Hi RePete,
Thanks for the load info. I hope to find an accurate bullet somewhere between 50 & 55 grains.
I was going to go with LAPUA brass. That is excellent brass. But since I use Norma brass for my .270 Win & 7MM Rem Mag, I figured I might as well stick with one brand.
I've read a lot of good stuff about H332 & IMR4198.
Ken Waters wrote that the .222 Rem is capable of making 300 yard shots. That's a long way when shooting small game an varmints. I was thinking more along the lines of 200-250 yards. In fact, I was thinking of going with the new Steyr Zepher II .22 WMR and restricting shots to under a hundred yards. But I can hand load .222 cheaper than buying .22 WMR ammo.
I've seen Rocky Mountain coyotes up real close. I saw a gorgeous one with a red neck. I watched him scatter a herd of antelope. When he got tired, he trotted right towards me. I put the crosshairs of my Model 700 .270 Win scope right on his chest. A 130 Sierra GameKing woulda vaporized him. I was about to drop the hammer on him, but I didn't wanna spook the 30" 4x4 muley that was hiding in thick stuff below the cliff beyond. Truth be told, I was hoping a huge muley was gonna show just enough of himself to put one of those GameKings in his oxygenated blood pump apparatus. If one was in there, he saved that coyote's life that day. Anyway, my Li'l Deuce Coup is gonna go on big game hunts with me.
I have a bunch of muley bonus points for Utah. But getting into The Henrys doesn't seem realistic. My elk guide told me he could put me on a trophy muley in the San Juan unit. I did see huge bucks while chasing monster bull elk. There are lots of smaller critters roaming San Juan that'd make such a hunt a lot more fun.
CA is over populated with coyotes. My friend lives in Laguna Beach. I live just east of her. Coyotes roam Laguna Beach. Heck, you can see 'em in LA. There are black bears, lions, and bobcats, and yotes in the San Gabriel Mountains that are just outside of LA. But because CA is an extremely gun hostile state, I refuse to support it by buying a hunting license.
I'm fixin' to bail to CA as soon as my kids are outta college.