Hevi-Shot woes... What can he do?
 

My best friend and I are getting into coyote hunting. We normally use his .223 and his .270, but we're starting to mess around with scatterguns. I patterned my Mossy 535 with cheapo #4 buckshot and I'm confident out to 50yards with my factory turkey tube. He, being the one with the $ invested in a new shotgun/choke/shells. He bought a new Benelli SuperNova in 3 1/2" and a Dead Coyote choke tube. He bought a box of 3" and a box of 3 1/2" Hevi-Shot T's.

We patterned his gun at 30 and 50 yards. I believe the choke/load combo is supposed to produce around 15-20 hits in a 10" circle at 70 yards or something like that. It wasn't close to that even at 50. We tried Improved Cylinder, Modified, and his Dead Coyote choke with both loads at 50 yards, and none did very well. The best was his DC choke with the 3" Hevi shells. But even that only produced about 5 or 6 pellets in a 10" circle. We were using big pieces of cardboard and could see most of the pattern. It was just very inconsistant. I tried on of the 3 1/2'ers in the Mossberg at 50 for s's and giggles with a modified choke (I've heard some people brag on that combo) and it was worthless.

Any ideas on what he can do to achieve the advertised pattern? I suggested to him some J-B's for polishing his barrel. I'm stumped past that. :(

rw

i've been using 3" 12 gauge Dead Coyote loads on coyotes for about three years now. i consistently drop coyotes out to 70 yards using my full choke Remington model 1100.

i've never patterned those Dead Coyote loads: i just kill coyotes with them. However, IMO 15-20 #T sized shot in a 10 inch circle at 70 yards is not gonna happen. There are 54 shot in the 3.5" 12 gauge load and 50 T sized shot in a 3" 12 gauge load.

Did your friend try some of the 3" 4 buck that you have?

For what it's worth, I never found a decent pattern with Heavy shot out of my Benelli either. I ended up sticking with " 4 buck.

Yes Howler, he tried it too. I think he shot some out of his DC choke and out of his factory full. Neither patterned very well.

How many pellets in the shoulder/neck/head area do you consider an ethical pattern? I know one pellet through the lungs will kill anything, just maybe not very fast. But how many does a person need to drop a 'yote in its tracks?

rw