Interesting reading, just giving a heads up. Won't get in this discussion again. "Full choke shot string 14ft at 40yds, long and thin. Modified choke less than 7ft. long". FWIW. Waterfowl Magazine, Equipment issue, The Georgia Project:, Randy
Steel or lead? If lead, it would contradict what Brister found in his shot string experiments. If steel, I'm surprised the string would be that long. Steel isn't supposed to string much.
Possibly similar to rifle barrels all shotgun barrels are not the same!!!
A shot pattern of a smaller diameter will show up better in a photographic setting than will a larger diameter pattern. The accuracy of the shot string dimension in the article would depend on how the figures were arrived at. If photography was used, the quality of the camera equipment could determine the accuracy of the results. Brister knew how fast the car was moving and where the shot started and stopped. That would result in accurate empirical research results. I'll have to reread Brister to review exactly what conclusion he reached and how.
Research was conducted by Pinnacle Ammunition Co. (the new bismuth co.) over couple weeks time, 350 loads per day. Camera used produces 25,000 frames per second. Unit cost $150,000. Test used all ammunition types on the market today. Google "wildfowl georgia project 1" for the intro article. News stand for the latest Wildfowl equipment issue. Details are limited in each article, but I assume they are just chumming us along before they set the hook in a feature article. Larry, you probably know LP Brezny and Alan Corzine? Interesting, none the less. Randy
Ya, but... what does it all mean?
My figures show that with a 14 foot long string, a 50 MPH right angle target can move 15" during the time it takes the shot string to pass. This is pretty much worst case scenario.
Moral: If you're in front of them, you have a chance. If you're behind them, you have no chance.
(I used 800 fps velocity remaining for the calculation)
Here's what Brister said, based on his tests: "As a general rule, open chokes lost a higher percentage of density from shot stringing than did full choke when the loads were of soft lead shot. But when very hard shot were substituted, there was little difference in percentage of loss between open and tight chokes." ("Shotgunning: The Art and the Science," pp 285-286.) Here, of course, Brister is referring only to lead shot. His comment on steel was that it didn't look much different at 40 yards on a moving target than it did on a stationary target.
He also said that "modern" photos, by Winchester, of "ordinary hunting loads" through full choke showed a string of about 11 feet at 40 yards.
Randy, I do know LP Brezny. Played around some with the "metro" loads he developed for Federal, and the long barrel extensions. Have corresponded with Alan but never met him.
Shotgunjones reminded us of a general rule of shotgunning, "Shot stringing doesn't mean squat in the great majority of situations." If I am shooting 90 degree crossing geese at 60 yards, I'm going to be shooting loads that will kill reliably regardless of shot stringing, and it won't be from a 12 gauge gun.
I don't think it means all that much to upland hunters, and it means a lot less to waterfowlers than it used to, assuming they're shooting steel or other nontox option that doesn't string much.
Fourteen feet of shot string at 1000 feet per second, front pellet is 14 thousandths of a second ahead of the last pellet. How far does your goose fly in 14 thousandths of a second. Give me a break. Even if your pellets are down to 700 feet per second, the goose still gets stung by both ends of the pattern in most cases.
This shotstring looks a lot like a 2-dimensional pattern...
