Author Topic: 35 Remington/336 & coyotes + Hornady (Read 1856 times)

markc · « **on:** December 20, 2009, 03:13:22 AM »

Yesterday evening while hunting feral hogs, I took 2 coyotes. One was at 40 yds and the other around 60 yds or so and running away. The oddest thing was when I went to recover yote #2, I found the bullet that killed him laying on the ground a foot or so from where he fell. This is a 200gr Hornady pointed 35 Rem bulet. I've taken several hogs with this round now, as well as 4 whitetail.

Keith L · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2009, 03:56:53 AM »

Un-mushroomed like that it should have been in the next county. I wonder what happened to the energy?

Graybeard · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:20:42 AM »

That's definitely not great performance from that one. It failed to expand and yet only barely exited. I agree you'd think it not expanding it would have just zipped right on thru and never have been seen again. That it failed to expand tho is not a good sign for me. I'll stick with the old reliable 200 RN.

351 power · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2009, 10:27:28 AM »

i wonder if it had a full load of powder

dpe.ahoy · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2009, 10:52:35 AM »

I have never recovered one. Never had any problems with the performance on one either. DP

Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2009, 03:12:48 AM »

markc -
What kind of bullet is that?

mannyrock · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2009, 06:31:33 AM »

MarkC,

Just curious. What state to you live in, that you have such a nice variety of possible game to shoot? Plenty of wild hogs, plenty of coyotes?

I lived in West Tennessee for 28 years. We had almost no wild hogs, though every 5 years or so a deer hunter would shoot one milling around in the woods. We had a fair amount of coyotes, but they were never out roaming around in daylight.
They hunted in packs at night, yipping through the woods, and the only way to kill one was to be an expert (and I mean expert) caller, dressed in full camo and shooting a flat-shooting varmint rifle.

We had whitetail deer out the wazooo, but that got boring.

Regards,

Mannyrock

Oldshooter · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2009, 06:54:54 AM »

Ahh Texas my Texas!!!

Good shootin Mark, Try the leverevolution 200 grain in that 35 remy. Sent my son to Uvalde with mine last weekend and he nailed two deer that bang flopped! Prolly cant do any better than what you did, but they expand very nice and have yet to see one fail to do the job!

swordfish · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2009, 07:15:00 AM »

Dang, that's a lota scope on that lever gun. Whatcha got on it?

Nice yotes.

Halwg · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2009, 08:18:14 AM »

That bullet doesn't have a boat tail like an FTX bullet. So tell us what bullet and load you are using in the 336?

Swampman · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2009, 08:29:54 AM »

Quote

I'll stick with the old reliable 200 RN.

Me too....

markc · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2009, 12:07:23 PM »

That was a Hornady 200rg Leverrevolution round. If you look close, you can still see the red soft tip in it. I went back out there today and this is what apparently happened. The round zipped through coyote #2 from the back end, exited above his right shoulder, nasty exit hole, smacked a tree in front of the yote, and bounced off and landed on the ground. I did not have my camera with me, maybe tomorrow, but I found the mark on the tree where the bullet struck after exiting the coyote. No expansion at all, but a very instantly dead coyote, both of them actually.

The scope is a Nikon Prostaff 3X9X40. This is in Waller County Texas, 7 miles west of the town of Magnolia.
Here's another pic of the bullet, slightly different angle, and yotes from another angle.

This buck isn't hugh, but he fell to the same rifle and round in November

Oldshooter · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2009, 03:15:39 PM »

Well now that i see the red tip I believe you! the tree had to have mishaped it. I have never seen one that did not expand. Still good shootin!

Halwg, I thought my FTx's were boat tailed, but the new ones I have to reload my 35 remy are not, do they make some that are? The picture on the box shows it to be boattailed but the 100 little buggers in the box aint!

Mark those are some healthy looking song dogs! Your small game and fawn population are gonna do better i bet!

223Shooter · « **Reply #13 on:** December 22, 2009, 12:22:32 PM »

Nice shooting on those coyotes !!

Old Fart · « **Reply #14 on:** December 22, 2009, 03:42:23 PM »

Wierd that the bullet didn't expand, I kind of thought that was suppose to be one of the benefits of them.
Them's some pretty yotes, shame thier pelts aren't worth much anymore.
As nice as that buck is you're right for Texas it's not huge, still a nice one.
Up around my parts that would be one to brag on though. Well done Marc!

markc · « **Reply #15 on:** December 23, 2009, 01:02:07 AM »

Thanks fella's. After looking over that shot again yesterday evening, i'm not sure how that bullet managed to find that coyote through all the vines and brush, but it did bounce off a tree after exiting yote #2. That hide is gonna look real nice once it is tanned. It was strangely quiet in those woods last evening though, did see 2 does, but not a sound from the coyotes friends.

Tallwalker · « **Reply #16 on:** December 25, 2009, 01:41:41 PM »

I've got another theory about what happened. It looks to me like the bullet got deformed going through the brush you mentioned, perhaps tumbled, and struck the coyote going backwards. That would explain a few things like the lack of expansion, big exit wound, and bouncing off the tree. I saw that happen with a 30-30 170 Hornady once, and did recover the bullet in the deer's neck.

markc · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2009, 06:11:35 AM »

Tallwalker, I hadn't thought about that, but I suppose it could have happened. That could explain why the bullet damaged the tree in a spot but did not penetrate it.

I took my camera with me on a hunt this morning, intending to take a photo of the spot on the tree that the bullet hit, + some of the area, but with the rain we've had the creek was too deep for my boots, and was quite cold, so a swim was out of the question. Maybe we I return from the hill country.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #18 on:** December 26, 2009, 06:56:00 AM »

Quote from: Tallwalker on December 25, 2009, 01:41:41 PM

I've got another theory about what happened. It looks to me like the bullet got deformed going through the brush you mentioned, perhaps tumbled, and struck the coyote going backwards. That would explain a few things like the lack of expansion, big exit wound, and bouncing off the tree. I saw that happen with a 30-30 170 Hornady once, and did recover the bullet in the deer's neck.

Thats making sense! That bullet hitting coyote #2 shudda mushroomed some, heck after all, it is a gummi bear tipped hollowpoint. We are waiting for more investigation Marc.

markc · « **Reply #19 on:** December 31, 2009, 01:43:06 PM »

Well, I just got back from our place in the hill country, so I haven't had time to continue the investigation into the coyote/bullet issue. I did however, field test those Hornady bullets on a whitetail WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS!

The first is the entrance wound and the second is the exit. This was an average size hill country doe, at about 35 yds while she was walking by.

The explanation for the sour look on my face is probably the sleet that had been falling all night and morning. It was rather chilly!

If you can zoom in you can see the exit is a slight bit larger than the entrance, showing some expansion from the Hornady bullet.

Savage .250 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2010, 01:23:23 AM »

Makes for good conversation around the camp fire though.

dpe.ahoy · « **Reply #21 on:** January 01, 2010, 01:02:06 PM »

That looks like the kind of performance I have gotten from the 35 LE round. DP

markc · « **Reply #22 on:** January 03, 2010, 03:50:17 AM »

Both whitetail I shot with it this season traveled no more than 40 yds, and in general no hogs I've used it on take a single step due to the head shots. I guess a coyote just didn't offer anough resistance to cause the bullet to expand. Not sure, but it certainly did the trick on them.

ratgunner · « **Reply #23 on:** January 03, 2010, 06:33:31 AM »

There just isnt much to a coyote,I mean its not so unbelievable for a bullet to zip thru without expansion.And hitting the tree explains why the bullet insnt in the next zip code.Mystery solved.