2-Piper answered your question, Buzz. I'm talking about density, which is raw pellet count, not pattern percentage. Indeed, larger shot will often pattern tighter, all else being equal . . . but with far fewer pellets, assuming the same shot charge.

The problem with looking at patterns from very open chokes is that not many people shoot really short-range patterns, which is what you need to be doing if you're thinking about birds like woodcock. (Remember Steve Smith's average distance to 1st barrel woodcock kills: 13 yards. And if you're going to tell me "Well, just let them get out further!", my guess is you haven't shot very many woodcock. Particularly not early season birds, which are an example of "Shoot when you see them, because if you wait, you won't see them.")

Researching an article on close range shooting a few years back, I shot patterns at 15 yards. I had a 20ga Sauer at the time on which I'd had the chokes opened: Cyl in the right barrel, IC (.007) in the left. Disregarding pellets at the very periphery of the pattern, where a woodcock would've received perhaps only a stray hit if that, the cylinder barrel threw a pattern with a diameter of 22" compared to 18" for the IC. 4 inches doesn't sound like much, until you review your high school geometry and recall the formula for the area of a circle--at which point you'll find that the area of the cylinder pattern is about 50% greater.

If by IC being more versatile you include the possibility of using spreader loads to give you cylinder patterns for very close shooting . . . indeed, IC does have an advantage at longer ranges. The same test included patterns shot through an Ithaca Classic Doubles 20ga, also marked IC--except that one had a constriction of .010, which is on the tight side of IC for a 20. It produced a 14" pattern at 20 yards--and looking at that pattern, shot with 7/8 oz 8's, a centered woodcock would have been pretty badly shot up. Using one of the Polywad discs to make a spreader load: 21" pattern, close to what I got with a standard target load in the Sauer's cylinder barrel.

So there you go, Miller--and that's comparing cylinder to IC.

Last edited by L. Brown; 07/04/14 08:39 AM.