Gold star to idahobob!!! Anyone interested in shotgun patterns MUST read Dr. Jones's book. It is by far the best work to date. It is especially good on what is required to actually break a clay, a subject with very little research to date. Jones shows that exactly where the pellet hits is very important to the break. One pellet hit is usually/frequently enough to cause a target to shed a visible chip. Next time you are shooting clays, pay attention to how many targets break into 2-3-4 pieces; pretty indicative of a one pellet break. If a pellet hits a clay with enough energy to start a fracture (clays are very strong, but brittle), the centrifugal force of the spin will cause the fracture to propagate sufficiently for the target break. Remember seeing a target obviously hit, but not broken, suddenly fly apart a noticeable time later? When you see this you can note that the fracture took a bit longer than normal to propagate.
DDA
