Originally Posted by Yoder409
Originally Posted by MOGC
Originally Posted by Yoder409
Originally Posted by MOGC
Originally Posted by Yoder409
As a turkey nut for over 40 years, I'm gonna say whatever coarse shot patterns the best from your set-up.

I'm running 2 1/4 oz of copper plated 2's from a BPS 10 ga and coyotes just don't walk away from the front of it. A looooooong way in front of it. Yotes generally hit the dirt so hard they bounce. Have also used #4 buck from same with OK results. BB shot doesn't pattern worth a crap. Go figger… ???

The Winchester Longbeard Turkey loads in lead #4's should hold lots of promise. The pattern VERY tight through the Indian Creek Black Diamond Strike choke tube. And the penetration of the HTL pellets can allow you to go down in shot size while going up in penetration.


The Winchester Longbeard pellets are HTL? What are they made of? It was my understanding they are standard Pb lead composition.


No. The Longboards are lead. But they pattern so tightly that the #4's can give you a TON of large pellets on a small target at distance. I think they could be quite effective.


Still #4 lead birdshot and it still penetrates like smallish lead birdshot. Sketchy at much over 30-35 yards. Been there and done that. There are so many good coyote loads out there I see no reason to go there.


#4's ARE on the small side for serious coyote duty. But the Longbeards (properly choked) will put a boatload of them in a small area at distance. I tested all the Longbeard offerings when they first came out. I was getting 55-60 #4's in a 10" circle at 60 yards. I'm not real confident in the PPE of a #4 to break coyote skull bone at 60 yards. But I would add at least 10 yards to your figures with a fair amount of certainty. To clarify...……….. I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about a head/neck shot, here. No way I'd wanna be body shooting yotes with 4's at 45 yards.


When I first started shotgunning coyotes I called and killed 12-13 with a tight patterning Remington 870 12 gauge and 3" Federal Premium copper plated # 4's. Mostly head shooting but on some hard chargers it was chest shots. Under 30 yards it usually worked. Occasionally I would need a follow up shot or two. Over 30 yards it got considerably less consistent to include quite a few wounded and lost coyotes. That's when I began researching better options. And there are lots of better options. Number Four Buck won't break the bank and properly choked is head and shoulders above any lead turkey load. The HTL stuff is amazing. A good HTL load from size #2 through BB just shreds coyotes. Again, properly choked and with the increased pellet counts of smaller HTL sizes of shot like the TSS #2's the limiting range factor is only how far can you hold the pattern together effectively. Those pellets penetrate and will consistently break bone at 60-70 yards.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.