+1 on Dr. Jones' book. Not exactly breezy reading, but very informative on various shot performance issues that are often the victim of wives tales.
I was helping a friend gunshop for a target gun (hey, someone's gotta step up) and came across a post elsewhere on Beretta's new DT11 and its "Steelium" barrels - according to Beretta "The result is the creation of a progressive conicity that removes any sudden constriction, allowing the DT11 to fix new performance standards."
The poster was commenting on how the IC choke on his DT11 was delivering "hard breaks" at 40+ yards, which has to mean that the IC choke was probably delivering Mod/IMod choke performance (something like 70% at 30 or 35 yards). Which is all well and good, but the poster clearly did not recognize that there had to be a trade-off - that "IC" pattern must be ~10" smaller at 25 yards than a true IC choke in order to deliver that performance at 40 yards.
Interesting how gun makers and shell manufacturers never offer pattern testing to back up their claims of "improved patterns" and "improved shot concentration and distribution." It also makes you wonder if any pattern testing happens to confirm performance, or do they just thrown in a box of .005, .010, 0.20, .025 and .035 chokes with the standard markings and consider the job done.
