Question for 22 nosler users...

1

1toppy

New member
I've been having alot runners with the factory 22 nosler 55 grain ballistic tips. My shot placement has been good (I have videos of it). The stuff shoots .5" 100 yard groups out of my 24" 1/8 twist barrel but I'm not getting the kill power I thought I would. It knocks them down then they proceed to roll around and run off. I was thinking about trying some Night Ops ammo. Has anybody had good luck with this stuff and if so what bullet are you shooting? I'm also going to add I don't reload my own ammo.
 
Have you tested the velocity of that factory ammo? Are you using NV or thermal? How many coyotes has this happened with, and do they just run a little ways or are they gone and never recovered? What is the average shot distance?
 
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No I have not tested the velocity. I dont have access to a chrono. I’m using thermal (flir pts536). 3 out of the first 5 I have shot have run off far enough I have not found them. I was able to follow a couple of them (after shot) several hundred yards across open fields out of range and they don’t go down again.
 
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Which 55 grain bullet, the actually ballistic tip, or the varmageddon loaded in the dogtown ammo?

I could see the varmageddon splashing but not the ballistic tip. They both have plastic tips but the bt is solid based and should be much tougher.
 
If you are shooting the standard ballistic tips and not the Varmegeddons....then I can only suspect less than ideal shot placement. I know you said that shot placement was good and that you have video of it, but since they were not recovered, there is no way to verify that. A friend of mine has video of complete misses that defy explanation......crosshair centered perfectly during the shot and coyote running away, untouched after the shot. Very puzzling. A friend and I have shot many coyotes with the 22 Nosler, both with 50 and 55 grain Nosler ballistic tips and I can assure you that if that bullet goes into the boiler room, at the velocity your 24" barrel is producing........well let's just say they ain't gonna walk that off. LOL What happened with the 2 that you did kill? Where was the shot placement and were they anchored on the spot?
 
Move shot placement into the upper shoulder/lower neck area or you will get runners. Weve shot probably 70 coyotes with that bullet or the 50 grain version at that speed or faster the last 2 seasons and we have had some runners with hits that were not perfect which is the norm with thermal. If you are not shooting a bullet big enough to saw em in half you gotta hit em up front. A couple weeks ago we hit one atleast 4 times twice leveling him and we still never found him. Two of those hits were with 50 bt's at 3600 muzzle velocity. Once past 150 or so yards imo the 55 bt's over pernetrate and don't expand and transfer energy as well once the velocity drops so much. I think you may be shooting at bigger older coyotes at night as well.
 
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Coyote can be very tough animals when hit behind the liver or on the legs. With the 55 Nosler bt I have seen several hit high on the back leg, just in front of the hip. On broadside shots the BT tend to exit right in the middle between the legs. Coyote shot this way at night go down with a spin or two, lay for a short time before getting up and moving off. They will or can travel fairly well, usually ending up in heavy cover. I have tracked these(some a day or 2 later). There will be some darker blood and often the entry side leg will swing and leave a scuff out of line of the track in snow. However I have not seen any coyote shot through the chest cavity go very far, even at 400-500 yards. I know my loads are above 3600,even when temps are below zero. I start to see exits at 220-225 yards on broadside lung/heart and shoulder shots.
 
I shot a lot of coyotes with the 55g Nosler, never had a problem, 223's at velocities from 3050-3150, then up around 3475.

You may want to contact nosler, it is remotely possible that the factory has put out a Lot# that has bullets that had extremely hard jackets. There is an issue that there could be a softer lot# of bullets that would leade he HIGH RPM's of the 8" twist to make the bullet fragment sooner.

Also, while you have the video, an autopsy to verify your own thinking is called for.

Over the past 40 years, I have seen bad lots of bullets:

52g speers blow up on the surface of a coyote when a bone was underneath the entrance point, rib, hip, shoulder
75g Hornady HP were not expanding at all, 243 Win at 3500 fps
85g Sierra sp shot holes through coyotes like FMJ's, 243 at 3200 fps

These anomalies were the result of a particular lot# of bullet, later lot# did not have those problems.

It only takes a second when the coyote is warm to take a knife, slice the hide enough to see the entrance and exit. An easy way to do this is to step on the coyotes front leg, grab the hide above the spine pulling as much of the loose hide away from the body as possible, cutting as deep as you can till the blade contacts meat. Now, run the knife under the hide all the way down to the brisket, on both sides. You will see exactly what happened. Bullets do strange things.

I know that you said that you do not reload, but this is a perfect example of why you should start. 26 Nosler sounds like one heck of a round!

If you center punch a coyote behind the diaphram, bullets would perform like you have mentioned with 22 calibers smaller than a 220 Swift and 22/250 AI with 55g Ballistic tips. I can not stress the above enough!
 
Thanks for all a the info! Update on my post. It rained all day yesterday so I went out today and looked for the coyote I shot friday night that ran off. I found him not far from we’re i shot him. He ran over a hill after he jumped up and was down in a ditch and I must of overlooked him. The coyote I seen running off must of been a different coyote that was on the back side of the same hill that I had never seen to begin with. Anyways I’m in need of some more 22 nosler ammo and would like to try my luck with something else so I’m going to try some Night ops. They offer 55 grain varmageddons and 60 grain ballistic tips. Do the varmgeddons compare to the Vmax? Should I go with the 55 or the 60’s?
 
If you are changing ammo due to knockdowns with runners, get the 60 gr BTips. They are longer and will punch deeper due to the solid copper base. The Varmageddons are built like the Vmax and are lightly constructed which is more likely to blow up on a bone for another knockdown and get up.
 
I have shot the last 20 coyotes with Sierra 60gr. H-P #1375 3450 fps from .22x6.8. Ranges from 100 yds. to 280 yds. None made it over 60 yards, those three were gut shot. The rest never moved. Sometimes the exit is small, sometimes big. Fur here not worth saving so not a problem. I would give them a try, if you reload.
 
in my 22/250 with a 14 Twist, the 60g Sierra at 3450 shot holes though coyotes, bump the twist rate up to an 8 Twist, performance should be much better.

Also, in a 22/243 AI, the 60g sierra opens up coyotes well with a 14T at 4000 fps.
 
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Must be all these new fangled cartridges 223's or 22 Noslers and there fast twists causing all these runners.

You never hear of anyone complaining about runners with their 1-14 222's, 22-250 or even 220 Swifts. Maybe all the old guys shooting them have a little more patients to hit them where you need to.
 
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Originally Posted By: AWSMust be all these new fangled cartridges 223's or 22 Noslers and there fast twists causing all these runners.

You never hear of anyone complaining about runners with their 1-14 222's, 22-250 or even 220 Swifts. Maybe all the old guys shooting them have a little more patients to hit them where you need to.

+1

55g Nosler ballistic tip at 3600 is a killing machine!
 
At night off of a tripod with digital optics timing doubles etc it becomes very difficult to place shots perfectly. Guys that don't hunt this way seem to not understand it. Figure in pitch black conditions and a coyote doesnt have to get too far to get away and when you walk out to look its not easy to know where to start and where the coyote was standing. Now you've got guys spread out in an area in pitch black looking for a wounded critter to finish him off. That can become a safety factor. When hunting coyotes at night the added energy of the fast 6 mm's sure help. We do well with the 22 Nosler but bigger sure wouldn't hurt. In the daytime east of the Mississippi a guy only gets a hand full of shots a year so you dang sure went to anchor him when the shot arrives. Four or five shots per year on live critters isn't much practice either.
The shooting world is full of snobs.... brass knobs, trigger snobs, and small cartridge snobs. I would just shoot what you feel comfortable with.
 
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If you are leaving enough wounded coyotes running off that you are complaining about it. Something is seriously wrong, either how or what you are doing/using is not working. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. If your equipment doesn't allow you to make ethical kills either get better equipment or practice using what you have until you can hit them where you need to. If you need a bigger round get one.

 
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Originally Posted By: AWSIf you are leaving enough wounded coyotes running off that you are complaining about it. Something is seriously wrong, either how or what you are doing/using is not working. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out. If your equipment doesn't allow you to make ethical kills either get better equipment or practice using what you have until you can hit them where you need to. If you need a bigger round get one.


Is this directed me? We lose very few coyotes I don't like to lose any and I really don't like to look for them in the brush because we do everything we can do to recover them. 1 lost is too many for me. I don't say oh well he had a bullet in him he'll die and move on and count him as a kill. When you have digital optics with point of impact shift up to multiple inches at 100 yards due to slight temperature changes you can imagine the tolerance stack that happens out at 200 to 300. I got to ask do you have any experience with this?
As a matter of fact we have videos where it shows an absolutely perfect shot and the coyote runs away unscathed.
 
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