What's the best method for patterning?

K

kotengu

New member
I tried patterning a few types of shot today and need some advice. With #8 shot in two different types I couldn't keep all the hits on a 13" x 13" piece of paper at 5 yds. With 00 buck I could keep it on paper up to 10 yds, but not after that.

I seem to remember reading something about using a large steel plate (36" x 36") painted white for patterning (and repainted after every shot so it's reusable) - but wouldn't I be in danger of getting hit by the rebounds?

What do you guys do?
 
Shooting at one of those plates, or at a 4'X4' piece of paper, tells us a coupla things. First, where it's hitting. Second, how it's hitting.

The first helps us determine POA and POI. IOW, where to hold to hit something. Ideally, we want at least half the pattern above POA and centered. A little more above is good most of the time.

The second thing's the real patterning. This tells us what a given load in a given shotgun with a given choke(fixed or tube) will do at a given range. For hunting and clay games, we want a 30" pattern at the range we want to take our birds with no holes or thick spots.

For "Serious" use, establish the maximum range one can keep all the shot on a target the size of a torso, like tombstones or Q targets. For HD, measure the longest possible shot distance in your domicile and find a load that'll keep them on the target at that distance. Usually not hard to do, BTW.

Those are terrible patterns. What shotgun, choke, load are you using?

At 5 yards ALL your shot should go into one hole, more or less. At worst, a fist sized pattern.
 
It's a Brolin Arms Chinese knock-off of an Ithaca 37 (I know, I should have bought an 870 or the like, but I won it at a 3-gun match). It's got an 18.5" barrel with a cylinder bore.

For the #8 shot I tried both the Winchester and the Remington 2 3/4" bulk pack cheapo stuff at Wal-Mart. The buckshot was 00 Federal 2 3/4", and the slug was a Federal 2 3/4" as well.

Thanks for the info - I kinda thought the patterns were a bit off.

Any suggestions?
 
Free is always good. Worst case scenario is you get exactly what you paid for. :D

Sounds like you, uhm, might have done just that, actually. ;)

Mike
 
Sell that riceburner to someone you don't like and get a decent shotgun,Kotengu.

Or, buy a few more 5 packs of 00 from various makers and see if any of them pattern better. I have my doubts that any will, it sounds like some serious bbls probs with that spread.
 
So what on a barrel causes a bad spread in a shotgun? On a rifle you can re-crown, lap the bore, etc. to improve accuracy......is there anything you can do to a shotgun barrel to improve groupings?
 
Ask a 'smith if there is enough metal in that barrel to bore it for choke tubes. Then you'll have something you can play with to improve patterns.

Or do you need to keep it original for some reason?

Maybe a replacement barrel would help, but that's far from a sure thing.
 
Horrible pattern? Maybe not for a 8-10" barrel. All things considered, it sounds like you have a great, short range, home defense gun where you can point and shoot and hit just about everything down the hall from your bedroom. There is something good to be said for that, but most people won't like it.

At 5 yards, Dave McC is right. At that range, your shot should still be in the cup or mostly in the shot cup. At just a little shorter range, it all acts like a slug because it has not separated yet.
 
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