Recommendations for a new varmint rifle

500 yards the 22 cals start running out of steam for coyotes. If more coyotes than anything and 500 yards id lean towards a fast twist 6mm. There’s good 6mm creedmoor factory rounds. If more called coyotes and long range prairie dogs id say a fast twist 223 or a 22-250.

Is that primarily the 53/55 grain vmax/blitzking type stuff? I'd think a 77tmK or 73/75 eld starting @ 2700 fps would still do some damage @ 1700+ impact velocity.
 
Honestly if you are dialing then get a 6mm creedmoor. It's great against the wind and I'm paying less than a buck a round for hornady factory ammo.
Mine is a simple Ruger american predator

Wow, less than $1/round?! what ammo and where from? I want one..
 
Is that primarily the 53/55 grain vmax/blitzking type stuff? I'd think a 77tmK or 73/75 eld starting @ 2700 fps would still do some damage @ 1700+ impact velocity.
I’ve had the 75 eldm pencil or grenade at much faster speeds at much closer distances. They are inconsistent . I’ve heard good things about the 77tmk but have yet to find any in stock to play with. Not sure if there’s much factory options with them either
 
Is that primarily the 53/55 grain vmax/blitzking type stuff? I'd think a 77tmK or 73/75 eld starting @ 2700 fps would still do some damage @ 1700+ impact velocity.

Not trying to cloud my own thread, but this brings another question to my mind that normally an Eastern US hunter that hunts out west for a couple weeks a year does not always think of.

At what point does speed (fps), and knock down (I assume what @Wind Gypsy is saying about impact velocity) meet and prove its "killability" Do you understand my question? At what point is the sweet speed of a bullet it regards to how fast it goes versus whether it will actually kill the target?? What made me think of this was numerous people talking about speed versus grain, etc.

Am I making sense??
 
Not trying to cloud my own thread, but this brings another question to my mind that normally an Eastern US hunter that hunts out west for a couple weeks a year does not always think of.

At what point does speed (fps), and knock down (I assume what @Wind Gypsy is saying about impact velocity) meet and prove its "killability" Do you understand my question? At what point is the sweet speed of a bullet it regards to how fast it goes versus whether it will actually kill the target?? What made me think of this was numerous people talking about speed versus grain, etc.

Am I making sense??

I like to think of it in separately in terms of external ballistics (bullet flight path) and Terminal ballistics (what happens upon impact).

For external ballistics, the basic factors in a cartridge/bullet choice is muzzle velocity and bullet BC. A lighter bullet is going to be able to be pushed faster in the same cartridge but heavier bullets typically also have a better Ballistic coefficient. A lower ballistic coefficient is going to result in a bullet losing velocity faster and being blown off course more by the wind than a bullet with a higher BC. Over distance, a lighter/lower BC bullet with a higher muzzle velocity often will speed down fast enough to have a lower velocity than a higher BC bullet that started slower. Where that change takes place varies widely depending on the BC and muzzle velocity differences. Functionally in many cases a faster velocity is more forgiving for range error (because it shoots flatter) and a higher BC is going to be more forgiving with wind error or deflection.

As far as terminal ballistics, I typically only think about how a given bullet will perform in regards to tissue destruction (wounding potential) and penetration. Lots of factors at play but impact velocity, bullet construction, and resistance to penetration (I.E. skin, bones, organs, muscle is all different) all impact how it plays out. Total bullet weight is less of a consideration. "Energy" doesn't mean much if the energy exits the target without without doing much to wound.

I would have thought a highly frangible varmint bullet at 500 yards and 1400+ FPS would kill a coyote just fine but I've not much with them that far away so that's why i was curious about @brockel's experience.
 
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As far as terminal ballistics, I typically only think about how a given bullet will perform in regards to tissue destruction (wounding potential) and penetration. Lots of factors at play but impact velocity, bullet construction, and resistance to penetration (I.E. skin, bones, organs, muscle is all different) all impact how it plays out. Total bullet weight is less of a consideration. "Energy" doesn't mean much if the energy exits the target without without doing much to wound.

I would have thought a highly frangible varmint bullet at 500 yards and 1400+ FPS would kill a coyote just fine but I've not much with them that far away so that's why i was curious about @brockel's experience.
As a result typically a faster, lower bc bullet will need to perform in a wider variation of impact velocities than a slower higher bc bullet will need to.
 
I've got a suppressed 18" Aero Precision AR15 in .223 Wylde that kills stuff pretty dead out to 350 yards. Thats about as comfortable as I feel shooting with it accurately. It's about a 1 MOA gun so at 350 yards that +/- 3.5 inches starts to mean a lot on fox, coyote, and groundhog size critters. I rarely need to shoot further than that, so it has remained a faithful varmint companion for several years now.

<300 yards- .223 caliber AR15
<400 yards- .22-250 bolt action rifle
>400 yards- 6mm Creedmoor bolt action rifle
 
I would have thought a highly frangible varmint bullet at 500 yards and 1400+ FPS would kill a coyote just fine but I've not much with them that far away so that's why i was curious about @brockel's experience.
Sure it will kill it. Probably do the 50 yard sprint and tip over if placed correctly. The problem with long range and light varmint bullets is placing them correctly. Any little breeze and that becomes very tough to hit the vitals. We are talking a 4” maybe a 6” target at most to kill that coyote with a low velocity hit. A 55 grain varmint bullet is drifting over 12” at 500 yards from just 5mph wind
 
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