I’ve shown you that TSS coyote loads pattern amazingly well, so how about penetration?
I like to use predicted ballistic gel penetration in KYP shotgun ballistic software as a basic benchmark. Based on his considerable experience with shotgunning coyote, using heavier than lead shot and working with the KYP program, Bob Morris has suggested 3.7” of gel penetration as the minimum for good killing penetration on coyote. These are the distances where 3.7” of penetration for various coyote loads is predicted by KYP (as adjusted for my typical conditions).
You can draw your own conclusions about the usefulness of these penetration predictions. But, clearly, TSS #2 is predicted to maintain penetration at further distance than any of the others. That, combined with the patterns seen in testing, should make for some coyote ammo with incredible performance!
TSS Penetration Tests
While shooting patterns at 50 and 60 yards, I was also shooting into phone books. I taped the phone books to keep them closed and whole and rigged a little holder and used duct tape to hold them tight against the rear of my target stand/backer.
After the shooting was done, I carefully opened the pages of each phone book and recorded how many pages deep each pellet I found had made it. Here is the table of the 50 yard penetration data, showing shot type, the page number of each pellet found, total count of pellets found, total number of pages penetrated by all pellets and the average number of pages penetrated for each shot type.
Here is a chart, showing the count and the average number of pages penetrated for each shot type at 50 yards.
As you can see in the figures above, the phone book test did not shake out in exactly the order predicted by KYP. Phone books aren’t ballistic gel, I guess. And for dang sure neither ballistic gel nor a phone book is a coyote. Taking it altogether though, I think it looks safe to say that the TSS #2 is going to penetrate coyote very well at shotgun ranges. TSS #2 had the two deepest penetrating pellets and it took second place for average number of pages penetration at 448, vs 555 pages for the nickel plated lead F shot.
But what I find truly remarkable about this comparison, is that I HIT the dang phone book with 24 pellets of TSS #2 at 50 yards! And 16 times with TSS #4. Vs. hitting it 8 times with Dead Coyote, only 6 pellets each with #4 Buck and NP F. I think that TSS #2 load will out perform all of them and is going to crush a well hit coyote at 50 yards.
To illustrate the number of hits and the implications, here is a simple chart showing the total number of pages penetrated for each shot type at 50 yards. You might think of this along the lines of “total distance of wound channel inflicted”.
Note the TSS #4, came in last for average penetration. But, it’s pretty close to Hevi-shot BB, which I’ve found a reliable killer out to 45 yards. The difference, the HUGE difference, is that 16 of the TSS #4 pellets hit the phone book at 50 yards while only 4 of the HS BB pellets did. Putting TSS #4 in second place for total pages penetrated, behind only TSS #2.
And here is a picture of some of the shot recovered from the 50 yard phone book. Note, the TSS looks like it hasn’t even been fired!
Note that some of the Dead Coyote shattered. The deepest penetrating Dead Coyote pellets were the ones that remained whole.
Now let’s look at the 60 yard penetration test. I only took three shots at 60 yards, here is the data in table format.
And in chart format.
Very interesting! TSS #2 came in second place for average penetration at 50 yards, but pulled WAY ahead in average penetration by 60 yards. Illustrating the ballistic advantage of the tremendous density of TSS shot. Somewhere between 50 and 60 yards the other two started to run out of gas but the TSS #2 just kept on going strong.
And again, while the raw penetration is very impressive – going up against Dead Coyote and NP F, it came out on top by a wide margin. But, what is truly awe inspiring, by comparison, is that the TSS #2 hit the 8.25”x10.75” phone book 17 times at 60 yards! Vs. only 4 hits for second place Dead Coyote.
Here is the total pages penetrated chart. Thinking about it in terms of representing tissue disruption, TSS #2 is just performing way beyond the traditional coyote loads here.
Lastly, some of the shot recovered from the 60 yard phone book. Note, the TSS shot is much, much harder than lead, I can barely put a mark on a pellet with pliers and it barely shows any effect from having been fired into a phone book.
I know which load I want to be using on a longish shot. And it ain’t even close. That, is some impressive test performance Gentlemen! Only field experience will tell, but I believe this TSS #2 load will be a reliable clean coyote killer at 60 yards. And the TSS #4 ought to just hose them down out to 50 yards.
It will be a few more months before I get out amongst ’em and unleash these loads on coyote. I’ll report back after I’ve killed a couple dozen and performed a few necropsies. I’m expecting to be impressed.
I hope you’ve found this interesting, if not outright useful.
-DAA
