my 357, but it was one of those chance encounters. I was mapping out a food plot, and out came Mr. Coyote at the crack of noon. I barked at him with a howler I had in my truck and he came screaming towards me. Good luck.

-Curt
 
Just keep in mind that a coyote has about a six inch kill zone. Practice with your 357 and keep your shots within any range you can keep rounds inside that six in kill zone. You'd be surprised how far you can shoot into that six inch zone with practice.
 
I carry my Ruger single-six .22 mag. for up close, behind my back sneak ups. I havent had a chance to try it on yotes yet but confident it will work. I practice on Jackrabbits and it blasts them good.

Once when I was a teenager I called in a triple and opened fire with my Ruger New Model Blackhawk .357. Unfortunately I was shooting wadcutters, I hit the first scum dog and went for a second. I did'nt hit anymore and never could find the one I punched. Bad choice of ammo. Probably could have made a better shot also, but pretty sure it was behind the shoulder.

Presto
 
I'm kind of surprised to see so many guys opposed to handgun hunting. Granted, it seems we're talking pistols over revolvers, but we're also talking coyotes, not elk. Accuracy is the key, and accuracy IS attainable.

My wife took a nice meat doe this winter, calculated walking weight of 180-190lbs, at 43yrds with a 2.25" Ruger SP-101 and Hornady Leverevolution 140grn FTX, no exit, 50yrds and crumple. She hasn't gotten a shot on a coyote yet with it, but that's an active "work in progress".

I killed a couple doe about 15yrs ago on a bet about the effectiveness of 9mm on deer with a 9mm High point Carbine and a Kel-tec carbine. Frankly, I think a proper 9mm carbine would make a fantastic coyote rifle, and I'm hoping to see reasonable performance/reliability out of the new Taurus carbine (and a significant price drop), if so, I'll be hunting with one soon.

Back in college I killed over a dozen coyotes with a .22lr Ruger Mark II. Dogs were coming into our calf pens regularly (nightly) and were so comfortable, they'd drink out of the stock tank. I'd sit in the hayloft above the pens after I fed in the evenings and put rounds on them with my pistol. Most of these were under 30yrds, and many required follow up shots, but they dead was dead.

I'm not sure how many dogs he loses compared to recovers, but I've been getting pic messages from one of my cousins (college age) that has been calling coyotes using our grandpa's old H&R .22lr revolver this winter. Out of fear of overpressuring, he's not even using "mini mag" or super velocity ammo.

I'm prone to believe that most "standard" handgun cartridges will kill a coyote at any range you can really connect with it (call it 4" groups, just to put a number on it). 9mm, 40, 45, .357sig, 10mm, .357mag, 44mag, 45colt, etc. If you can get it there, there's a lot of bullet to do the job. Not looking at hydrostatic shock for DRT drops every time (except maybe shorter ranges with the badder cats on the block), but they'll do work. Naturally, the tiny tots like the .380acp, 22WMR, and .22lr, all have a bit stricter requirements, but they can work, assuming you can put it on target.
 
I can hit just about anything in a 4" circle at 50 yards with my Ruger. But it does have a 7 1/2 inch barrel, I believe. Also a 454 Casull, and no, I haven't got to shoot a coyote with it yet. I will take some picutres as soon as I do though. A .357 would be plenty for a coyote, too. If you can put the shot where it needs to go, it'll put them down.
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Originally Posted By: millerjqI can hit just about anything in a 4" circle at 50 yards with my Ruger. But it does have a 7 1/2 inch barrel, I believe. Also a 454 Casull, and no, I haven't got to shoot a coyote with it yet. I will take some picutres as soon as I do though.

Race ya to it! I've pretty well decided to start hauling my 5.5" Ruger SRH .454 out after some coyotes. Initially thought to use .45colt loads, but then I asked myself: "where's the fun in that?"
 
Originally Posted By: VarminterrorOriginally Posted By: millerjqI can hit just about anything in a 4" circle at 50 yards with my Ruger. But it does have a 7 1/2 inch barrel, I believe. Also a 454 Casull, and no, I haven't got to shoot a coyote with it yet. I will take some picutres as soon as I do though.

Race ya to it! I've pretty well decided to start hauling my 5.5" Ruger SRH .454 out after some coyotes. Initially thought to use .45colt loads, but then I asked myself: "where's the fun in that?"

Done deal, if you hold off until after May 1st! Hah. I don't have time to even get out of the house right now, unless it's going to work. That's why I'm here so much. And I agree 100% Why use 45 colt when I could use some 260 grain Magtech 454 rounds.
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Originally Posted By: millerjqOriginally Posted By: VarminterrorOriginally Posted By: millerjqI can hit just about anything in a 4" circle at 50 yards with my Ruger. But it does have a 7 1/2 inch barrel, I believe. Also a 454 Casull, and no, I haven't got to shoot a coyote with it yet. I will take some picutres as soon as I do though.

Race ya to it! I've pretty well decided to start hauling my 5.5" Ruger SRH .454 out after some coyotes. Initially thought to use .45colt loads, but then I asked myself: "where's the fun in that?"

Done deal, if you hold off until after May 1st! Hah. I don't have time to even get out of the house right now, unless it's going to work. That's why I'm here so much. And I agree 100% Why use 45 colt when I could use some 260 grain Magtech 454 rounds.
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Count me in! I got a scope on the way for my S&W .460.
 
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How do you call a pistol??? LOL


From the 70's I've used .22's like the Colt Diamondback and S&W model 41 for squirrels, and 8" Python and S&W .41 mag for deer and pigs at ranges out to 125 or a touch further.

If you can shoot em and hit it's good.

Coyotes are predators that kill our animals here so I don't screw around, I want 100% for sure hit and kill ratios, I'm not doing them for fun or sport or I'd probably use a pistol.
 
Originally Posted By: woodguruCoyotes are predators that kill our animals here so I don't screw around, I want 100% for sure hit and kill ratios, I'm not doing them for fun or sport or I'd probably use a pistol.

That's actually how I got started handgunning in the first place. I always kept a (stainless) sidearm on my hip growing up around the ranch, "just in case I needed it". Thankfully, "just in case I needed it" usually just meant an opportunity shot on a coyote, rather than putting down a sick/injured animal. I suppose if I'm 100% honest, "just in case" usually meant "in case I see a rabbit or squirrel or funny looking rock" more often than anything else. The farm trucks always had rifles in them, and my dad, gpa, and uncles always carried leverguns in a scabbard when I was a kid. But I always thought 1) the rifle was ungainly on horseback for every day carry and 2) I hated what a scabbard did to a rifle's finish over time (still do, same as I hate what a holster does to a blued revolver, part of why almost ALL of my guns are stainless).

Then I had the same qualms about beating up my 22lr rifles while coon hunting (at the time, one was a hand-me-down from my granddad, the other a Christmas gift NIB), so I carried my .22lr Mark II for coons over hounds... That evolved into wheelgunning deer, as well as carrying handguns for HUNTING coyotes, not just opportunity shots...
 
Agreed. Grandpa always had a revolver on his hip while on the farm. Usually a judge I believe. Took out coons, snakes, coyotes, etc. so I grew to love them. Then my father picked up a 22lr semi auto, and it was a blast.
 
I carry a Rugar LCR in .38 special in shoulder rig while hunting. It keeps it up out of my way and handy too. Anyway, was coming out of a stand a little too soon apparently, I come out of a little arroyo I hunt close to a casino on the edge of town and there he comes. Dropped it about 40 yds out.
I carry the sidearm because the area is known for dumping stolen cars and such. It's next to I-40, but holds allot of Coyotes, they feed at their dumpster and the water treatment plant has running water year round. Kind of a hidden gem of mine. And it's only 20 mins from the house. The only restriction is when the wind is from the west, they sometimes come in downwind which is between me and the interstate and I can only watch.
 


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