I have been thinking about single pellet clay breaks as discussed by Dr. Andrew Jones in his new patterning book. Having looked at his photos and his data, I have become much more observant of target breaks. I have noted that some targets break pretty much in half and believe this is a pretty sure sign of a single pellet break. Couple of weeks ago I did some crusing of a skeet field "landing zone." Following are photos of some of what I found.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC02698.JPG)
A single pellet hit that "almost but not quite" broke.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC027001.JPG)
Inside of the previous clay. Note the lack of penetration by the pellet, yet the extent of the "reverse" damage due to the brittle material getting hit with a shock load force.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC027022.JPG)
Looks like a one pellet break, although I don't have the other half to prove it. Note the break goes across the pellet hit and the extent of fracture.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC027031.JPG)
Inside of previous clay. Note the reverse side damageand the fracture lines.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC027081.JPG)
A case of a pellet skipping off the edge of the rim, yet fracturing the clay.
![](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/DSC027102.JPG)
Extensive inside damage.
I think a test desinged to maximize single pellet hits is in order. A large sheet of plastic in the major landing zone should aid recovery of targets and fragments. As noted in a previous thread, we need field data that indicates the % of single pellet hits that result in a scorable target.