
Bullets for Small Game
Top loads for Popping Winter/Spring Predators and Varmints.
Story by Phil Massaro and Photos by Massaro Media Group
coded by caliber.
Many hunters also take them as a target of opportunity during deer season, as they will often be seen cruising after deer or cleaning up gut piles, and taken with the deer rifle in hand. But for those who actively pursue coyotes and foxes, specialized rifles, cartridges and bullets are the norm. Popular centerfire cartridges for these species include the .223 Remington, .204 Ruger, .243 Winchester, .22-250 Remington and .17 Hornet, and among the rimfire cartridges, the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, .17 HMR and .17 WSM are favorites. All of these cartridges have the energy and trajectory to cleanly take the furbearers within their eective ranges, though that range will be a bit different for each of them.



Some of my favorite varmint/predator bullets include the Nosler Ballistic Tip Varmint, the Speer TNT, Barnes’ Varminator, Sierra’s BlitzKing and MatchKing (more about that in a minute) and the Hornady V-Max. All of these have the properties any varmint/predator hunter wants, and all are capable of creating the fabled “red mist” when hunting woodchucks and prairie dogs. They all either have a polymer tip or hollowpoint design, and most oer a boattail variant for maximizing downrange energy and minimizing wind drift. Let’s take a look at them individually to get a better feel for what might work best for you. The Nosler Ballistic Tip was the first American bullet with a polymer tip, used to maintain a consistent ballistic coecient as well as acting like a wedge to initiate expansion upon impacting the animal.

The regular hunting version has been relied upon as a great choice for deer, antelope and similar-sized game animals, with the industry and Nosler themselves understanding there are better choices for game animals larger than deer, due to the rapid expansion. That expansion, and correlative lack of penetration, might not be desirable on an elk or moose, but is absolutely perfect for woodchucks. The Nosler Ballistic Tip is a wonderfully accurate bullet, and is frangible enough to minimize pelt damage (I recommend the lightest for caliber, to keep the bullet in the body and prevent an exit wound). I handload them for a number of cartridges, and my .22- 250 loves the Federal 55-grain Ballistic Tip factory load.


I’ve hand loaded these in my .22-250 Remington for years, and they are both wonderful on paper as well as in the field. They are not only available in component form, but now in Sierra’s factory-loaded Prairie Enemy ammunition. The industry-standard Sierra Match King, that record-setting bullet adored by the target crowd, makes a great varmint/predator bullet, in spite of the fact that the company recommends other choices. Based on the accuracy these bullets deliver, folks just couldn’t resist the temptation to try them on game animals. While the results were mixed on deer-sized game, the hollowpoint Match Kings were and are devastating on varmints and predators. My personal choice for that .22-250 I’m always going on about is the 53-grain flat-base Match King, over a load of 38.4 grains of Hodgdon’s H380; that combination has sent all sorts of woodchucks, foxes, coyotes, rogue skunks, marauding raccoons and more to their grave.
That Ruger rifle will put three shots in a group measuring just over ¼ inch, and my dad’s Savage .223 will equal that figure with the 52-grain boattail MatchKing. Despite the recommendations, I am a huge proponent of the hollowpoint MatchKing as a coyote killer. I can apply the same comments to the more modern Sierra Tipped MatchKing, as I’ve found them to be on par with their older sibling in the accuracy department, and the polymer tip will definitely give rapid expansion. Finishing up with Hornady’s V-Max, you’ll find a bullet wearing the proprietary AMP bullet jacket, signature red polymer tip, with a swaged lead core. Much like the others, the V-Max is one of those great blends of accuracy and violent expansion that makes such a perfect varmint bullet. They are one of the best choices in the diminutive .17s – especially that little .17 Hornet – as they will take full advantage of the velocities, most definitely creating the red mist. The bullet is so good that not only is it loaded in Hornady’s own factory ammo, but Federal has adopted the bullet in their ammo lines as well; that alone should tell you how good the V-Max is. The V-Max assuredly deserves an audition in your varmint/predator rifle. It is also available in the .22 WMR from both Hornady and CCI.


If you are a predator hunter, you’ll already understand, but if you’re not, and you want to extend your hunting season, grab a good rifle and a good predator call and get outside. Many landowners, especially farmers, will give access to those hunters in pursuit of post-deer season coyotes easier than those who wish to hunt deer.
Yes, here in the Northeast it can be cold, snowy and icy, but it’s a helluva lot of fun, and quite challenging. In Texas and across the West, there are many wide-open spaces where foxes, coyotes and bobcats can give great sport. Pick up a smallbore rifle and some frangible bullets, and have some fun chasing them.