How does shot velocity effect your shooting?

[benellimax4]

This year, I have getting out to shoot skeet, trap, and sporting clays to help me suck less when hunting season starts. I have been able to get where I can consistently shoot about 20 out of 25 in skeet and trap. All my shooting is with Federal bulk pack 7.5s that have a shot velocity of 1200 fps.

When the season starts, how will my duck shooting be effected when I start shooting #2 steel that is flying at 1450 fps and 1560 fps? Is it a huge difference on passing shots within an ethical kill range?

Will the speed difference effect hit probability?

 

[rcmodel]

Yes!
At least it did for me when steel shot became the law of the land years ago.

I couldn't hit diddly squat for a long time until I got used to the difference in swing and lead required on passing shots.

I'd shoot at least enough steel hunting loads on the clay range before hunting season to refine your passing shots.

rc

 

[benellimax4]

I noticed that some of my 7.5 shells are 1200 fps and some are 1290. Is that enough to make a difference in your lead?

 

[rcmodel]

It might be.

If you are "smoking" clays with 1,200 FPS shells, you might just be "breaking" them with 1,290 FPS shells. Or vise versa.

Try shooting some of each on clays and note your scores, and you should be able to tell.

rc

 

[RugerMcMarlin]

Just a little less lead. I would say 1/3 the pattern, I like to use pattern as a measure of lead since it increases with range same as distance. The smart thing is using the same shell across the board for the others. should put a fine tuning on your leads.

 

[6x6pinz]

One of the biggest things I found when I started reloading is that I had a speed that worked for me no matter how long it was between shooting outings. I use a lot of different shotguns and gauges when hunting but the speed of the round is always very close. My 410's fly at the same speed, or very close, to my 20's and 12's. It always surprises my hunting buddies that I can hit the clays with one gun then go out after quail/dove with another and waterfowl with yet another and do just fine or better than they do. I watch them try but they will buy off the shelf lead 20's in the low 1200's and then use steel 12's at 1550 and wonder why they can't hit anything.
Waterfowl generally has farther shots than dove/quail/pheasant and the lead times are far more critical.
Find a speed that you like best and stick with it across the board.

 

[oneounceload]

The issue with speed is that generally, faster loads tend to pattern worse than slower ones. Only testing your loads in your guns will verify yea or nay for you. For ME, in MY guns, 1145-1250 give me the best and densest patterns for the given constrictions. Over that, I tend to get splotchy patterns with some serious gaps

YMMV

 

[Presto]

I've been doing a little calculating on velocity and time differences and have come up with some numbers that might throw a little light on the matter.

At 30 yards the time difference between the arrival of payloads from 1200 fps vs. 1400 fps loads is .011 seconds. A target travelling at 50 mph will move about 9 1/2" in that amount of time.

30 yards and 50 mph are fairly representative of a open field dove shot, which is what I'm most familiar with. From what I understand, most birds in normal hunting situations do not fly quite as fast as this, and most shots are taken at this range or less (if the average hunter would be honest) so this would be more of an extreme example. This is also considering a perfect crossing shot, which is also a "worst case" scenario.

You can take what you want from these numbers. I see that with my average pattern of 30" +/- a fast bird is covering 1/3 of it in the time difference. The main problem is if you are hitting on the fringes of one pattern with your current lead, the switch to another.

One other thing you have to remember is that a pattern is not a two dimensional wad of shot. It is actually a string of up to several feet of shot. A bird flying through any part of this string will take a hit, but longer/ thinner strings won't be as effective. From what I can gather, higher velocities will cause longer / thinner strings, so you need to have the target a little more centered in the pattern, which negates a little of the advantage of a higher velocity load.

There are a lot of other factors that pertain to hitting or missing with a shotgun, but I'm sure everyone is already bored with me and my endless data!