The Ultimate Predator Rifle

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Phillip Howard

New member
I know that you veteran members have seen this post 1000 times but I'm new the forum, ultimately predator hunting and need your help. My target species are coyotes, foxes and bobcats - I know there will be 1000 different answers for your favorite caliber but it will at least give me some ideas to start researching. Thanks
 
I am still trying to figure that out for myself. Last year was my first season and i used both a rifle and a shotgun. When i had the shotgun i saw 3 but they were too far away. When using the rifle i never saw one and my vssf 22-250 proved to be too heavy with the bipod and light on it for run and gun hunting.
 
I have many ultimate predator rifles, each has it's own job.
17-204
223 AI
243 Win
243 AI

The first 2 are for kill'n and saving fur and the other are for kill'n at a distance.
 
My custom AR in 6x45 is about perfect for me. The only thing left to do is upgrade the optics. I'm going to see this season how I like the new Redfield Battlezone. It will likely get sealed for an FX-6 with M1 turret soon.
 
More often than not, the ultimate firearm for predator hunting is a semi-auto shotgun. The loads and chokes are 'tuned' and the plug is out, where legal.

Just about anywhere in the East the critters you mentioned are in thick cover, that's where to set up.
 
223....because ammo is available everywhere, in many different bullet weights, and your choice of rifles is endless. Plus, it will cover 90% or more, of all the predator hunting situations you will likely encounter.
 
I hunt coyotes from North Carolina to Alabama and do most of my hunting with rifles ranging from .223 to .25-06 but my experience tells me that in our region a shotgun is best.
 
get started with a 223, with Hornady or Fiocci 40 gr vmax in 50 round box for 35.00 and you will be good to go.

It's NOT the ULTIMATE RIFLE that covers ALL situations like short brush shots to long range open flat shots in windy conditions...BUT... it will get you to killing a lot of critters in a short amount of time in your area.
 
The often overlooked 243 win may be the ultimate in standard factory offerings. With bullets in the 55-65 weight it's basically a 22-250, bullets from 70 to 87 and you get a happy mix of speed and balistic coefficient, and then with 90 - 105 gr bullets you have some very high BC bullets easily capable of reaching way out there consistently. What I'm getting at is its very versatile.
 
Here is what I considered the ultimate off the shelf varmint rig when I wrote the article.

Not exactly what you asked, but it would work. It's probably way more scope than you would want for where you live (even though the side-car red dot is very effective from 1-75 yards and it also puts your long range target "in scope" in seconds). You could just put a simple 3-9 on for the scope instead.

Sendit
 
I would say the 22-250 or 223 I go with these because where I hunt coyotes is a 100 mile drive one way if for some reason I make the mistake of forgetting my ammo I know I can run into the small town close by and find a box of ammo for either of these calibers. Much harder to find the specialty ammo on the shelf IMO. As far as rifle I think the remington 700 is a tested and trued rifle had mine in 22-250 for 10 years and is always my go to predator rifle, light weight and accurate can't ask for anything more hunting the mountains.
 
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I think a lightweight, 16" barreled, AR15 in .223 topped with a 3-9x40 scope is about as good as it gets for me.
I like the idea of all the other cool calibers (.17 Rem, .204, 6x45, etc...) but as a non reloader I am stuck with factory ammo. Therefore, .223 gives me the most bang for my buck.
I'm left handed and prefer a semi auto for quick follow ups and multiple targets, hence the AR platform.
I think a 3-9x40 scope offers more than enough magnification while remaining light. I had a 4-16 on my AR and it was too much so I switched to a 1-4. The 1-4 is OK but I would like a little more magnification and I hate the reticle on the 1-4. I plan on adding a plane jane Leupold VX2 3-9x40 with a duplex reticle or possibly the 2.5-8.
Just my idea of the ultimate predator rifle, others will vary. Once you have one, you will want another, then another, and so it begins...
 


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