by crbutler on Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:11 am
While I have not done a lot of predator hunting with a .223, its mainly because what I have done is as a target of opportunity while hunting something else (so more with a .30-06 or a .375). My longest coyote with a .223 was a bit more than 400 yards, and he went down pretty fast using a 55 grain Ballistic Tip. I was using a 20" Colt HBAR with a 8.5-24X Leupold on it. I also routinely shoot out to 400 with a short barrelled (16") ultra light weight AR made for 3 gun shooting, and while its a few hundred FPS slower than a 20" gun, I would have no compunction against using it on a coyote or bobcat at that range. I have busted crows and pigeons with both at out to 500 (sitting on a bait or such) with no complaints.
I don't think that there really is that much given up with using a bolt gun, and all my dangerous predator hunting (bear, cats) has been with a bolt action rifle. If all you want is a predator rifle, get whatever you like, as the repeat shot thing is really not needed unless you are trying to walk them in on a running target, which is irresponsible anyhow. I think that for the same barrel length and profile that an AR is heavier than a comparable bolt gun, and quality wise, the AR will cost you more $$$ to get the same level of accuracy generally, but for shooting a coyote at 300 any reasonable rifle will be accurate enough (2 MOA at 300 is 6", more than adequate for coyote, and any reasonable AR or bolt gun will do this, most will do a lot better.)
Caliber wise, out to 300, there is no need to look for more than the .223. If you want to shoot prairie dogs at 600 or so, moving up to a .22-250 or a .223 WSSM may be worthwhile, but the WSSM will eat barrels much faster (and will also kill coyotes as far as you can hit them in the vitals.) I have AR type rifles in .223/5.56, 6.8 SPC, .300 BLK, .308 and a 6x45 wildcat. If you like playing with odd stuff, the more the merrier, but if I was hunting deer or pigs, I would use the .308 or the 6.8. For varmints, the .223.
The 6x45 and the .300 BLK (and to some extent the 6.8) are more or less specialty items. The BLK (and the whisper which is essentially what it is a copy of) are essentially designed for suppressor use/subsonics. The 6.8 and the 6x45 were an attempt to get a heavier bullet out there. They all suffer from problems with a rainbow like trajectory at anything over 200, not that they can't work, but they just are not needed for predator shooting, and can make your job harder.
Now, I am actually a pretty "use enough gun" guy. I would not think of using a .223 for deer. I would not shoot coyotes at more than 150 with a .17 HMR rimfire or a .22 mag RF, but a .223 will be adequate at any distance you can hit a coyote at with it.
The big investment for you to be concerned about is the optic on top of the rifle. This is going to make or break you much more than the rifle action/chambering will. I like a bit more magnification for small critters- a 3-10 is about where I would draw the line, and if I am shooting at 300+ I would want something with 15-20X top end as a minimum. I am partial to Swarovski scopes, but that is a lot of money for a marginal improvement over a Leupold VX III or a decent Zeiss. If you are going out to 300 max, you really don't need all the fancy reticles for the scope, a decent #4 or a duplex crosshair is fine. Expect to pay about what the gun costs for a decent scope. (ie $500-700 or so)
However, if this is not something you intend to do a lot of, whatever you hunt with will work I know more than a few guys who get a fair number of coyotes using their 12 Ga shotguns with the hevishot dead coyote ammo and can roll them up out to about 100 yards with them (that stuff is basically T shot made of tungsten at a bit denser than lead densities.)
If you were talking about out to 600-800 yards, my answers would be a bit different. There getting a hyper accurate rifle will be needed (1/2 MOA or so.)