doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Patterning Paper

Hopefully your point of impact is the same as your point of aim.
The correct procedure listed for patterning a shotgun is a 30" circle at 40 yards with the shotgun in a rest. This is for a true pattern. Trouble is you need to know how many pellets in the load and then count how many in the circle.

There is a downloadable chart that you take a picture of the circle with your phone camera or any digital camera and put it in this program and it tells how many pellets are in your downloaded data. I haven't tried it yet but from reports of others, works great.
http://www.shotgun-insight.com/

There is also one to buy that looks very good to have.
http://www.targettelemetrics.com/

Thanks David. Just to be sure, I will cut open a shell and actually count the pellets first to give me a better idea of percentages. I will also try that camera deal.

I go to the office supply store and get a checkerd easel pad. They come with 1" squares printed on a large pad of 50 sheets. Works great.

PK, if you will do the insights program as per instructions you will learn things. Any method will produce a result. IMO, insights is the only results worth the effort. Be ye forewarned that ten (yes, 10) patterns per load are required to produce statistically reliable data.

Insights is the work of Dr. Andrew Jones and is a true gift to shotgun researchers. I'd suggest you read the book before starting any patterning program. It may well change your view of some long held street wisdom on patterns.

DDA

I buy partial rolls of newsprint at the local paper.$7-10 for 50 lbs

Leaning against my vintage shooting brake is what is known in the printing trade as a "web end". It is a form of unrecyclable corregated cardboard, with a plastic barrier in it, to protect rolls of web paper in transit, or, while in storage. If you live close enough to a large commercial printer, they will likely let you have as many of these as you want-they pay to dispose of them. The most common size, for half web sized web printing presses, measures 38 1/2" across.
I've shot hundreds of these things over the years, at which point I use them for working under the car, and then cut them up and throw them in the trash. Once they have a little drain oil on them after an oil change, they are useful for lighting my brush pile, which, gives me even further satisfaction, as my carbon footprint is then greater then if they simply go in the trash.
I have a 1957 vintage Ithaca 37 in 16 gauge, with a 28" modified choke barrel. It throws really tight patterns as it is, and I have used it with great success-for trap shooting. It is almost too tight for anything I get to hunt around here.



Good luck.

Best,
Ted

My approach to patterning depends on my goal.

That might be to determine point of impact if I'm doing stockwork (I'll shoot at a bullseye 16 yds from my eye) or to determine the true choke of combinations of shells and chokes ( I'll count the pellets in a load, shoot at 40 yds, draw 20 and 30" circles around the center core, count strikes, figure percentages, etc.). I haven't done the latter in years but, if I did, I'd probably have some interest in computer analysis.

For the OP's task, I prefer to shoot at life size silhouettes of the gamebird at the average distance I expect to take my first shot and then the more extreme distance I might try for a second shot. For grouse and woodcock, for instance, that would be 18 yds with the first barrel and 30 yds with the second. I'm not interested in 30" circles and percentages...the effective pattern diameter is what it is, depending on target size, payload, choke and distance.

My 20ga, with the 1 ounce of #7.5's I prefer, is choked .005 and .015...



Not overly scientific, but my results were entirely satisfactory for the couple of decades I hunted them...few cripples and rarely a mangled bird.

Mike, although a stationary target, I would say you mangled the first one at 20 yards and did the same on the middle woodcock at 30 yards.

Your way gives a good idea of what is happening at the distances you mostly shoot at. I have read that if you shoot skeet you should pattern your gun at 21 yards and if you shoot trap, at 35-40 yards.

You'd likely be wrong,IME. The edible breast of a woodcock presents, at most, 2-3 square inches. How many pellets do you suppose it would take to mangle the breast?

Ted's wisdom makes me smile, having done something similar at one point in time; still do when I want a minimal height 'creeper'.

Back before the 'puter program present reality, I was fair anal about patterns & such and shot & counted more than a few patterns for holes after drawing a circle centred over the thickest concentration of pellets using a Plexiglas overlay. I bought butcher paper by the roll and even a carrier for it, making it easy to tear off another sheet to staple up & shoot. It was a long time ago. It was a great deal of busy werk. What I learned mostly was that dif. wad designs didn't make much dif. in target loads & field experience [not the pattern board] taught me that it you want more thump farther out, use a bigger pellet.

Take Rocketman's advise, Dr. Jones work & gift to us all is an easy no-brainer with real & valid information obtained for much less effort.

A good grease plate makes a lot more sense than buying paper; its very easy to photograph [much better than paper] and clean with a paint roller on a stick for the next shot.