Best Shotgun Shell for Yotes

T

Treillw

New member
What shotgun shell do you use for coyotes?

What is the biggest, baddest load out there?

I have a Benelli SBE w/ 3.5" chamber.

I imagine a 3.5" with buckshot would do the trick. Heavy shot worth it?

What choke do you use with the load?

Will be calling at night, or on a team with a rifle during the day.

What is the maximum effective range of a shotgun?
 
Winchester Varmint X 3" BB or 2 3/4" #4 buck is what I've been using for a while now. Hornady makes a 3" BB load but it didn't pattern good out of my Dead Coyote choke. It's not recommended that you shoot anything too tightly constricted with those because it'll mess up the Flight Control wad. I can kill coyotes out to 45 yards with the choke/shells I shoot.

You'll need to pattern your gun with whatever you choose. Apex ammunition loads TSS shotgun shells which are technically the best out there. But they're pricey and so are Dead Coyote shells. If I were going to buy the higher priced stuff it'd be Apex. But I can't justify it when I can bust coyotes with shells that can be had for way less money.
 
It's a long, long thread but it is well worth it. You'll learn more then you thought that you needed to know. I read it 2 years ago or so twice and it undoubtedly saved money and range time.
 
I like shooting tungsten super shot but it's not cheap. Apex Ammunition has a great variety of shot sizes but frequently sells out. In my opinion a 3.5in shell is overkill and not worth the extra $$$. Start with a 3in shell 1.5oz and #3 or #4.
Apex Ammunition


You'll have to do some trial and error with different choke and ammo combinations to truly know what you're SBE will pattern best. Indian Creek chokes are recommended with Apex Ammo.
Indian Creek

Max effective range...
Watch the videos on Apex/'s website. They shoot ballistic gel out to 100yds with TSS but those are under controlled perfect conditions. I say in the wild 60yds with TSS, beyond that I may shoot but at $8/shot it's got to be pretty wide open terrain...
 
There are many good loads that will work for coyotes. I've been happy with the Hevi Shot Dead Coyote in T with 3 1/2" and the Hornady Heavy Magnum Coyote BB in 3". Both will kill a coyote stone dead if it is 40 yards or less and I've killed coyotes over 50 yards with both. I've taken 11 shots at coyotes in the last two weeks with my shotgun. I still have about 15 of the 3 1/2" Hevi-Shot loads but I just purchased an additional 10 boxes of the Hornady coyote loads due to cost. $12-$15 per 10 verses $50-$70 per 10 really starts to add up. I wouldn't doubt the Hevi Shot has an effective range of an extra 5-10 yards over the Hornady load but to me it isn't worth 5X the price and a shotgun is really for close up work anyway. A place that I may hunt is shotgun only and I will probably use the Hevi Shot Dead Coyote and Turkey Choke if I hunt there.

I also have a SBE III and have the turkey .667 choke. I've actually switched to the M choke that came with my gun. The pattern with the turkey choke was too tight and I was missing some coyotes at less than 30 yards. I would often get them with the follow up shot when I took more time to aim. For my style of hunting the shotgun is used to get those hard charging coyotes and the ones that catch my by surprise. Most these shots are less than 40 yards and the bigger pattern has seemed to help me miss less. I still missed one that backed doored me last week at 10 yards but the follow up Texas heart shot at 25 yards killed him stone cold dead.

It is very important to pattern whatever load you choose, even if it costs you $7 per shot. One thing to warn you about SBE is that it often shoots high. After patterning my gun I've found I need to aim about 6" low at 30 yards.
 
I agree with BrianID. Seems that it's very typical that both Benelli and Beretta shotguns shoot high and left. I've heard this from other owners and can personally confirm that all three of my Italian shotguns (2x Benellis and 1 Beretta) shoot high left.
 
If my point of aim and point of impact were off by 6" at 30 yards I would be taking steps to fix that issue. Especially if I were shooting fast movers at close range where "aiming" isn't really an idea way of putting a load of shot on the target. The SBE can be shimmed to adjust the patterns impact with point of aim.
 
I’ve thought about putting the shims in but I’m also thinking about a red dot. It comes with shims. For the moment I’m just aiming low. I’ve had no trouble shooting clays with this gun. When I miss a coyote with my shotgun it is my fault not the gun.
 
From what I have seen the HW13 BB 12g/cc shot will give you at least 10 more yards of coyote killing range over lead BB shot.

If you reload you can make 3" 1-1/2 oz loads of HW13 BB shot for half the price of Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T shot loads. I like the HW13 BB shot 1-1/2 oz load better because it has 20 more pellets per shell over the Dead Coyote T shot loads.

If you go with TSS shot, 3" 1-1/2 oz loads is all the shot you need to kill coyotes in sizes #3 and #4 shot. You can reload a 1-1/2 oz load of TSS shot for less than what the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote loads cost and you will get a much better coyote load because of the much higher pellet counts.

My 3" 1-1/2 oz loads of TSS #3 shot have right at 100 pellets per shell. From what I have seen coyote loads with 70 to over 100 pellets per shell will give you more one shot kills on coyotes than loads with only 41 to 50 pellets per shell.

Another thing I have noticed is if you are using high dollar long range shotgun loads you will have more coyotes come in to less than 30 yards away from you. If you use the much less expensive lead loads with less effective range you will get more shots at 40 to 50 yards away.
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Originally Posted By: derbyacresbob... Another thing I have noticed is if you are using high dollar long range shotgun loads you will have more coyotes come in to less than 30 yards away from you. If you use the much less expensive lead loads with less effective range you will get more shots at 40 to 50 yards away.
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Truth!
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: Runnin'HardI use 3"... 4 or 6 shot.

me too. for rabbits, quail, pheasants and other easy to kill critters.

never, ever for coyotes.

I have. Turkey loads, now up to about 18 - 20 coyotes. With very mixed results. Mostly inconsistent and bad results with lead from about 25 yards and out. Good HTL stuff centered on the head from a tight patterning gun and choke combination can extend that a bit. Better be ready to shoot again. There are so many good actual coyote loads that out perform turkey loads for general purpose coyote hunting I can't understand why anyone would limit themselves unless restricted by law.
 
Originally Posted By: BrianIDI’ve thought about putting the shims in but I’m also thinking about a red dot. It comes with shims. For the moment I’m just aiming low. I’ve had no trouble shooting clays with this gun. When I miss a coyote with my shotgun it is my fault not the gun.

That's like going hunting with a rifle sighted in 6" low. The good news is that its easy to fix.
 
Below is some data I got from my KPY Shotshell Ballistic program. KPY recommends that you need 1.50" of gel penetration to reliably kill ducks and 2.50" of gel penetration to kill big geese. For about 25 years I shot coyotes with copper coated lead BB shot, lead BBB and lead T shot.

I came up with wanting 3.70" of gel penetration to reliably kill or breakdown coyotes after seeing the range lead BB shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration in KPY Shotshell Ballistics.

From what I have seen KPY Shotshell Ballistics is pretty accurate. The pellet counts can be off some because the density or the size of the shot that you have can and will vary some. Even store bought factory loads can vary in shot size but you will never know it unless you take some shells apart and count the pellets and measure the shot.

Steel shot is the worst shot for shooting out of a shotgun. Speeding the steel shot loads up helps some but you are still shooting the lightest shot made so it doesn't help the steel shot loads that much.

1600 fps steel T shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 26.2 yards, with 65 pellets in 1-1/4 oz.
1300 fps lead #4 shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 8.5 yards, with 204 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.
1300 fps lead BB shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 46.2 yards, with 77 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.
1300 fps lead BBB shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 55.9 yards, with 65 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.
1300 fps lead T shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 65.8 yards, with 56 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.
1300 fps 12g/cc BB shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 62.5 yards, with 70 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.
1200 fps TSS #4 shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 72.9 yards, with 124 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.

It's to bad none of the ammo manufacturers will make a lead BBB or Lead T shot load for coyote hunters. I have brought it up to three different ammo manufacturers at the Shot Show and they just don't seem to think coyote hunters need a shot size between lead BB and lead #4 Buck.

Look at the extra penetration yardage lead BBB and lead T shot get over the lead BB shot.

Also look at the penetration yardage the 1600 fps steel T shot gets compared to the much slower 1200 fps TSS #4 shot.
 
1300 fps lead #4 shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 8.5 yards, with 204 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.

Really, only 8.5 yards? That's not my experience.
 
Originally Posted By: GC1300 fps lead #4 shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 8.5 yards, with 204 pellets in 1-1/2 oz.

Really, only 8.5 yards? That's not my experience.



That is penetration into ballistic gel at 8.5 yards. The ballistic gel KPY uses is 20% ballistic gel. Quite a bit of the ballistic gel that is used is only 10% ballistic gel.

KPY used the 20% ballistic gel because it was closer to being about the same as meat is to penetrate into.

What is really interesting is how much more energy the big steel pellets have but they don't get nearly as much penetration as the smaller denser pellets get.

The 1600 fps steel T shot gets the 3.70" of gel penetration with 18.31 lbs of energy. The 1200 fps smaller denser TSS #4 shot only takes 5.21 lbs of energy to penetrate 3.70" of gel.

http://kpyshotshellballistics.com/
 
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