doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Pattern theory

A bunch of us at my club shoot 3/4 and 7/8oz loads at all the games. I believe less choke is needed with 3/4oz 12ga loads. Myself and other shooters have broke birds solidly out to 45yds with skeet chokes using 3/4oz loads. From what I've read the patterns will be better with a larger bore because the shot column height is less meaning less set back when fired so the shot at the back of the column isn't deformed as much. I shoot just old SxS's and in my 10 gauges I use 1oz loads. Before chokes were invented, the muzzleloading pigeon ring shooters used less powder and shot for the second shot to get tighter patterns. I don't pattern either, maybe should, but if I'm on at 35 or 40 yds with 3/4oz in the 12 the birds break very good.

You will break a lot of the presentations at 45 yards, with a skeet choke and 3/4 oz. load .................. but you will NOT break a lot of them, too. Just too sparce a pattern with that for 45 yards.

SRH

My short answer is "NO"------------Choke and load speed are the factors of consequence. What you kill will never know what bore size was in use if you had a proper load and choke for the game.

There are only so many pellets in any given load and if they are managed properly there is no difference to the target.

have another day
Dr.WtS

My bad. by hole I was referring to the gauges. So if I understand all of you who were nice enough to respond, the 12 should have a better potential to throw better patterns than the 20 or 28. In addition my faith in the 3/4 is confirmed by other users observations. Thanks, Mark

What are you using as the standard for "better" patterns?

DDA

Should be a higher % of pellets in the 30" circle for a given load, 12 vs smaller bores. All being equal. But there's a lot of ground to be covered in the "all being equal" department. For example, are you starting with the same # of pellets? (Reloaders often drop a little light.) Is the choke the same? Mark, I have a few 3/4 oz 12ga factory 8's from RST. I'll have to give them to you and see how they compare to reloads. Then we can try 28ga factory 3/4 oz vs reloads. We'd probably use up a lot of paper . . . but not a bad way to pass an afternoon if the weather is decent.

Ah, yes! Well on the way to proving nothing and generating yet more BS to apply to the discussion. Most commendable! and totally fitting for this forum I must say.

have another day
Dr.WtS

"So if I understand all of you who were nice enough to respond, the 12 should have a better potential to throw better patterns than the 20 or 28."
Absolutely not. A totally erroneous assumption

"Better Pattern" of course depends on what a person wants from said pattern. My personal Ideal pattern would be one having absolute uniform spread, the width of that spread of course determined by choke. We all should be totally aware that pattern does not exist & is not apt to.
The real question here is NOT pattern percentage inside the 30" circle but rather the distribution of the shot which are inside.
Some promote the larger bores as giving more uniform patterns while others promote the smaller bore on the "Fact" that by having a higher percentage of the shot in the central core they will actually ou range a larger bore firing the same shot load.
I will say I have not counted enough pellet holes to say positively one way or the other. I have fired 1 oz of shot with great success from 12, 16 & 20.

Rocketman, my all being equal, would be all 3 gauges throwing the same % . My guess is since was the shorter shot column of the 12 would give a more uniform pellet distribution over the 30" circle. WtS , I'm more than open to consider other opinions, thatis why I asked.

The bigger the bore, the smaller the % of the load on the outside of the shot column, thus less likely to come into contact with the bore, thus less likely to end up deformed and as "flyers". Anyhow, that's the theory. Likely however--given plastic wads--that there won't be a lot of difference, assuming you're close to the "all else being equal" point.