I don't think it's completely pointless, but there is a lot going on that we don't have any handle on. Pattern boards can give you an idea of a loads range or distribution, but like you said, the target is left out of the equation.
On a dead straightaway shot or a stationary target, the pattern board will tell you everything you need to know. Just like the writers who would show pictures of patterns with clay targets or bird outlines drawn in the empty spaces in the patterns.
A clay target or bird passing sideways through the shot swarm, is actually larger than its outline because it is in motion, so its occupying (?) more space in the shot swarm than a stationary target. Even if there are holes in the pattern, the target can't just fly through the holes.
For a computer to consider all the possible trajectories and speeds a target could fly through a shot swarm and then calculate how efficient that load would be a hitting the target, I don't know, that seems to be an astronomical problem to me. I suspect we might not learn a whole lot more than we know now, maybe just knowing which loads have the most even distribution and shortest strings are all we really need.
Tim
