Best pattern results 3.5 12ga. 4buck

THErealjbyrd

THErealjbyrd

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You think this would knock coyo dn at 50yds?

Here's the 25 yd below


I patterned SEVERAL chokes from .655 to +.700 multiple targets each. .660 being repeatedly the best at 25 yds.

Would be curious to pattern with some 3". haven't got to that yet.
 
Do you know what the pellet count is on those 12 ga 3-1/2 loads of number 4 buck?

3" 12 ga number 4 buck are mostly 1-7/8 oz loads with 41 pellets per shell.

Your 50 yard pattern has some big holes in it. With a pattern like that you could cleanly kill half the coyotes you shoot at 50 yards and the other half of the coyotes you shoot at 50 yards may take 2 or 3 shots to kill.

I like having 70 to 120 pellets in my coyote shotgun loads. I have a much better chance of getting clean kills with more pellets per shell. I have shot many coyotes with the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T shot loads and the Remington HD Predator T shot loads that had 50 pellets per shell. The Remington HD BB Waterfowl loads with 70 pellets per shell out performed the bigger T shot loads that only had 50 pellets per shell.

When I could shoot lead shot at coyotes I liked the 3" 1-7/8 oz BB loads with 98 pellets per shell over 3" number 4 buck loads that had 41 pellets per shell.
 
One thing I'll caution you about, one shot isn't enough data to draw a conclusion from. I don't know how many shots you are using but shotguns and shotshells are finicky and a bit unreliable at times. Use 3 - 5 shots and average the results to get a realistic number. I counted the number of hits inside 10" at the point of aim. There must be some metric to compare to and hits inside 10" at the aiming point is a good standard. Some guys are really wing-shooting their coyotes and like a wider pattern so for them, 20" at the point of impact could be a better metric of comparison. If you are using a glass sight of some sort, find the center of the patterns and count the number of hits knowing you can sight the optic in to make point of impact and point of aim come together.
 
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Originally Posted By: GCOne thing I'll caution you about, one shot isn't enough data to draw a conclusion from. I don't know how many shots you are using but shotguns and shotshells are finicky and a bit unreliable at times. Use 3 - 5 shots and average the results to get a realistic number.

Gary, didn't you make a detailed post at one time about this very situation?

I'm depending on my aging memory here ..........

EDIT: Ugh. Here it is: https://www.predatormastersforums.com/fo...7351#Post777351
 
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upper case and lower case

The rig. It's zerod pretty good. I've walked it in and confirmed as I went dn in choke sizes.ammo is win super x 4 buck 54 pellet 12 x 3.5

In the process of gathering reloading setup then I will load T shot (those rounds are BOOKOO expensive!) But I keep hearing they are the bees knees
 
Gonna hydro dip or rattle can the shotgun. Litter bit of a sidetrack. Hows the durability of the dip (this things gonna get the crap beat out of it) my just rattle can and touch up as it wears.?
 
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Unless you're just wanting to get away from the black gun, I'd just leave it alone. Not only will it damage any resale value, but it will help very little in the field. Movement and scent are going to give you away far faster and more often than the color of the gun.

I've killed many a coyote with a stainless barreled rifle. They were just as dead and none of them saw it coming.
 
Indeed GC Inoticed the patterns fanning/stringing vertical then horizontal on same choke same distance during patterning. I thought that was peculiar (I'm a precision bolt gun guy) so this has been an interesting study but fun. I like to test stuff.
 
Hidalgo I got these stripper stencils I been having a hankering to do a stripperflage camo pattern with LOL. I don't have but a few guns,I don't sell em but I do use them pretty hard. As you can see I've only had the shotty a couple weeks patterning she's still cherry. I figure it can't hurt to blend in better when they runnin in
 
For calling coyotes into 10 to 30 yards away the better you blend in the better off you will be when using a shotgun.

Many times I have to sit in the sun to get the wind in my favor. Wearing camo, using camo gloves, camo face mask and having a camo gun pays off in the long run when you have to sit in the sun for shotgun calling.

I even rattle can camo my factory camo shotguns when they get shiny. Most of the factory camo jobs shine real bad after a while.

THErealjbyrd can you see through the sight on your shotgun when your head is on the stock? I used a comb rising kit so I could see through my sight without having to raise my head off of the stock.

https://www.beartooth-products.com/collections/comb-raising-kit-gun-cover-cheek-pad-weld-piece-riser

Within two weeks of having a sight on my shotgun I had two coyotes get away that would have been dead if I wasn't using a sight. Moisture from fog kept me from seeing through the sight and the sight being to bright after the sun was down kept me from being able to see the coyote in low light. I had just lowered the brightness 10 minutes earlier.

I thought the sight would help in low light conditions but it made the coyotes harder to see for me.
 

I waterfowl hunted for many years, and because of the location and how we had to orient our blind we were staring at the sunrise. Obviously, a bare face would look like a spotlight glowing. We always used either a face mask or painted our face to stop that issue, and we always had the barrel of the gun propped and sticking out of the blind. To my knowledge not once over all those years did we have ducks or geese flare because they were spooked by the shiny blue barrels of our shotguns.

If it makes someone feel better, then by all means camo everything in use. But I personally don't see the point if motion is avoided and the wind is taken into consideration. Especially if a call or/and a motion decoy is in use to direct the attention away from the shooter.
 
Regarding camo... Maybe it depends on where you are in the world. When Bob posts a picture it doesn't look like there is much cover around him. In fact, it looks pretty darn bare to this old hillbilly. Camo probably helps him more than me as an example. My locale has mucho cover, motion is the real deal killer for me. As long as my things aren't glossy and bright and I sit still enough then I'm good.

 
@derbyacresbob, the eotech actually lines up great, I had the same concern as all my bolt guns have built in comb risers.i won't run a bolt gun/optic without one. I can close my eyes mount and open and it's right on.
So far the eotech line has been good to me.they have persevered in some tough conditions.
Have you been on the foxpro podcast yet? It's my favorite, I've played and replayed them on my 1hr commute a TON.
 
Did you test the other diameter chokes at further distances as well? As for Camo…go watch some MFK videos. They have just about been run over wearing a t shirt and blue jeans.

Also, did you test 3” loads vs the 3.5”? I have seen some reports that mentioned 3” loads patterning better than 3.5”.
 
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Johral, I patterned 7 or 8 different jokes from 655 up to 670 Plus all multiple times at 25 pick the best one then pattern it multiple times out to 50.
I've seen the mfk videos multiples of times. I'm going to go out on a limb and say those guys are probably a little better callers than I am. I think Tory could probably call one in wearing a fluorescent yellow jumpsuit he's that good.
Also I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had not tried patterning 3" but it is on the agenda
 
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