function in the AR-15’s magazines! Just barely … but too long. I was really looking forward to using the New Colt
6720 Coyote on prairie dogs. Over the years several of my shooting buddies, especially Jeff Hartline, have used 223 AR pattern rifl es for some of their shooting on the plains and seemed to do quite well with them – especially when clearing a mound of a “bunch of ‘em.” Jeff and the normal crew from Ohio and Virginia were not due to arrive in Montana until the fi rst full week in June so I was on my own for a couple of weeks. Heading to an out of the way town, my plan for shooting the Colt Coyote took a detour south. Before leaving my home in West Virginia I had zeroed
The Spartan Precision Rifl e’s Walkabout was a delight to carry around the towns. This Montana town goes to the horizon. When walking towns this size a light rifl e is a welcome companion.
the Colt Coyote AR to print about one inch high at 100 yards with some of the 223 ammunition I had loaded for another article awhile back. The load was 26 gr. of Winchester 748 in mixed cases ignited by Winchester small rifl e primers. The bullet loaded was the 55-gr. Hornady V-Max. I had a 50 caliber can full of this stuff and it shot well in the Colt Coy- ote from the bench at home. There was only one problem. It seems the seating depth varied minutely on this batch of handloads. Ironically, the cartridges I zeroed with at home had all fi t into the AR’s magazines and functioned perfectly. Out on the plains I wasn’t so lucky. There is nothing more aggravating than a semiauto, be it
rifl e or handgun, that chokes every few rounds. That’s exactly what the Colt Coyote did during my fi rst outing with it. The rifl e had not missed a lick during my initial testing for part one of this series and I never experienced a stoppage of any sort during the pre-trip zeroing process. My problem was not with the rifl e but with my ammo. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that some of the rounds with the V-Max bullets were just a micro hair too long to function reliably through the AR’s magazine. I felt like a true bonehead! The good news (and also bad news) was that I had along
The Spartan Rifl e’s 223 Walkabout and Nosler ammo made quick work of this female badger.
a big 50 caliber can of my old (very old) 223 varmint loads from years past. This can emerged from the piles in the gun room during a recent cleanup. The load was the same as the one above but back when this ammo was loaded I was using the old standard, and short, Winchester 55-gr. pointed soft point bullet. The plan had been to burn up this ammunition in my No. 2 Bison Barreled 223. Change of plans! This old load was signifi cantly shorter in over-all length than the V-Max bullet load. After a quick zero check I was off and running … the Colt Coyote performing fl awlessly. Unfortunately, the Winchester 55-grain bullet is too short to stabilize consistently in the Colt’s 1:9" inch twist barrel.
June 3, 2011 - Day 14 - Journal Note Cleaned the Spartan Walkabout today. This is a neat
The Colt 6720 AR Coyote rifl e is in position overlooking a dog town in South Dakota. The fast follow-up shot capability of the AR platform was a defi nite plus in the high winds experienced in 2011.
Page 92 Spring 2012
rifl e and it’s perfect for walking the towns. Here’s what I’ve learned about it so far. 1. Despite Marc’s concerns about the size of my groups on paper (0.75" and smaller), the little rifl e shoots the Nosler Custom Varmint 40-gr. Ballistic Tip load (which chronographed at 3,700+ fps) like a laser beam. 2. The 2.5-8x VX-III Leupold optic makes the dogs look farther out than they actually are. 3. Even if the dogs appear too far away, holding on them usually results in a hit because of the fl at trajectory of the Nosler 40-gr. ammo. It’s actually scary. Seems like you can’t miss. 4. A really good trigger helps offset a lack of rifl e weight. 5. A fully bedded rifl e (action and barrel) can take a lot of banging around and still maintain its zero.
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