chalk up another to the ole 204!

[ryutzy]

So tonite I had to stay home to babysit my 6mo old daughter, and I was making myself dinner when I happened to glance out the livingroom window and whatayaknow! there stands ole wiley yotey. It was real close to dark, but I could still see him. I ran for my gun safe, grabbed my 204 opened the back door and BANG! FLOP!. That's all she wrote..... Shot was 130 yards. I'm shooting the 39 grain SBK at 3700 FPS. I shot him in the shoulder--didn't find the entry, but his shoulder sure was mushy!! Bullet did not exit. Here's a pic, my wife wasn't home, so I couldn't do the hero shot. By the way, if you see my other post, sad to say, but this gun is for sale.

[Song Dog]

Way to take advantage of the situation!!!!

[RowdyYates]

Way to go! Great opportunities like that are rare, especially in our neck of the woods. I'm about 40 mi. east of you, and we seem to have fewer coyotes, although (possibly) more groundhogs; not really sure if one has anything to do with the other as some insist, but that's another story...
I've been considering an AR, and one in .204 that'll shoot heavier-than-32 gr. bullets accurately, but don't seem to have the time now for the extra care and feeding of one. Just how much more maintenance-intensive than a bolt-action do you consider your's to be?

[ryutzy]

Rowdy Yates,
My AR bolt requires a little more attention than a bolt gun, but not much really. I tend to keep mine pretty clean, so when I do clean and oil the action it really doesn't take long at all. I do leave the action wet with oil, and it has served me really well even when it hits zero outside. When I first got the gun I was afraid it would take a lot of work, but my gunsmith showed me how to disassemble the action and oil it properely. A lot easier and faster than what I had anticipated.

As for coyotes around here, they are pretty thick. When I was a kid we had groundhogs to hunt, now the only groundhogs are in and around the suburbs. Partly due to us shooting them, but mostly due to coyotes. The coyote population has exploded here in the last 10 years. Last year I shot 9 coyotes from my house! I hunt all over Ohio and the coyote population seems to be the highest from Columbus to the IN line and then a ways northwest from Columbus. Coyotes are all over Ohio but I haven't found the numbers to be quite as high as where I live. Seems like they like the flat open farmland best? I dunno.