Hornady Coyote 12 Gauge Loads Best Choke Results

You probably need the additional range that a really tight pattern gives for the way you hunt. How far are your typical shots and are they running or standing?
 
typical range is 25 to 40 yards. the coyotes i kill are both running and stopped. i like em stopped and facing me or broadside, but if they are a fly bye, they dont get a pass from me.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: Driven2tri24I'd take your Fed's pattern over the Rem HD's pattern to 50yds any day

ewww, not me.


Only about half of the Federal 1-7/8 oz copper coated lead BB pellets hit the paper. About 85% of the Rem HD BB pellets hit the same size paper.

The denser Rem HD BB pellets will give you about 15 yards more effective range on coyotes than Nickel plated lead BB shot will give you. Plus the very hard and heavier Rem HD pellets break bones on coyote much more often than soft lead pellets do.

In my opinion the 70 pellet Rem HD BB 1-1/2 oz load is a much better coyote load than the 50 pellet Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T shot load is.
 
I just wish I'd have bought a lot more of the HD BB shot when I had the chance. Even with TSS on the shelf, those are still one of my favorite coyote loads.

I was given a bunch of the Hornady BB left over from a Furtakers hunt, but I don't use it. I think I did pattern it, would have to check notes to see if I did and if so what choke worked best.

- DAA
 
For some reason Hornady has trouble building a load that is a consistently good patterning shell. The wad is quirky but I think there is more to it than that. I have never been able to get the Hornady shotshell to pattern as well as comparable shells from other manufacturer's loads.
 
Originally Posted By: GCFor some reason Hornady has trouble building a load that is a consistently good patterning shell. The wad is quirky but I think there is more to it than that. I have never been able to get the Hornady shotshell to pattern as well as comparable shells from other manufacturer's loads.

Agree, stuff does not pattern well in my Beretta 390, regardless of choke. Gave it to a guy who claims it patterns well in his, I believe 870
 
I think the Dead Coyote Loads have gotten out of my price range but they did pattern extremely well out of my guns. I definitely believe the harder the shot, the more it can be choked without risk of deforming the pellets and a better pattern at longer ranges. Hornady's BB shot in the 3" Heavy magnum load is regular lead shot with nickel plating. The #4 buck shot in the Varmint Express is an unbuffered & unplated High Antimony Lead pellet. I have cut the Hornady loads open and the "Versatite" wad is a direct clone of Federal's Original Flight Control Wad rather than their newer "Flight Control Flex" wad which is supposed to be unaffected by ported, stepped, or over-choked choke geometry that result in stripping the wad prematurely. I've learned a lot of this info from Clark Bush who passed away last August(2009 NWTF World Champion) , who helped test Federal's Turkey loads and designed chokes specifically for these wads. Hornady told me they purposely designed with High Antimony Lead to minimize pellet deformation and eliminate need for a buffer. This also allowed them to maintain a high pellet count in 2.75" shell with higher velocity. They were designed to be used with about .010 constriction and this also minimizes deformation.
When someone attempts to go beyond that amount of constriction and pellets of that amount mass..they will deform as well as flare wad cup grabbing air/drag and prematurely pulling away from the shot. Patterns will suffer as distance increases. With "backbored" barrels/choke systems" you might get away with an additional .005 constriction.
Try the loads with a good quality modified choke once on a clean barrel and see how it patterns at 40yds..
 
The Italian guns have tighter bore diameters@.722-.725 than the Standard .729-.730 bores of most American shotguns like the 870 you mentioned, the OP's Mossy and my shotguns(none are back/over bored). I know that the Over-bored American guns have an even larger diameter and supposedly are the easiest to pattern with high volume loads.
 
Over boring is over played and can definitely be over done. As an example, Mossberg's 12 gauge 835 bore of .775" is essentially a 10 gauge dimension and does cause issues with certain shot and slug loads. Hornady struggles in the shotshell arena, both in turkey loads and predator loads and doesn't compare well to competitors offerings.
 
Thanks for the info guys. It seems like every good thing goes out of production. It's almost like there's some force wanting to destroy everything good or something. I see the new Remington ammo company is doing steel only in BB currently. Since the discussion has gone that way, I'd love to hear/see if there are good current production coyote loads folks are having good luck with. I don't know much on shotguns, and I know every barrel and choke is a little different, but I suspect there's some continuity across the board on some things load wise. I know there is in other things I do happen to know load wise. After seeing the old guy in KY test the Remington 3" #4, I'd say that load would do it, but it didn't look very hide friendly even at 50 yards. Here's the short clip.

 
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Originally Posted By: GCOver boring is over played and can definitely be over done. As an example, Mossberg's 12 gauge 835 bore of .775" is essentially a 10 gauge dimension and does cause issues with certain shot and slug loads. Hornady struggles in the shotshell arena, both in turkey loads and predator loads and doesn't compare well to competitors offerings.

Agreed on both statements...although many have got the 8/935's to shoot insane Turkey Patterns, I have been able to match those patterns with my much lighter(and flinch inducing)535...
Hornady shotshells have great designs/loads and materials..where they come up short is consistency shell to shell as well as Lot to Lot.. in a box of SST slugs, 2 of 5 would "rattle" inside the shell, 3 wouldn't. I've actually pared out the loose ones to shoot some amazing groups..Their QC seems to be crap since day one. Which is odd given how consistent their other ammo is..
Aside from the Ridiculously priced Hevi DC at $8-10, I think it's one of only a handful of loads left to choose from.
I've gravitated to a pump .308 for a true 100yd(and beyond) effective range in open timber simply because of the cost of patterning shells. I now only use shotguns in tight cover or on my lap as backup for hard chargers..and honestly ANY of the loads mentioned in this thread would suffice to 50yds with minimal patterning in that role.
 
"Originally Posted By: gunsbam45Thanks for the info guys. It seems like every good thing goes out of production. It's almost like there's some force wanting to destroy everything good or something. I see the new Remington ammo company is doing steel only in BB currently. Since the discussion has gone that way, I'd love to hear/see if there are good current production coyote loads folks are having good luck with. I don't know much on shotguns, and I know every barrel and choke is a little different, but I suspect there's some continuity across the board on some things load wise. I know there is in other things I do happen to know load wise. After seeing the old guy in KY test the Remington 3" #4, I'd say that load would do it, but it didn't look very hide friendly even at 50 yards. Here's the short clip."



Shotguns don't normally mess up hides like high velocity centerfire rifles can sometimes. I have shot a few at extremely close range and made a mess of things but in the more usual hunting ranges a shotgun tends to be pretty forgiving on hides.
 
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Lead shotgun pellets get deformed at "setback" when the shell is fired. Not much when the wad and shot is going through the choke.

Buffer in-between and around the lead shot helps the shot stay rounder when the shell is fired.
 
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobLead shotgun pellets get deformed at "setback" when the shell is fired. Not much when the wad and shot is going through the choke.

Buffer in-between and around the lead shot helps the shot stay rounder when the shell is fired.

I agree that deformation happens upon setback...but also as it encounters the forcing cone and finally at the choke's constriction. The larger the pellet(and it's mass)coupled with a soft material (such as regular lead shot) flattens pellets as it's constricted. Obviously the less malleable the material of the pellet(such as HD, Tungsten or High Antimony Lead)the less(if any)deformation occurs at any of the previously mentioned stages.
Another point of conversation would include shot column vs forcing cone and bore diameter.
In any means, I don't pretend to know it all and consider us both to be correct to varying degrees.
 
Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobOriginally Posted By: LARUEminatiI've done a good amount of patterning aswell, probably not as much as some others on here. Either way your going to have to test it but if it we're me and I wanted to buy one choke i'd probably use those BB's and go with a turkey choke right off the bat. I've always used carlsons or patternmasters. Good luck, once you get it dialed they're so deadly.

I agree, the 77 pellet BB load sounds way better to me than a 24-pellet number 4 buckshot load does. 24 pellets in a 30" circle doesn't sound like a good coyote load to me.

Below are two old pattern pictures. The first one is a Federal Premium 1-7/8 oz copper coated lead BB load with 98 pellets per shell.
Christmas2005_0613 by [/url], on Flickr
With My Carlson's Dead Coyote choke it only put 16 pellets in a 12" circle at 40 yards away.

[url=https://www.flickr.com/gp/156463377@N08/0045Q8 t=_blank]IMG_0314 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156463377@N08/, on Flickr
The above pattern picture is a 3" Rem HD BB load, with only 70 pellets per shell and it was also shot with the Carlson's Dead Coyote choke. With about 28 less pellets per shell the Rem HD BB load put 32 pellets in the 12" circle at 40 yards away. That was twice as many Rem HD BB pellets in the 12" circle compared to the copper coated lead BB shot load.

I have to shoot lead free shot at coyotes. It costs more money to shoot the denser than lead shot but it does work much better than lead shot and lead buckshot does.

Bob, I forgot to ask, is this Remington HD BB load that patterned well with 32 pellets in the ring at 40 yards the Tungsten shot stuff?
 
Yes, it is the original Rem HD 12g/cc factory Waterfowl load. Remington is now making "I think" some HD loads that are about 11.6g/cc loads but I don't know if they are making them in BB shot size. I don't think they have 1-1/2 oz of shot in them like the original Rem HD loads had.
 
The old Remington HD-BB load patterned much better for me than the Dead Coyote shells. Environ Metal had issues in the production of their shotshells also. Both their predator shells and the turkey loads. A certain lot number might be amazing and the next lot be awful because they would swap out various components like the wad or buffer or change the shot composition and schmuck up the load. The Remington HD-BB shreds coyotes, breaks bones, penetrates deep, it was just a great load. And then it went out of production... I cried, crossed my arms and stamped my feet but Big Green didn't care.
 
Then later on EMI changed the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T shot so that it would fracture. That made no sense to me at all. I want the coyote bones to break, not the shot I am shooting at coyotes to break.
 
"Originally Posted By: derbyacresbobThen later on EMI changed the Hevi-Shot Dead Coyote T shot so that it would fracture. That made no sense to me at all. I want the coyote bones to break, not the shot I am shooting at coyotes to break."

Guys were reporting poor penetration and the necessity of shooting even close-range coyotes multiple times to kill them. Then when skinned they found grey dust-looking material in shallow wounds under the hide. I'm not sure if that change in the mix was intentional or a bad batch due to QC issues but it happened and the company was aware of the issue but made no recall of the shells affected.
 
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