I just had to try it after seeing some Youtube videos. 12ga 3 1/2" with 2 1/2 oz. of TSS BB. Coyote was in the field behind my house. I grabbed my shotgun and did a quick stalk. When I crested the hill, he took off on a trot. Rolled him at 105 yards (measured afterwards). I held 2 1/2 feet high, but would go 3 feet next time.
That 2-1/2 oz load of TSS BB shot would work on bears and lions. I loaded some 12 ga 3-1/2" 2-1/8 oz loads of TSS #2 shot and ended up removing the shot and loading 3" 1-1/2 oz of TSS #2 shot loads. They had too much recoil for me. I think TSS #3 shot is about the prefect size for penetration and pellet count for hunting coyotes. From KPY Shotshell Ballistics. 1300 fps TSS #3 shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 96.8 yards and has about 100 pellets in 1-1/2 oz of shot. 1300 fps TSS BB shot gets 3.70" of gel penetration at 175 yards and has about 78 pellets in 2-1/2 oz of shot.
The TSS # 2 shot drops 23 inches at 96.8 yards. The TSS BB shot drops 100 inches at 175 yards. At 96.8 yards the TSS BB shot drops 19.80 inches and gets 5.67" of gel penetration. The way I look at shooting 2-1/2 oz of TSS BB shot at coyotes at 75 yards and under you are wasting 1 oz of TSS shot in every shell. The 1-1/2 oz load of TSS #3 shot has about 22 more deadly pellets per shell than the 2-1/2 oz load of TSS BB shot has. The TSS #3 shot load with 22 more pellets per shell gives you much better odds of making more clean kills than the TSS BB load with 22 less pellets per shell at 75 yards and under.
You can't get a good pattern at those ranges. The patterns give up way before the TSS shot loses it's velocity and penetration. You have a better chance of getting a good pattern with 1-1/2 oz of TSS #3 shot "100 pellets" than you have with 2-1/2 oz of TSS BB shot "78 pellets".
