NEW Shotgun Pattern Test Results - Detail & Pic' heavy...

I am not sure where I saw it maybe youtube but a guy shot a coyote with dead coyote load and a dead coyote choke tube at 106 yards if I remember right. Just a thought but I have been told that dead coyote and the buck shot loads shoot very well out to sixty yards out of a pattern master choke, the extended range version. I would like to see some patterning done with that setup. I personally use my 870 supermag with winchester turkey load #5 shot with a super full turkey choke for yotes and fox. Patterns awesome out to fifty yards. Plus I do a lot of hunting at night here in Michigan and the law is no buck shot at night, biggest we can shoot is T shot at night. But have a hard time paying 40 dollars for ten shots of dead coyote.
 
Deadeye, while I have my doubts about the legitimacy of a 106 yard shotgun kill on a coyote, Dead Coyote load or not, for the sake of argument I'll roll with it but it is really only attributable to dumb luck more than anything. But realistically, I believe that whoever ranged that distance didn't take into account the 60 yards the coyote ran before he expired. That or he fails to realize that his 3 foot flat ground stride is only 1 1/2 feet over rough terrain.

Shotgunning past 40 yards, regardless of load and choke is more of an art. A moving target, coupled with decreased energy (penetration) of shot at longer ranges, and the need to know where exactly your pattern is going at that point, is much like long range rifle shooting at big game. Sure you hear stories of people dropping a bull elk at 500+ yards, but those are largely the exception and not the rule.

Tungsten based shot or not, shotgun pellets lose energy quickly. Without that energy they can't penetrate to vitals. The pellets themselves don't carry much weight, and they are already moving at relatively slow shotgun speeds, they start out behind the power curve. In reality if you want to shotgun coyotes at 60+ yards you'd probably be better off with a 10/22 with a reflex sight and a 25 round magazine filled with Velocitors and just start dumping rounds. Those 40 grain .22 bullets start at over 1400 fps (a couple hundred more than most shotgun loads) and will bring more energy to the target being they weigh more and are moving faster. "But a .22 is a terrible choice for shooting coyotes," most will say. But every now and again someone drops a coyote with a shot from a .22. Exactly my point. And that's exactly why shotgunning at those ranges is a poor idea. And at $4-$5 per shell for some of these exotic loads how much money are you willing to throw at that coyote before you realize what advertising says engineering can do tends to be two distinctly different things.

If you can't call them within 40 yards go with a rifle. You are going to go through the trouble to get to and setup a stand, don't shortchange yourself by taking less than marginal shots.

But this isn't the first time the idea of long shots of Dead Coyote has been brought up: [url=http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317877&page=1 t=_blank]http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317877&page=1[/url]
 
Great reply BroncoGlenn!

The main problem with the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote, Remington HD Predator T loads and many of the lead number 4 buck shot loads is the pattern falls apart way before the killing energy of each pellet goes away.

It is possible to kill coyotes out to 70 yards or more with these loads. But it is much more likely that the coyotes won't be hit in the vitals and they will run off.

I have to shoot lead free shotgun shells at coyotes and I prefer the Rem HD BB shot or #2 shot and the Federal Heavyweight # 2 shot for coyotes. They do a great job at 50 yards and less and there are many more pellets per shell than the Tungsten T shot loads or the lead number 4 buck shot loads.

No matter what shotgun load you use for coyotes it is a good idea to try and shoot them at 40 yards and less.
 
I read through this whole thread and learned a ton of valuable information. Figured I'd share some pattern pics for your opinions.
Gun is a Supernova shooting an Indian creek BDS.665 turkey choke.

I realized my red dot was hitting low, it is fixed now. Both shots were at 40 yards.

3" Remington #4 buck
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3" Winchester extended range B [img:left]
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Twenty hits in the 10" @ 40 yards with No. Four Buck is a killer pattern. Sight that thing in and happily go forth and slay critters.
 
Originally Posted By: dfasanoLots of good info in this thread. Will take me forever to read from start to finish!

Executive summary:
Pattern your own shotgun at varying distances with a couple different chokes for the loads you have in mind.
 
I finally got me a good setup. my gun shoots a little high and a little left [beeep] so its hard to get my hold right. ounce i get some sights to get me dead on then i will be in business. at a ranged by leupold rx-600 rangefinder, 40 yds with remington 3" 4 buck (41 pellets) i got on average of 22 pellets in an 8" circle. 3 shots. federal power-shok 4 buck i got 5 pellets all three shots with the kicks goblin thunder .685 choke. browning bps 12ga. i tryed a kicks .675 with the federal and it was too tight and blowed my pattern. so i got a solid 40yd killer if i can get my poa right. a while ago i fired the remington 4 buck at from a tree in my yard that is 53yds to my target according to the leupold rx-600 to see what it looked like. here is my pattern at 53 yds.

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the circle with 7 pellets in it is where i think the center of the pattern was

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Has anyone been able to get/test the Hornady magnum coyote BB yet? I've seen it used by Les Johnson and the Predator Instinct guys but haven't seen any in the wild.
 
I checked Bass Pro shops in Orlando FL the day before yesterday (down here on vacation) and they did not have any of the Hornady. They had the federal 1 7/8 oz BB's and #2's for $40 for a box of 25 shells... Then I seen they had the remington wingmaster hd in #6 and $4 for $9 a box... so i bought 3 boxes of each for turkey and didnt purchase anything for coyote. I wish they had some bb or something for that prise on the wingmaster ammo. I aslo checked gander mountain and they dident have much of anything but skeet loads and steel duck and goose loads. i cant find the hornady heavy coyote anywhere.
 
My hope is that Hornady will exploit the cornered market of the other manufactures with this new load. All these other companies aren't selling their 'coyote' loads for $4-5 a round because their offering a cheaper alternative in lead rather than non-tox. Even if this new load isn't as good, Hornady will far outsell their competition if they can keep up with demand.
 
I can't use lead in the area I hunt coyotes in so I use the heavier than lead non toxic Tungsten alloy shot. It works much better than lead but I would still be using lead shot if I could. Lead BB shot works pretty good on the small coyotes that I hunt.

The heavier and harder than lead Tungsten alloy shot in sizes #2, B and BB are devastating on coyotes.

I have taken the shot out of the factory load 1-1/4 oz and 1-3/8 oz HD, Heavyweight and Xtended Range loads that I bought on sale when they were being closed out.

Today I just opened up 80 Winchester Xtended Range Hi Density 3" 1-3/8 oz B shot loads.

In 26 of these shells the fiber filler wad that is 3/8" thick was sitting at a 45 degree angle or sitting side ways in the wad. So some of the filler wads had shot on both sides of it with some shot sitting on the bottom of the shot cup..

Out of these 80 shells some of them had buffer to the top of the shot, some had very little buffer and some of them had no buffer.

I did count the pellets in 4 of these shells and they all had 82 B shot pellets in each shell. I weighed out some 1-3/8 oz shot charges and I got 80 to 81 pellets per 1-3/8 oz shot charge according to my scale.

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These are the 3" hulls and the fiber filler wads that I removed from the plastic shot cups.

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This is the Winchester Xtended Range Hi Density B shot that came out of the shells. This shot really looks good to me.

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In this picture the silver looking shot is the Win Xtended Range B shot. The darker colored shot is Federal Heavyweight #2 shot.

It looks like there is right at 59 pellets per ounce with the Winchester Xtended Range B shot and 61 pellets per ounce with the Federal Heavyweight #2 shot.

I just found some 3" 12 ga 1-5/8 oz Heavyweight shot loading data in the RSI Heavyweight Shot Reloader's Guide Vol 3.

I reloaded 100 3" Federal hulls with 1-5/8 oz of Rem HD BB's and now I plan on reloading all of the Win Xtended Range B shot in 1-5/8 oz loads in the Federal 3" hulls.

There is right at 77 pellets in the 1-5/8 oz HD BB load and there should be right at 93 pellets in the 1-5/8 oz loads of Win Xtended Range B shot loads.

http://s148.photobucket.com/user/derbyacresbob/media/Favorites/Drakeridge.mp4.html
Watch the above video. The coyote in this video was shot with 1-1/2 oz of Rem HD BB shot.
 
as expensive as the tungsten loads are, you would think all the shells would be made properly and equal. your post there has been the info that has determined the reason why I am now going to purchase a re-loader for shotgun shells. this is probably the best bit of info on the internet for shotgun data. thank you all for your contributions.
 
I just purchased a used stoeger m2000 12 gauge with a 26" barrel. Can anyone give me some insight into what choke+restriction would be a good starting place. I have several different loads in #4 buck to test. I will not be using any non-tox unless the price goes down.
Thanks.
 
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