Does Ammo Matter?

Posted by Lance Earl of Lance Earl, LLC on August 10, 2011

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So, today I was sitting in my office wondering what to write about when I glanced out of my window and saw a coyote pup snooping around my horse trailer. On my desk was an eight round magazine loaded with 230 grain Winchester White Box. This is what was handy so I grabbed it and went to work.

I am not one to shoot every coyote I see. In fact, because their main diet is made up of rodents, I think they are a good thing. However, sometimes they pack up and start taking stock animals and sometimes they get a bit bold about coming around people. When these things occur, the coyote must go.

Thankfully, the distance between my house and my nearest neighbor is measured in miles. This means that I can step out any door and shoot without too much worry about who I will upset.

I stepped to the front door and started easing it open. Man, oh, man do those hinges need oil. Each time the door would creak, the dog would look my way. Thankfully, he was very interested in something else so I never rated more than a casual glance.

Finally, I eased my arm out of the door way and GRIP, FRONT SIGHT, CENTER OF MASS, SLOW STEADY SQUEEZE, BANG! The coyote went down hard, his hind legs totally useless. "Hip or spine shot", I thought. To my surprise, he got up and started moving on rather wobbly hind legs. I had to wait for him to clear my pickup and trailer. When he did, I fired another round. Again, the coyote went down hard, flopped a bit and got back to his feet. As he started off through my pasture at a run, I fired again and missed. He ran another thirty yards and laid down. "I've got him now", I thought but a few seconds later he was up and running. As he disappeared over the ridge, I marveled that he seemed to be running normally. There was absolutely no evidence that he had been hit... twice.

As I came back into the house, I started thinking about how this event might fit into today's article. I googled "white box ammo" and found just what I was looking for, it was perfect.

On the 1911 forum, someone asked if White Box is a good self defense ammo. Much to my surprise, person after person said that full metal jacket ammo is a good and adequate defensive load.

I just hit a thirty pound coyote hard enough to knock him down twice. Think about that, I hit him two times. Two times he was knocked to the ground. In the end, he got up and loped away.

If instead, it had been a 250 pound bad guy who was returning fire, do I really want to trust my life or the lives of my family to this ammo? Do you?

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