SmallCaliberCentral

What kind of experience have y'all had with the 45 GR Hornady bullets on coyotes? I'm going to NM for a three day hunt next month, and am going to load with those or the Berger 35's. Your feedback appreciated! George

I used the 45gr on wild pigs. I had complete pass through on even the 200lb sows with good damage to the vitals.

I have'nt shot any coyotes with them yet, but at 100 yrds they will punch a hole through a 7/16 " steel plate and a couple of 4x4 posts leaveing an inch hole in the posts. I think they're moveing at around 3650fps. So I can believe the Hornady 45 gr sp would go right through a hog. Maybe somebody else can give ya an idea how they'd do on coyotes.

I have shot coyotes with the factory Hornady 45 gr SP with really good results. Now, I should mention that I do not reload, yet wanted a bullet that I could use to retain the hides. This bullet is the best factory option that I have tried. Yes I have had pass throughs but with little to no damage what so ever. On frontal chest shots a small 20 cal entrance was visible after skinning the hide and an exit out the rear end not much bigger. On broadside shots, the same or even better results. I did have one that I shot in the head and that opened up the back side of the head/neck to about 4 inches but that is not typical. All of the coyotes that were shot with this round went down and stayed down. Using my CZ 527 I get pretty decent groups of about 0.5" at 100yds, accurate enough for any coyote.
I believe that this round is the best of all worlds, hunting accurate, hide friendly, hits them hard and you do not have to worry about splash hits.

Just to update, I managed to call in one coyote this past weekend. It was a 235 yard shot with the coyote facing broadside. The bullet entered about four inches back of the right shoulder and slightly high, exiting the exact opposite side. Upon skinninf the coyote, there was a 20cal hole in and a slightly smaller hole out. The dog droppped hard and was dead immediately. I am extremely comfortable using these Hornady factory rounds as I feel they give me the best advantage when calling coyotes and attempting still shots or when trying to shoot at running coyotes. These bullets do not splash and you get solid hits no matter what angle. ( The benfit to me is that I can salvage the hides with only 20 cal entries /exits. I would like to get a second rifle for my boy when he is old enough and maybe start reloading 35gr bergers, but until then these are just fine.)

Walleyeman: thanks for the update.....I've been using the Sierra 39gr bullet, with excellent terminal performance....but still have some of the 45gr SP's in the cabinet......

George

Walleyemann -

what's the twist rate on your barrel?

I haven't used the 45gr. Hornady's on Coyotes, but my 204 shoots them real well. In fact, it shoots them better than the 39gr. Sierra's and way better than the 40gr. Hornady.
While the Jury is still out on how they perform on Coyotes, the 37gr. CRT bullet is super in the accuracy department. I'll be using them this year on Coyotes to see how they perform.

If anybody is curious, I used the 45 gr. Hornady SP bullet all summer in my 204 Savage Preditor, but a coyote hunting club ran all the coyotes out of my territory so I did'nt get to try them on any coyotes. But since furbrearer hunting season came open , I've shot about 13 big tough racoons with them, and I believe it kills them better and hits harder than the 39 BK's. Coons especially old boars, can be hard to anchor down sometimes, but this bullet did everytime. I've hit coons in the past with the 39 BK's and if you hit a shoulder or skull, sometimes they would blow up and not kill them right away. Then they would suffer if I could'nt get a second shot before they got away. I have had the 39 BK's splash on other larger stuff as well. I have no use for racoons, but I hate to see any animal suffer, so I think I'm going to start useing the 45's. They did the job at any angle and the accuracy is as good as the BK's. All shots went completely through and head shots were no problem, but they all were killed right there with one shot. A pretty tough little bullet.

Sorry thats its taken me so long to respond, the twist of my CZ is 1:12. It shoots those 45gr SP just fine since they are not as long as the 40gr V-max. Also, they have a pretty decent BC of 0.245. I have honestly done very well with them, especially with our large Saskatchewan coyotes.

A 1:12 twist barrel will not stabalise a 45 grain bullet well in a 204. stick to 35s or the 40 may stabalise ok. I shoot a 1:9 twist shilen barrel. It is fast enough twist to stabalise 50 grainers. I do all my coyote hunting with 40 grainers. The dogs dont know what hit them! I am shooting a ar 15 and I back up the first two 40 grainers in the mag with 50 Grain Bergers. Just in case I miss and have to take a long shot the 50s carry better.

Valar wrote:A 1:12 twist barrel will not stabilize a 45 grain bullet well in a 204.

No insult, but did you even read the post above yours? You can make claims like that all you want, but that gentleman (walleyeman) has evidence to the contrary.

One thing which you may be confused about, and which I only learned after being on this forum, is that the speed of twist needed to stabilize a bullet has with how long a bullet is, not how heavy it is. We tend to confuse this because "standard" cup-and-core bullets do get longer as they get heavier, so we (at least I) tend to think it's the weight making the difference. However, the 45 gr. SP from Hornady is a shorter bullet than the 40 gr. V-Max (as well as the 40 gr. BT and 39 SBK, if I'm not mistaken). Therefore, a 1:12 twist 204 may very well shoot the 45 gr. SP even though it won't shoot the V-Max.

Davis

Davis....Maybe thats why I noticed that the Hornady 40 grain bullets were more accurate then my Winchester 32 grainers.....I ended up buying some Federal Premium V-Shok Sierra Blitz King's in 39 grains.When I finish using up my 32 grain WIN's I'll try out the 39 grain SBK's to see how well they perform.

Got to do a little field testing of these, posted results on my "tougher 40gr" post if anyone's interested.

45 gr pills....? How do they react with a slow twist barrel (1:12) I thought they were best shot with a faster twist say a 1:9 or 1:10.....thanks.....Paul