20 gauge coyote load.... the 20 is all you need!

[Dday911]

I’ve been a customer of Hal’s for a long time but just joined this forum. I read a few posts where guys were asking about the 20 gauge and coyotes.
After talking w Hal and derby acresbob I purchased some #4 and used the Big 2O stubby load and went to the pattern board. I learned quick in my Benelli m2 that the larger pellets did not like a tight choke. My factory modified spit some amazing patterns so off to the field I went.
I shot 3 dif coyotes w the #4 loads and quickly determined that they were capable of killing coyotes....
The issue I had was, they anchored them but there were follow up shots required and they didn’t kill em as quickly as I would like to see. Now I have no love for a coyote but I don’t want them to suffer either. I discussed this w a few people I trust and even though there were ample pellets w ample penetration on target, the wound channels were not large enough to do what I wanted in my time frame. I purchased some tss #1 from Hal and have been super impressed w the results. There is more than enough pellets in the 1 5/8 oz load to crush a coyote. I don’t advocate long shots but I can tell you that I have killed several at 60-70 yards w little to no flopping after the shot. I think I need 20 pellets in the vitals to be efficient and I can do that w my set up past 80 yards. I have no doubt I could anchor one further I’d need be but I won’t.
Here are some results from today and my 40 yard patterns.
I pack the 20 along w a rifle because it’s light and nimble and I do all my waterfowling w the 20 now. Don’t sell the yellow hulls short!!!!
62 lasered yards!
I nicknamed this load the “WIG SPLITTER”
There are 69-70 #1 pellets in my load and at 40 yards you can see over half of them are in a 10” circle, almost 100% are in the 20” and all are in the 30”

[hawglips]

Very nice!

Thanks for that report!

[derbyacresbob]

That pattern is much tighter than I would want for shooting at running coyotes.

With a real tight pattern it is very easy to hit the coyote with just the edge of the pattern. 5 or 6 pellets in the vitals of a coyote is all that is needed to kill coyotes.

I like shooting a little wider pattern with 90 pellets or more better than shooting tighter patterns with less than 70 pellets per shell for killing coyotes.

I have seen hundreds of coyotes killed with shotgun loads. It didn't take long for me to see how much more deadly Rem HD BB loads with 70 pellets per 1-1/2 oz shell were over Dead Coyote T shot 1-1/2 oz loads were with only 50 pellets per shell.

15g/cc Federal Heavyweight #2 shot loads with 90 pellets per 1-1/2 oz load through a more open choke was a much better coyote load than the Dead Coyote T shot loads with only 50 pellets per shell.

I have shot quite a few coyotes with TSS #2 shot and TSS #3 shot in 1-1/2 oz loads. For 70 yards and under it would be hard to beat the wider pattern, pellet count and penetration you can get with about 100 pellets in a 1-1/2 oz load of TSS #3 shot.

With KPY Shotshell Ballistics I use 3.70" of gel penetration is what is needed to reliably break down or kill coyotes. I base the 3.70" of gel penetration off of the penetration with lead BB shot. Before I had to use lead free shot on coyotes I saw at least 200 coyotes get killed with lead BB and lead T shot.

From KPY Shotshell Ballistics. These loads below are all 1-1/2 oz loads at 1300 fps.

Lead BB shot with about 77 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 46.1 yards.
12g/cc HD BB shot with about 70 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 62.4 yards.
15g/cc FHW #2 shot with about 97 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 70.5 yards.
12g/cc DC T shot with about 50 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 85.1 yards.
18g/cc TSS #4 shot with about 124 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 78.9 yards.
18g/cc TSS #3 shot with about 100 pellets per shell gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 96.8 yards.

For shooting running coyotes you don't need a real tight pattern like you would want for shooting standing turkeys in the head.

I don't shoot at coyotes with a shotgun at over 70 yards away. Most of the coyotes I shoot are under 40 yards away with a shotgun so with TSS shot I don't want a tight pattern. With 100 pellets or more per shell you don't need a tight pattern to put 5 to 7 pellets in the vitals of a coyote.

With the best loads you can use you can't always hit a coyote perfectly with the center of your pattern. I use some great shotgun loads on running coyotes and quite often I have to shoot the coyotes more than one time but it is not a problem with the load I am using.

[Dday911]

They didn’t like the 1’s again this morning!

[hawglips]

Way to go!!

[mchughcb]

Nicely done they are way bigger than our red foxes.