Just went through some old patterning data. A few years back, testing 5 different pheasant loads thru the mod barrel of a Merkel 1620 16ga @ 35 yds, I got a low of 63% and a high of 83%. And I cut open loads and counted pellets prior to the test, having learned that you can't go by what the book says on how many 5's or 6's there are to an ounce.
I'd add that normally, I would not expect to find that kind of spread. But I actually had 2 different shells at or near the low end, and 2 at or near the high end.
