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July - August 1999
Volume 31, Number
4
ISSN: 0162-3583
Number 184 |
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On the
cover...
Ron Spomer's 6mm Remington Model 70 Winchester coy |
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No
one makes the perfect coyote rifle, so I designed my own
and had it custom built. Sometimes a shooter's gotta do
what a shooter's gotta do.
The definition of the perfect coyote rifle is, of
course, open to interpretation, and yours might not be
the same as mine. Terrain, habitat, hunting tactics and
personal preferences enter into these things. I hunt on
the open plains and Rocky Mountain foothills by hiking
and calling with some spot-and-stalk shooting mixed in.
One shooting opportunity might come at 10 yards running,
the next at 350 yards sitting. Plus, on occasion, the
tool might be called upon to handle the odd prairie dog,
'chuck and even plains whitetail. Therefore my ideal
prairie wolf rifle is a compromise of sorts - a
responsive, quick-handling bolt-action repeater that can
shoot far, flat and accurately.
This
does not include the heavy-barreled, heavy-stocked
varmint rifles so popular of late. They're simply too
heavy and slow to swing into action. I discovered this
several years ago when I called a coyote toward my
Savage M112BVSS .22-250 Remington. I'd mounted a Harris
bipod on the forend stud and was all set to pick off
distant dogs, but my first customer broke out of tall
sage at 200 yards and ran straight toward me, nonstop,
bounding in and out of view until it popped up within
bow range. It was still moving faster than I could swing
that heavy rifle when it passed behind me at squirt gun
range.
Certainly varmint rifles are wonderfully effective for
concentrated long-range shooting, but coyotes are rarely
concentrated, and when you call them they're more often
at 50 yards than 300. During a typical day in Kansas, I
might carry my rifle six miles and shoot it once. Then
again I might fire it five times in rapid succession as
two or three dogs race in simultaneously to eat me -
like they tried to do one December morning.
"You watch the southeast. I'll watch the
southwest," I whispered to my partner Tom as we
wriggled into position against fence posts between a
milo stubble field and a green winter wheat field. Tom
warmed up his caller with a short series of soft cries
so as not to frighten any close, timid dogs. None came.
He cranked up the volume and wailed. A minute later the
tiny, rim-lighted silhouette of an inquisitive coyote
poked over the wheat field horizon. "Out front,"
Tom whispered.
"I've got him." The coyote was approaching
steadily but cautiously, stopping every few yards to
study the situation. Meanwhile, a more aggressive beast
appeared in the milo stubble, leaping the rows eagerly
in its effort to reach dinner. When it reached the end
rows, a 55-grain Hornady .22 slug stopped it at about 40
yards. The explosion put the distant wheat field dog
into retreat, but a series of frantic distressed pup
calls from Tommy stopped it at about 350 yards, maybe
400. The morning sun was behind it and those are tough
lighting situations for judging range, so I hesitated,
which was a good thing because in my peripheral vision I
caught the motion of a third coyote circling behind us.
I spun, centered it at 8x and dropped the hammer of the
Ruger Model 77 .22-250 Remington. The shot was too much
for the wheat field coyote. This time it turned tail and
didn't look back, neatly dodging several bullets.
That's the kind of fast action that inspires me to
carry a repeating rifle weighing somewhere between 8 and
9 pounds, scoped and ready to rumble. I find that weight
an acceptable compromise - light enough to move quickly,
heavy enough to shoot accurately. The bolt action is my
"speed" compromise. Admittedly a pump,
autoloader and perhaps even a lever action would cycle
rounds more quickly, but probably not as accurately. The
inherent potential accuracy of the bolt action is too
important to ignore, at least for me. When a dog holds
up at 250 yards or I spot one at 350 yards across a big
flat, I want the confidence a sub-MOA rifle provides.
Coyotes are relatively small targets, particularly when
they stand head-on facing you.
Yes,
I'm aware that someone out there knows of someone's
brother's uncle who has an old Remington slide action
that dumps three .270 slugs into a dime every time it's
fired from a bench, but I don't own it, and my odds of
finding that rifle's twin are not encouraging. Yes, a
number of the latest Browning pumps and autoloading
rifles fitted with BOSS attachments have been shooting
sub-MOA. Many serious coyote callers shoot Ruger Mini
14s, too, figuring they'll get more chances to tumble
running coyotes at close range than to snipe sitters at
350 yards. This is all well and good for those folks,
but as for me, I'm hooked on the turn bolt. I use it for
deer, sheep, elk, moose and kudu. Why not coyotes? I
like how a sporter-weight bolt action balances, and I
appreciate the fact the bedding and trigger pull can be
easily tuned for optimum accuracy. After decades of
practice, I can lift, pull, push and drop the bolt
quickly enough.
(1)
The Zeiss 3-9x scope is mounted in Leupold Quick Release
rings and Weaver-type bases. (2) Rifles Inc., out of
Ceader City, Utah, did all the critical metalwork on the
custom Model 70.
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Over the years I've hunted prairie canines with
Winchester, Remington, Savage, Weatherby, Sako, Ruger
and Browning bolt-action rifles plus a single-shot
Dakota, a break-action Thompson/Center Encore, a
lever-action Winchester and even a few shotguns. I've
fired a variety of cartridges including .222 Remington,
.223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, .243 Winchester, 6mm
Remington, .260 Remington, .25-06 Remington, .270
Winchester, .270 Weatherby Magnum, .284 Winchester, .280
Ackley Improved, 7mm Remington Magnum, .30-30
Winchester, .30-06 and .300 Winchester Magnum. While all
of them proved more than capable of handling the biggest
and baddest old dog coyote I ever came across, some were
a tad weak for long shots, and many were excessively
aggressive at any range.
(3) A closeup of the
Model 70 bolt shows the gas block behind the locking
lug. (4) The lines of the chechering blend nicely with
the run of the wood.
Most years the value of a coyote pelt encourages gentle
handling. The ideal bullet goes in and doesn't come out,
which is why between 1972 and 1990 I shot most coyotes
with .22-caliber rifles, usually the .22-250. The old
Hornady 50-grain SX bullet at about 3,300 fps went in
and stayed in, which meant good news at the fur buyer.
Unfortunately, at those scaled-back velocities, the
little slugs were not the best long-range performers,
dropping more than they needed to and drifting
considerably in the wind.
These days, what with pelts nearly worthless and
coyotes more pest than commodity, I've determined the
best combination of flat trajectory, minimal wind drift,
adequate power, suitable bullet styles and low recoil is
delivered by the 6mm Remington fired through at least a
24-inch barrel. Some of the new lightweight, frangible
plastic-tipped bullets from Nosler, Hornady and Sierra
disintegrate inside a song dog's confines, causing
instant death and no pelt damage. This, of course,
requires a good center hit. Fringe shots will tear
holes, but that applies to any bullet from any
centerfire.
Admittedly the .22-250 Remington and .220 Swift will
fly hot on the heels of the 6mm Remington, but these
days I like the slight advantage of the 60- to 80-grain
.24-caliber slugs for bucking wind drift at extreme
ranges and for adding a bit of punch. The .25-06
Remington actually does all this slightly better than
the 6mm but at what I consider an unnecessary cost in
recoil and muzzle blast.
According to the RCBS.Load computer program, a
55-grain, .224-inch Nosler Ballistic Tip sent on its way
at 3,900 fps and sighted at 250 yards will drop -2.4
inches at 300 yards, -10.8 inches at 400. In the
mythical 10 mph crosswind it will blow 8.1 inches off
course at 300 yards, 15.3 inches at 400. Compare that to
the 70-grain, .243-inch Nosler Ballistic Tip launched at
3,700 fps. It lands -2.5 inches low at 300 yards, -11.2
inches at 400. It drifts 7.31 inches at 300 yards and
13.6 inches at 400. The 85-grain, .257 Nosler Ballistic
Tip starting life at 3,600 fps drops -2.6 inches at 300
yards, -11.5 inches at 400 and drifts just 7.02 inches
at 300 yards, 13.1 at 400.
I'm not sure there's enough difference in any of those
numbers to fight over. Some folks will run with the
.25-06 because they like the idea of the slightly
heavier bullet's killing power at 400 yards in addition
to the absolute minimum wind drift. Others will go with
the .220 Swift to reduce powder and bullet costs plus
maximize trajectory. I'll compromise with the 6mm
Remington, enjoying the 1/34 inch less wind drift than
the Swift at 400 yards and not worrying about the 1/2
inch increased drop at that range. As I see it, the only
real problem with the 6mm Remington is that no one
manufactures it in a repeater with a 24-inch barrel.
Check the major rifle manufacturer's catalogs and
you'll see what I mean. No production bolt-action
repeater sporting a two-foot barrel is reamed for 6mm
Remington. In fact, you'll have difficulty finding
anything chambered in 6mm Remington. In the 1998
catalogs all I could find in that superb chambering were
three rifles: a Remington Model 700 Varmint Laminated
Stock with 26-inch heavy barrel, which is great for
long-range varminting but too unwieldy for roaming the
plains and swinging on little wolves running by at
shotgun range; a Ruger No. 1 Varminter with a 24-inch
tube, which is another great long-range rifle but a
single shot and a rather heavy one at that; and an Ultra
Light Arms Model 20 - a wonderful rifle but about three
times the price of your run-of-the-mill Model 70 or
Model 700. (Considering the Model 20's fit, balance,
rugged construction, light weight and excellent
out-of-the-box accuracy, I almost bought one Ð until
I saw a certain slab of raw walnut. More on that later.)
Obviously the 6mm Remington shopper hasn't a lot to
choose from. Now, if you don't mind settling for second
best (in my humble opinion), you can go with the .243
Winchester. Just about every bolt-action rifle (European
and American) plus many lever actions, pumps, break
actions, falling blocks and autoloaders currently being
manufactured are chambered in .243 Winchester. That
isn't a bad cartridge, not bad at all. The case has only
4 percent less volume (about 2 grains water) than the
6mm and will generate velocities within 50 to 150 fps of
the larger 6mm. Some folks can live with that. What's
another 100 fps, after all? A half-inch at 300 yards?
Maybe 1.5 inches at 400? Not enough difference to worry
about but enough to sway this shooter's opinion.
Besides, since this was to be my special coyote rifle,
why shouldn't I indulge myself? The first "modern"
cartridge I ever hunted with was the 6mm Remington, so
nostalgia and a bit of romance played a part in my
selection.
Another option would have been to buy a .243 Winchester
and rechamber it to 6mm Remington or a .243 Improved. By
blowing out the .243's wall taper and changing the
20-degree shoulder to 30 degrees, case capacity is
almost identical to the 6mm Remington. The drawback is
you reduce the resale value of your rifle, nonstandard
chambers not being popular with the general shooting
public. Besides, if I'd wanted to play the "Improved"
card, I could have opted for the 6mm/.284 wildcat.
There's no end to this modification business once you
get started. No, I decided to stick with a factory
cartridge, and the 6mm was it. With that, I began
considering parts.
Below, while the
one-in-12-inch twist wouldn't stablize the 100-grain
Nosler Partion, it worked fine with the Remington
factory 80-grain Sierra Pro Hunter. Right, the
handloader has a variety of components to choose from
for the 6mm Remington.
Oddly enough, the genesis of this particular rifle
actually began with the stock. While touring the
Reinhart Fajen plant in Lincoln, Missouri, a few years
ago, I spied a heavily marbled slab of English walnut in
the select room. Dark mineral grain swirled through the
buttstock like chocolate syrup stirred into half-melted
ice cream, then straightened into horizontal streaking
with a slight upward angle through the grip and forend.
Functionally it was a nearly perfect slab of wood.
Cosmetically the marbling was a bit too open for
traditional tastes, which is why the asking price was
only $600 instead of the $850 written on neighboring
sticks. Regardless the price, it was lust at first
sight. Later, when I saw what custom shop manager Donnie
Gemes's artisans could do with a slab of walnut, I knew
I wouldn't sleep nights until I possessed that chunk of
tree and had it shaped to cradle a barreled action.
Given the quality of that blank, the rifle quickly took
shape. A classic, high-grade walnut stock simply had to
be married to a classic action - the Winchester Model
70. Neither possessing a pre-64 action nor desiring to
pay the freight to acquire one, I turned toward its
modern equivalent, the "new" pre-64 style
action. Though not an exact replica of the original, the
new action is just as stylish, just as effective in
controlling cartridges on their ride into the chamber
and just as dependable at extracting them with that big
external Mauser-style claw. (Not that I worried about
getting caught with an empty stuck in the chamber while
a coyote charged.)
Actually, the new Model 70 actions sport several
improvements over the originals. For one thing they are
made of our newest high-quality steels and are cut with
tight tolerances on computer numerical control (CNC)
machines. For another, the new bolts include a gas block
collar that stays in the left raceway to divert blowback
gases should a primer blow or a case rupture. Of course,
the extractor claw still blocks gases along the right
side raceway, and the long groove cut in the bottom of
the bolt face directs gases down into the magazine slot.
A third advantage of the new action is the antibind
groove cut into the right lug that mates to the right
rail in the receiver. This isn't so important with a
short-action length, but it can't hurt. Finally, the new
pre-64 claw action comes in a true short-action length,
which makes for a stiffer, more compact rifle overall.
The original Model 70 action came in standard length
only and employed bolt stops and a blocked magazine to
accommodate .308-length cartridges.
As I am an armchair gunsmith at best, I had to hire
someone to actually put this gun together, and Lex
Webernick at Rifles, Inc. in Cedar City, Utah, was my
choice. Over the years I've had the pleasure of shooting
and hunting with a number of Webernick rifles, and all
were precisely made and inspirationally accurate. My
favorite Alaskan rifle is a Rifles, Inc. Strata
Stainless .280 Ackley Improved that puts three 150-grain
Barnes X-Bullets inside .5 inch day after day. Lex works
diligently and finishes projects on time. This means a
lot when you've seen your dream rifle in your mind's eye
and can't wait to get your hands on it.
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The 6mm Remington offers
fine versatiltiy, covering most everything form praire
dogs and marmots to extended range shots at antelope.
Naturally I consulted with Lex about my ideas and asked
for his recommendations. He applauded my choice of Fajen
for the stock work and Winchester for the action. Then
he recommended a one-in-12-inch twist Shilen barrel, his
own accurizing overhaul (square the action and barrel,
lap the lugs, work the trigger, etc.) and a Teflon
finish to the metal. At this stage in the project I
anticipated using the "coyote" rifle for
pronghorns and prairie deer from time to time as well as
rockchucks and ground squirrels, so I questioned the
twist rate, which historically has not stabilized
100-grain .243-inch slugs. Lex argued for the 12-inch
twist because he'd had excellent results shooting the
new Hornady 55-grain, .243 Ballistic Tips at one in 12.
Besides, he explained, I could always load 85-grain
X-Bullets or Nosler Partitions for pronghorn and deer. I
had to admit 5 to 15 grains of bullet wouldn't make much
difference. Given that I have a number of more suitable
rifles for big game, I probably would shoot the new 6mm
at 'chucks and prairie dogs more than deer anyway. So
one in 12 it was.
While Lex set to work on the steel, I consulted with
Donnie Gemes about the stock design. His classic
Winchester Model 70 stock pattern included a cheekpiece
that I didn't want, so he shaved it off. Next, since I
have relatively short fingers, I requested a slightly
smaller than standard pistol grip and forend. For
checkering Donnie recommended 22 lines per inch in a
wraparound pattern on the forend. Checkering on the grip
side panels would just meet over the top. No double
borders, flowers, loops or weaves. Just a simple,
precise checkering that would provide a good grip in
cold, wet weather.
I was ambivalent about a forend tip but eventually
opted for an ebony nose as it is traditional on classic
stocks. I did have a hankering for a skeleton buttplate
and grip cap with checkered wood inside, but price
considerations nudged me toward a checkered steel cap
and Niedner buttplate instead. These steel caps better
maintained the stock's traditional, western North
America style anyway. I toyed with the idea of including
some engraving on the action but decided to keep the
metal clean both to save costs and, again, to stick with
the simple western style. Winchester's standard
checkered bolt knob band would be the only metal
ornamentation, and that would blend nicely with the
checkered grip cap and buttplate.
At that time, September 1997, the Fajen custom shop was
turning out stocks in about 90 days. Donnie said he'd
get my blank into the system as soon as possible and
asked that I have Lex send him the barreled action in
the white as soon as he had it ready. Stock and metal
would then go back to Lex for application of a Teflon
finish and final assembly. If I were lucky, I might have
the gun in time for some hunting yet that winter.
Initially I'd figured on standard blued steel for this
rifle, sticking to its classic theme, but considering
the rifle's rather esoteric chambering and job
description, a modern metal finish wasn't such a bad
idea. Even though I was looking forward to enjoying the
rifle's good looks, I also planned to hunt it and hunt
it hard. A day in the Rocky Mountain foothills can bring
rain and snow as well as sun and dust.
Right on schedule, Fajen finished the stock by the end
of December, and Lex delivered the fully finished rifle
shortly thereafter. It was as pretty as I'd hoped and
weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces. The trigger broke sharply at
2 1/2 pounds and there was just enough space between
stock and barrel to slip a standard sheet of typing
paper through. The recoil lug was bedded in epoxy. To
ensure the stock absorbs as little moisture as possible,
I treated all internal surfaces with tung oil. Through a
summer of high humidity in the Midwest, a dry, warm deer
season in Kansas and a snowy subzero coyote hunt in
South Dakota, the stock retained that fit, though the
paper is beginning to drag. I might need to sand a bit
more relief into the channel.
Because I wanted to shoot and hunt with this rifle as
much as possible, I increasingly saw it as a
dual-purpose tool rather than strictly a coyote rifle.
Thus, I decided to fit it with two scopes, one for
long-range sniping at ground squirrels and 'chucks,
another for stalking coyotes and pronghorns. To
accommodate two scopes, I mounted Leupold Weaver-style
bases, then secured each scope in Leupold QRW rings. The
varmint scope was a Nikon 6.5-20x44 with adjustable
objective lens. For general hunting I chose a classy
Zeiss Diavara C 3-9x36 MC. This is Zeiss's one-inch
scope built especially for the American market where the
larger 30mm European tubes haven't quite caught on. To
my eye the one-inch tube looks just right atop a classic
American bolt-action rifle, and this one is no
exception. Predictably, image quality is outstanding.
With rings attached, the Zeiss weighs 1 pound, 2
ounces, taking overall rifle weight to 8 pounds, 11
ounces. Add sling swivels, nylon Uncle Mike's sling and
five 80-grain rounds in the magazine and the field ready
carry weight is right at 9 pounds, 5 ounces - no
ultralight, but no 13-pound varmint rig either. The
Nikon with rings weighs one pound, 7 ounces, so even in
its varmint guise, the rifle still comes in under 10
pounds.
I initially bore sighted each scope with a Simmons
mechanical bore sighter that put me within 2 inches of
point of aim at 100 yards. The Shilen barrel was
initiated by cleaning it judiciously but carefully after
each of the first 10 shots, then after every second shot
for 10 more using a nylon-coated Dewey one-piece rod and
a Stoney Point bore guide.
That completed, the new "Model 70" 6mm
Remington began showing its potential. It dropped three
Remington 75-grain V-Max boat-tail factory loads into
.559 inch at 100 yards, three 80-grain pointed softpoint
Remington factory loads into .652, three 70-grain Nosler
Ballistic Tip bullets driven to 3,500 fps with 46 grains
of H-414 powder into .866 and three of the same bullets
loaded to 3,731 fps with 49 grains of H-414 inside .758
inch. As these loads were built around new factory
brass, I anticipate even better groups with fireformed,
neck-sized brass. Looks like coyote medicine to me.
With heavier bullets the slow-twist barrel didn't fare
as well. Nosler 100-grain Partitions in Federal Premium
factory loads punched egg-shaped holes in the target and
didn't group for beans. I got the same tumbling bullet
holes and ragged groups with the long 85-grain Barnes
X-Bullet. This was a disappointment as I'd hoped that
one of those bullets, especially the X-Bullet with its
blue XLC coating, would become my big game medicine for
this rifle. Ah well, there are plenty of other good
bullets to try.
The 95- and 85-grain Nosler Partitions will be next up.
This spring I'll see how the 55-grain Nosler Ballistic
Tips perform. I anticipate driving them 4,000 fps which,
on calm days, should take much of the range estimation
out of cross-canyon 'chuck shooting in Idaho and Nevada.
I'm also watching development of Barnes's new XLC-coated
varmint bullets. They could be real screamers with
minimum fouling.
Thus far my "coyote" rifle has accounted for
nine of 10 prairie dogs fired at, one coyote at 185
yards (all with Remington's 75-grain V-Max factory
ammunition) and two whitetails dropped with 80-grain
Sierra Pro-Hunter softpoints in Federal Classic factory
loads. I think this semicustom Fajen/Rifles, Inc. 6mm
Remington Model 70 will prove to be just what I was
aiming for and more: a responsive close-range sporter
for called coyotes with the stability, accuracy and
velocity to reach cautious prairie wolves out to 400
yards. In addition it'll be more than adequate for
long-range varmints and a good open country stalking
rifle for plains pronghorns, mule deer and whitetails.
Last but not least, it'll be as much fun to look at as
shoot.
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