Comments on: Pattern Recognition

By: ellenbr

ellenbr — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:34:14 +0000

A smaller bore/tube will result in more dispersion, fliers, wider pattern and an elongated shotstring. Don’t forget the pattern is 3D and what you see on a pattern board is compressed in time. If your shotstring is long, the target may not be there when the pellet density arrives or the pellet density is time dependent. But then again the quarry is turkey and possibly stationary, but I’d much rather shoot them on the wing than walking. I’ve seen the #4/#6 Duplex seemingly just bounce off on walking Toms. Basically it all boils down to empirical data and I think it was W.W. Greener who determined that regarding pigeons, 3 shot in a vital area were required to neutralize. As you know I don’t cotton to a 20 bore but I will admit I’ve seen 10′s of thousands of doves downed with a 20 bore south of the equator. You may need to get yourself a proper gun and load for each respective quarry. But another note on choke, which I am guessing was in the 1950s (it could have been earlier), is that instead of full, mod, IC, etc. terms like “points of constriction” or “points” started to be used. And all it means is that the tube at the muzzle is “X” number of points smaller in diameter. Last, shot diameter varies from country to country. So if you are using nickel plated shot from Italy, it may or may not be the same diameter as American shot with the same number designation.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

By: armchairoutfitter

armchairoutfitter — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:46:18 +0000

Raimey, you are, as usual, correct. What I did was kind of a hybrid patterning and sighting in, because I already had the shotgun and screw-in choke I would be using on that trip. I needed a comparison of the the three shells I had on hand to see which one would perform as needed with that combination. Years ago, there were so few load options available to those of us living in the hinterlands that I didn’t see much use in patterning in the true sense of the term. What you could get was what you got, and you hoped for the best. Getting back into shotshell reloading has renewed my interest in the pattern board. I am particularly keen to do some pattern testing with the 20 gauge, the “20 bore” to Anglophiles, as it is notoriously finicky in this regard. All other things being equal, a 1 oz load from a 12 is usually better than the same charge of shot from a 20. I’d like to test this theory over the summer. If you are doing some patterning of your own in preparation for the Vintagers shoot, maybe we could have the first ever shotgun only Big Shoot.

By: ellenbr

ellenbr — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:29:29 +0000

I failed to mention in sticking with the strict definition of patterning, first shoot the pattern and then draw the circle of 30″ oriented at the center of the max. distribution of pellets.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

By: ellenbr

ellenbr — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:57:10 +0000

Interesting patterns Armchair. Did you happen to get a count on the total number of shot before firing in order to determine the choke? 40 yards meets the criteria for determining choke; at least for the Gun Trials of the 1870s, 1880s, etc. and for the Brits. Chokes are sold as IC, IM, M, F, etc. but really the only way to determine the choke is to test fire the longarm and get a ratio of the number of pellets in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards. This percent is the actual choke and determining that value is effort and time consuming. Regarding the semi-auto smoke-poles, an alignment delta of +/- 4″ (could be more or less as this is from memory) is acceptable with respect to the line of sight. So even if you have the sights aligned, the pattern may be centered to one side or the other. But true most of the time the desginated chokes are close but if you are going to consistently shoot at certain ranges, then definitely your longarm needs to be patterned with the intended shot size. Also different size shot patterns differently and if a tube is choke bored for #4 (American or British) shot, then it will pattern #4s well. There’s a lot of hype about the longer cartridges say 3″ and 3 1/2″ but for the most part one is burning more powder and experiencing more recoil. Baby Mags (Kent’s Ultimate Upland) and Polywad’s Polymag cartridges at a length of 70mm are a force to be reckoned with. Then again in the “Golden Era of Shotgunning” the Brits, and others, were doing as well or better with 65mm cartridges.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse