The powers that be tell us a 30" circle is to be used in patterning a shotgun. When we hunt birds, there are plenty of kills from a fringe hit or out of the 30 " circle that you may believe you were centered because the bird fell.
I wanted to see what kind of pattern distribution was in a 36" cirle. For the test I used a 12 ga. 11 -87, 30" barrel, factory modified choke. Here is the interesting part. I was out of reloads and out of time when I took this shot. Pressed for time, we had to leave, I through up the board for a quick shot. 40 yards from a knee, no rest. I popped in an El cheapo Federal 4 pack load. 3 dram, 1 1/8, 7 1/2 shot. I did'nt have paper or time for more tests.
The charts say there is 388 pellets in that load. I counted 357 in the circle and 34 out of the circle. 391 total on a box 39" h x 43"w. A good even spread of pellets in the circle. Lets see a bird get through that.
Every gun shoots different and loads do the same. Your mileage may vary.
Mike
-- Edited by Mike27 on Thursday 21st of April 2011 02:44:01 PM
It would be interesting to see some more comparisons. It's tough to make any decisions on one shot...but there is no way a hummingbird could get through that pattern at 40 yards. The part I like is the nice EVEN pattern (just as many high as low, just as many right as left).
AND....I'd like to say....EXCELLENT gun selection. Remington 11-87's kick butt! Mine has the 26" barrel.
Crow season is out here in PA....over the next few months I'll have to do some pattern testing and post the results. I'd say 5 shots (same distance, from the same gun, same shot size and same choke) would give you enough good information to make a decision. I'd like to test my 7 1/2 shot and 8 shot reloads. I am also going to load up some 6 shot to give them a try.
I made the same mistake trying to pattern the Fed cheapo's. Something was fishy as there were more pellets on the board than a 1 1/8 load of 7 1/2's were supposed to have. I cut open a shell and found 485 pellets in the shot cup. That is more than a load of 8's. The shot was random size with lots of pellets stuck together. The shot size ranged from 7 1/2 to 9 if I had to guess. It was random at best.
Now I am not knocking the Fed 4 packs as the last couple of hundred birds I killed this past season were with those shells. I like them and I found the same thing you did, they pattern well as far as the way they look on the board. You just cant count on the actual shot size being what is listed on the box. Cut one open for yourself but I will save you some time. Look at the box you shot and see how many double strikes you have where the welded together shot passed through and left a double strike. My guess is you will find several.
Again, not knocking the shells or your patterning results. I wish someone would have shared this with me before I shot TWO FLIPPIN" BOXES of them at pattern boards!
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
I checked, there was not even one double strike. Had some very close, but still not touching. Maybe the day they dropped the shot for your shells, an air trafffic controller was filling in.
I did this this not to test the shell, but to see the pattern in a 36" circle, which I liked.
Here is what happened with all the same except improved choke now.
240 pellets in the circle. A drop off to 62%. Another 80 on the box. This box measured 40" h x 44" w. Plenty of hits just outside the circle. My lead thrower put up these patterns with these cheap shells. I do like the mod. choke pattern density better. Repeating, we are told to patern with a 30 " circle, but we take crows with a 36" or better spread at times.
When I go food shopping at Walmart I always throw in a 4 pack of Federal ammo. I do this from march to september, the closer it gets to september the more I buy. This ammo has worked much better than I ever expected, I've been shooting it for 4 or 5 years now.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Here is what happened with all the same except improved choke now.
240 pellets in the circle. A drop off to 62%. Another 80 on the box. This box measured 40" h x 44" w. Plenty of hits just outside the circle. My lead thrower put up these patterns with these cheap shells. I do like the mod. choke pattern density better. Repeating, we are told to patern with a 30 " circle, but we take crows with a 36" or better spread at times.
Unless you actually count the pellets in a few samples you can not be sure of your percentages. As was reported here they are selling boxes mark 7.5 that have a pellet count for #8. We pattern 30" circles at 40 yds because that has long been established as the industry wide measure of a shotgun performance and the true determination of choke. Sometimes we take crows with 6 inch patterns, that is really visually satisfying
I can't get them here in NJ. I grab some when I am in PA.
nh,
I was'nt trying to change the way the world patterns and if the percentages are not perfectly accurate, that is OK. I just wanted to see how even a spread I got with a larger circle. I since shot some reloads with mod choke and got equal results.The day I shot the first test I was'nt set up for multiple shots and onlly had the cheapos so I stayed with it for the improved test. ( Sorry Federal, I'll be expecting my delivery soon, WW NN say no more). We all miss and most can't center every shot, so a little edge can't hurt.
I'll be able to shoot some more tests. I would sure like to see a repeat. It was a fine spread of pellets.
