.38 special vs Coyote

[LoboGunLeather]

Here in southern Colorado the typical coyote will run about 30-35 lbs. These are thin-skinned animals without much bone or muscle mass and maybe 8-9" side-to-side through the chest cavity. Just about any self-defense handgun will shoot straight through, and even the best expanding hollow-point bullets are unlikely to expand very much (if at all).

I've shot a dozen or more over the years with .38 Special, 9X19mm, and .357 magnum without seeing any difference in effect. Coyotes will bolt and run unless a shoulder or hip joint is seriously damaged, and they will not go down until blood loss takes its toll. After that they will probably be food for the other critters (including other coyotes, foxes, badgers, crows, and buzzards).

That is why serious coyote hunters looking to harvest the pelts use high-velocity rifles with bullets designed to expand or fragment quickly after impact resulting in maximum internal damage in relatively small critters. Not the same type of ammo we rely on for personal defense.

 

[22hipower]

After that they will probably be food for the other critters (including other coyotes, foxes, badgers, crows, and buzzards).

Maybe, but the ones I shoot here in Texas seem to be the one thing that nothing will eat, don't even see buzzards on them.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

 

[ISCS Yoda]

...then he turned on the after burner, jumped a barb wire fence and ran 250 yards through a Milo field and disappeared. Coyotes can be pretty tough! I also never used birdshot for home defense again, only 00 buckshot.

That's because you missed! Or mostly missed. Number 7 birdshot will make an almost perfectly clean L A R G E hole in a corrugated steel barn wall at ten or fifteen yards (guess how I know? ) and will devastate a man-sized goblin inside your house unless he's way far away. Even then he'll be hurting and you'll get a second shot easily.

Originally Posted by Gman686 View Post
Im looking for a multipurpose gun here. I can't really comfortably carry a 4" .357 lol. .

Okay, I don't get that. How were you planning to carry it? I'm so short that the word "tall" is not to be used when asking my height. I have carried a 4" M686+ all day while chasing feral hogs. OWB in an excellent holster is easy and a "western-type" rig is possibly easier. The post above recommending a 3" gun is eminently sensible. Still, if you can't carry a 4" I don't see how you'll be happy with a 3" revolver, the difference is hardly noticeable.

All wild animals can be tough to kill absent proper shot placement but a coyote is a thin-skinned doggie that will be easily killed by a .38 Special. Lots of us carry .38 Specials for defensive use against humans so why do you think it might be inadequate for coyotes?

Besides, they are naturally shy and will avoid you, barring rabies or he's angry, or she's hungry enough to come after your dog in your presence. I would think a gunshot aimed at the yote would scare it off, anyway. YMMV

 

[DR505]

Coyotes are thin skinned animals and not tough. A well placed .38 will do the job. I shot this one bothering my two labs at 53 yards with a 230 grain .45 ACP JHP. Went through both shoulders. He dropped as if hit by lightning.

Maybe, but the ones I shoot here in Texas seem to be the one thing that nothing will eat, don't even see buzzards on them.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I chucked the coyote I eliminated into the arroyo. That night his buddies came in to eat him and they started making a terrible racket. It suddenly got dead silent as if a switch had been flipped. Next morning I went and looked at the tracks in the snow. It seems a mountain lion wanted the coyote carcass...the pack of coyotes that had initially found the carcass bee-lined it away from the lion. You could see where the lion dragged the coyote away. The cougar has very large footprints.

 

[kaaskop49]

So there are still places in the USA where it is possible/permissible to shoot a predator w/o a tac team being summoned?

I shake my head reading the ads for new housing developments. One feature is their hiking trails being linked to existing trails. And then people wonder how the mountain lions show up in their yards...

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[Bald1]

Years ago I used to call coyotes, and would shoot them with a model 15 using 140 grain lead semi wadcutters. The dogs never went more than a few yards if they didn't drop in their tracks.

Swift, that is a great picture. I'd have that in 8x10 hanging in the house somewhere.

 

[TXBryan]

Tougher than a coyote

A .38 Special will do more than best a coyote. Good thing or bad thing we've a whole lot more feral hogs than coyotes. This hog, about a 120 pounder, took one shot from a S&W Model 64-7. Semi-wadcutter 158 grain H.P. handload going about 1050 fps.

 

[ispcapt]

Just dropped one 2 days ago using my S&W 49 with 148 WC at 35 yds. Went down for good with 1 shot.
A few days earlier brother dropped one close to 50 yds using a S&W .22 Mag, forget the model number. Dropped with 1 shot.
As someone else posted coyotes are not a tough animal. Thin skin, usually thin bodies with no fat. I've taken them with .17 HMR, .22 LR, to a .308 which was way more than enough but was what was in the truck.

 

[glenwolde]

Our former Governor found the .380 adequate.

Rick Perry Kills "Wily" Coyote During Jog - CBS News

 

[jurnes]

I carry a 4" barrel Model 67 in a Galco Vertical shoulder holster rig. works fine anytime I can wear a cover garment (tonight was a Carhartt hoodie)

 

[642Fan]

If all I have is a stick or a kitchen knife when encountering a coyote, then that will be it.

 

[white cloud]

So there are still places in the USA where it is possible/permissible to shoot a predator w/o a tac team being summoned?

I shake my head reading the ads for new housing developments. One feature is their hiking trails being linked to existing trails. And then people wonder how the mountain lions show up in their yards...

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

I live in very rural SC. Coyotes, hogs and armadillos are fair game if you have a valid hunting license and no Tac Team required. A .38 with any decent load and good placement should work fine on coyotes. I use a 158 grain lead hollow point loaded to about 900 FPS in the 686 I carry around the farm.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Have you considered a 649?
357 capable when you want it, plus 38 Special.
And a Hammer for those longer range single action shots.
Here's mine with 38+P.
Speaking of 22s - a while back I gifted my SIL a Rem 572.
He's dropped several Yotes with it.

 

[-BTM-]

My 3" model 37 weighs 21.8 ounces with holster and 5 158 SWC. Strongly recommend the longer barrel and good grips if you want to hit a coyote.

The 3" 60 with adjustable sights is high on my want list.

 

[A10]

I hear that the Roadrunner carries a Model 60

 

[AveragEd]

My carry gun is a 2-1/2" Model 66-4 loaded with 125-grain 38 Special +P loads. My intended targets are people only if necessary; we live across the Susquehanna River from Pennsylvania's capitol city of Harrisburg, where nighttime shootings seem to be a popular sport so it accompanies me if I have to go there after sunset. I think the possibility of over-penetration with magnums is too risky; I certainly do not want to injure or kill an innocent bystander.

Ed

 

[WR Moore]

Late to the party, but unless you're planning on pants pocket carry, I'd go for a 3 inch barreled version.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I live in very rural SC. Coyotes, hogs and armadillos are fair game if you have a valid hunting license and no Tac Team required. A .38 with any decent load and good placement should work fine on coyotes. I use a 158 grain lead hollow point loaded to about 900 FPS in the 686 I carry around the farm.

My part of SC......I have a dedicated scoped Ruger 10-22 for yard varmints......Have 7.62x39 AR with night vision for the bigger varmints way out yonder.

There isn't a dog anywhere that a good .38 spl won't put his nose in the dirt.

 

[Hoosierville IRN]

Seems to me that would be a Most Excellent carry gun!

 

[Bobbysixkiller]

I will agree 38 would definitely do the trick. As long as he doesn't have a rocket strapped to his back but that will probably backfire on him and send him off a cliff. I carry a model 10 for my woods gun most of the time. Shot placement. Works good for snake too with shot shells.

 

[DR505]

I will agree 38 would definitely do the trick. As long as he doesn't have a rocket strapped to his back but that will probably backfire on him and send him off a cliff. I carry a model 10 for my woods gun most of the time. Shot placement. Works good for snake too with shot shells.

And .38 Special wadcutters work well on snakes too!

 

[jimmyj]

If I walked the woods where there were "wild things"with my Dog I would carry something that held a LOT of cartridges with big bullets.
Jimmy (the coward.)

 

[OutAtTheEdge]

Just my 2 cents...

I can't imagine any scenario in which a .38 special wouldn't stop a coyote attack. Even a poor hit - and possibly even a complete miss - would likely result in the coyote choosing to cease and desist.

And for what it's worth: As an ethical outdoorsman, I always strive to make any shot a humane, one-shot kill. However, when it comes to coyotes, my personal philosophy is this. If I'm out and about and see a coyote, it is not necessarily gonna get shot, but it is absolutely gonna get shot AT!

 

[A10]

If I walked the woods where there were "wild things"with my Dog I would carry something that held a LOT of cartridges with big bullets.
Jimmy (the coward.)

We have lots of things with great big teeth up here in the North Cascades...I carry one of them G-word 10mms. As you say, lots of bullets!

 

[wrangler5]

A 3" J frame is a wonderful size for what is still a pretty small gun - if you can find what you want. In the 2" models I prefer the Magnum caliber because you get an extra 1/4" of barrel which comes with a 1/4" longer extractor throw - almost enough to completely clear a 38 Special case, which is all I shoot in these guns.

Also +1 for a laser grip for accurate aiming, and green for visibility in brighter light including daylight - you'll be surprised how far you can see it on a target.. But you have to keep in mind that lasers are only precise at the sight-in distance, and for anything farther away you not only have to hold up but left, because the laser is offset from the centerline of the bore. You'll have to practice with it to get a feel for how far off it gets at various distances.

 

[Smeckler]

At best, a coyote is about the size of a medium dog. A 38 special, even with soft loads, is more than enough. I've got a friend who used to shoot coyotes in UT for bounty, and he used a Ruger 10/22.

 

[BE Mike]

Anything a .38 SPL cartridge can do, a .357 Rem. Mag. cartridge can do better.

 

[Doug M.]

I am pretty sure that any decent load in .38 will do fine; as several have noted, the coyote is a relatively small critter in most cases. (Coyotes crossed with dogs or wolves are a different critter, but placement and bullet shape will usually prevail.) Our BostonXBoxer is the smallest adult dog we have ever had, mid-40s at the vet. She's feisty but would be in trouble with coyotes. (Answer: Rottweiler is the smallest breed I find appealing, and I am seriously considering a Boerboel in the future after I recover from my transplant.)

My default ammo in a .38 is standard velocity SWC; easy to shoot and a decent performer for almost all uses. It would be fine for this. The big issue is that coyotes in packs try to trick dogs into chasing them; unless your dog is trained to a professional level reliable recall (mine have never been), there is no place outside your fenced yard that the dog should ever be off lead. (And I mean a real lead, not a flexilead, one of the worst clown shoes devices ever invented. Watch a few vids from Garrett Wing at American Standard K9.)