tern testing was to see where, and approximately how many places in a pattern, a one-pound bird could be, and escape being cleanly killed. In looking at the images of the shot patterns, No. One was a new shell, shot at 25 yards, with 1¼ oz. No. 7½ shot, 1,225 fps muzzle velocity, with full choke. The orange spot is the point of aim, and the image shows just how close to the center of the pattern that the bird can be, and not be touched with a single pellet. The circle diameter is 19 inches. If the whole bird’s body was completely inside the circle, it would have been a clean kill. The small diameter pattern at this close range can make hitting a little difficult. But deadly if placed on the bird. Image No. Two was a reloaded
shell, 1¼ oz. No. 9 shot, 40 yards, full choke, 1,300 fps, and is a 57% pattern, or light modified choking. Even with the 731 pellets in this shell, none of the silhouettes have more than four pellets in it. Not enough energy to kill at 40 yards, without luck. The top center silhouette chest
area is only 4 inches from the center of the pattern. This pattern is extremely
uniform with 101, 106, 109, and 103 pellets in the respective four quarters. There are only two places outside the circle where a one-pound bird would have suffered a clean kill, other than a head shot. In image No. Three, the load is a
new Remington Nitro 27 shell, 11/8 oz. No. 7½ shot, 40 yards, full choke, with a pattern density of 72.8%. Circle diameter is 30 inches. With this excellent shell, only one silhouette had five pellets in it, enough for a kill. The other six silhou- ettes had only three or fewer pellets in each, which is not enough to ensure a kill. There are several other areas near the circumference of the pattern where our bird would not have been touched! Fortunately, other areas of the pattern, inside the circle, would have produced a clean kill. With a shotgun, you just shoot and hope! The extreme left silhouette is only 8 inches from the center of the pattern, with only four pellets in it. It may not have been lethal, based on the location of the hits. Image No. Four illustrates a
“chance cluster” pattern. The silhouette in the upper right area of the pattern,
outside of the circle, contains six No. 6 shot, enough for a kill. But it is 21 inches from the center of the pattern! This pat- tern was shot with a new shell, 1¼ oz. of No. 6 shot, at 40 yards, full choke, pattern density of 59%. None of the silhouettes have more than three No. 6 shot in them. Note how close several of the silhouettes are to the center of the pattern. This pattern, along with several others, illustrates just how easy it is to fail to score a kill, even though you placed your pattern right on the bird. Circle is 30 inches in diameter. Image No. Five, with the odd
shaped areas inside the circle appear- ing as asteroids in space, was shot with 11/8 oz. No. 9 shot (658 pellets) with full choke, 40 yards, 1,300 fps muzzle veloci- ty. None of the asteroids have more than four pellets in it. Obviously, not enough No. 9 shot for a kill at 40 yards. The other area of the pattern is densely populated with shot, and you would have scored a kill, most of the time. Circle diameter is 30 inches. Pattern density is 59.7 %, very good modified choke pattern. Skipping to image No. Eight, (there are no images Six or Seven), this
www.varminthunter.org
Page 87
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212