SmallCaliberCentral

Recently I was thumbing through a hunting magazine and found a article on shooting coyotes, I read along until the author stated that the .17 Remington and the .204 ruger were good on coyotes out to 150yds but shouldn't be used past that distance, At this point I digustedly threw the magazine back on the rack and walked away, I for one wouldn't hesitate to drop a coyote out to 400yds with a .204! but after much thinking and consideration I would like to find that magazine and write a reply to the so-called expert on the .204, if anybody else comes across this article, would you let me know the name of the magazine please! thanks!

Probably won't do much good...the gunwriter has to sell 22-250 rifles as the go to 400 yard cartridge next month. Or will it be the ackley?

When I began researching the .204 I bought up several gun mags and did some internet research. I talked to a couple of competition shootin' buddies of mine who shoot space guns and Tubbs guns and all of that.

They all said that the .204 was a limited caliber with a 100% effective range on small coyotes at 150 yds or closer. And they all said that a 45 or 50 gr bullet would be required for the 100% effective shot. "The coyote would run off with such a small entrance wound and no large exit wound to bleed from. It would be like shootin' a coyote in the side with a .22 lr... no internal damage." was the common comment

After the wife came home one day with a small pack of yotes in the front yard. . . . who didn't run off when shot got outta the car and when into the house. .. . that's when I decided (with her permission) to buy a new rifle.

The soil at that house was +/- 6" thick with solid stone underneith and the closest house around 300 yds. My first pick was a 25-06 (after reading a gun mag) but the possibility of richochet was important. Then it went to a .243 (another gun mag said it was the best for coyotes) Finally, I went for the .204. . . . .and haven't looked back. I tell anyone (who will listen to me) about the caliber and what it'll do.
Big-bore-a-holics have little or no respect, but I'm on a quest to enlighten the underexposed over-traditional community I live in.



Dispell the myths !

It is all a matter of energy.

The factory Hornday 40-gr, and 45-gr loads for 204 have more energy at 400-yds, (both over 400-ft-lbs), than a 45ACP shooting any factory standard pressure load does at the muzzle.

I doubt you could find anyone who would argue that the 45 won't blow the smoke out of them when fired point blank.

This all reminds me of two years ago when Captqc brought a newstand gun rag on one of our ground squirrel shoots here. The author, Wiley Clapp, wrote about "testing" the 204R on prairie dogs, and made the comment that went something like "if a mouse broke wind, it would blow the .204 bullet off course on any target past 200 yards."

This illustrates lack of experience with the round, making a knee-jerk reaction to his probable misses in the South Dakota wind due to this lack of experience, and the fact that he's primarily a handgun author with little regard or respect for small calibers and should stick to what he knows (or thinks he knows).

Who knows how many 204's were NOT purchased because of this tripe, but nonetheless, it got published in a mainstream magazine. Lots of inuendo, prejudice, and just plain transparent dislike for the round. High on opinion, zero useful information.

About the only gun rags I still get and have any regard for their integrity are Handloader, Rifle, Small Caliber News (sob), Varmint Hunter, Precision Shooting and The American Rifleman, as I'm a Life Member. As for the others, I grew tired of reading the headline: "Deer Rifle Shootout - .270Win vs. .30-06, or 9mm vs. .45ACP. Give me a break.

You'll find more useful information right here than in 95% of the gun rags on the stand. No wonder many of the magazines are hurting with the advent of the internet. Mouse fart indeed.....

I'm with all you guys,these writers don't do enough research and real world testing. here's a toast to all you writers

I've spoke before about the big bore -a-holic that I work with and his narrow minded view of anything smaller than a .270 Win.

I subscribe to Predator Extreme, and have been pleased with the mag so far. One thing that I like is the emphasis on pneumatic rifles.

My coworker picked up an issue the other day and browsed.......until he noticed all the adds for "BB guns" He stood up, looked at me and said "What the @%$&&$# do they have BB guns in here for? You can't kill a coyote with a BB gun!! "

Note: He calls my .204 (which has eliminated several species of wild animal including some large stray nusiance g shephards who liked to chase cattle). . . and all of this doesn't matter to him.

I showed him the .50 cal Dragonslayer PCP. He was interested in the looks, but when I showed him some videos of the Dragonslayer doing its job with coyotes and other critters he was in disbelief. "There is NO WAY that BB gun killed that coyote at 160yds! "

He showed me some mags from some years ago stating that PCP rifles were not going to be successful and not to spend money on them unless you like to eat squirrel. And one regarding the .204 as a "highly wind dependant calibre that often fails to deposite enough energy to kill the intended target at distances farther than 150 yds." My coworker lives by this mag! I'm embarressed to even mention that I work with him.

sniper12: Gee, I wonder if your uninformed coworker has any recollection of U.S. history. I think not, or he would know that Lewis & Clark carried an early pneumatic large caliber rifle and used it to cleanly take game animals on their historic journey all the way from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. BB gun indeed.

Your coworker appears to be a colossal glittering jewel of ignorance.

"a colossal glittering jewel of ignorance" LOL must be the detailed version of "a real gem"?

predator extreme is the only mag I subscribe to. very useful info in there.

Perceptions vary, especially with gun magazines . I have tried a few Predator Extreme magazines, and thought they ruined the ads with a few lines of article . I can't stand magazines like that, and won't spend money on them.
I read The Varmint Hunter Magazine, pretty much exclusively now, I get the American Rifleman, too, but it's turned into a sad COPY of the grocery store magazines, IOW, it's not worth reading unless you're on the can. Pitiful.
Even Rifle and Handloader are heading for the crapper, since John Barsness has left (he might have a few more articles in them by the end of the year, but he's parted company with Wolfe Publishing). John is publishing online (www.24hourcampfire.com/), and has signed with Guns Magazine and even American Handgunner , too.
I won't even mention G&A or Shooting Times, or Rifleshooter, or the rest of the tripe from Primemedia . It ain't worth the electrons.................

I have never seen varmint hunter sounds like it might be something I should look into

WYLDRUCKUS, you have to be a member of The Varmint Hunter's Association to get the magazine, but it's worth it to me, the photos are great, and articles, some written by our own members like Rick in Oregon, and David Zwiener, are usually pretty good, if you skip the articles by the "professionals" you'll be money ahead, though. They've published three letters I've written, which shows they're starved for material .

http://www.varminthunter.org/ is their website, you can join up there, or write to them in Pierre, SD and it'll get there, Pierre ain't that big ! They also have an official website and forum where I hang out when I'm not here, or some other shooting site. Hey, I get around .

I was on there yesterday checking them out. I filled out the thingy for them to send me a packet about becoming a member. I was trying to find out some details about the family package but couldn't find anything, hopefully it will tell me about it in the packet . From the sounds of things I think I will be sending them some money. thanks glen

Glad to help, WYLDRUCKUS, when I signed up ten years ago, I was really interested in a PD trip, so I signed up and asked if they could send me any info on SD PD shooting. In less than a week, I had a packet in hand, that must have cost them a year's membership fee in mailing costs alone It was huge! All manner of stuff from the state and the reservations, places to eat, coupons for this and that, all kinds of stuff.
That year saw our first trip out there and we even made it to the offices then in downtown Pierre, for a visit with the gang. Nice people! I highly recommend the whole outfit. A great crowd of folks.