Originally Posted By: greengt88
First, the video you linked is a turkey load and not a coyote load. We'll go with it anyway because it's a good example of how bad a shotgun can suck at 100 yards. That turkey shot load launched roughly 300 #5 lead pellets at the turkey head/neck target. The guys in the video counted six hits, no matter where they struck. Reality is that only exactly ONE pellet actually hit the vertebrae and was in a vital zone. The scratch hits around the edges for the other five hits would present less of a threat to the turkey than catching a cold would. Studies long ago settled on a minimum of at least 5-6 pellets penetrating the vertebrae or skull to reliably KO a gobbler. The video only scored one solid hit. They only shot one shot for their "test." Not good enough, there are ten shells in the box and all ten shots should have been recorded on clean targets for a better result. Wonder why they only showed one shot? Hummmm...
A long held standard to ensure enough pattern density to get at least the minimum hits necessary was to achieve 100 pellet strikes in 10" at point of aim. When the pattern thinned to the point that less than 90 - 100 pellets could be counted in the 10" that was the maximum range for that rig in the field. Good lead turkey guns will get 150+ hits in 10" @ 40 yards. My Benelli M1 Turkey Model with Kick's choke gets about 170 hits consistently with the old school 3" 1 3/4 ounce Winchester Supreme lead #5 @ 40 yards. That's pretty dang good with lead and it does better with tungsten but that's a different topic. I've killed gobblers stone dead at 52 yards with that #5 Winchester lead shell. Not on purpose mind you, I misjudged the range in a wide open field. I never planned on shooting over 45 yards knowing the penetration of lead #5's. So the load worked fine at a little over my self imposed range limit, but no way would I ever double the range. There is an issue some fail to recognize, or refuse to recognize. The relatively new Winchester lead load featured in the video that is stickied together in the wad patterns even better than the older lead loads.
Here is the issue some don't or won't recognize. That great patterning lead load now raised a new problem. The load patterned well enough to stretch the range, but it's still just a lead load with lead pellets. Remember, we need a half dozen pellets striking bone (vertebrae and skull) AND penetrating enough to reliably break those bones! Penetrating half of a piece of fruit doesn't cut it. Forever knowledgeable turkey hunters ruled lead shot #6 good to 40 yards with enough hits, #5's a bit further and #4's a tad farther yet. However, the larger the shot the more pattern density suffered. Especially so at longer ranges. A good compromise in lead was always #5 shot. Lead #5's are what they are and can only break bone so far away. In the video that looked like about 3/4" of fruit penetration at 100 yards. Not nearly enough, soft fruit isn't hard bone like neck vertebrae. That load in the video is fantastic under 55 yards. At 100 yards? No way, the video is fantasy and hyperbole. In other words, bullchit.
