shot string length

[jim in Anchorage]

OK I am no shotgunner[handful of spruce hens and woodcock a year] but I recall years ago I read 1 oz. out of a 20 is not the same as 1 oz. out of a 12 on a moving target the paper pattern may look the same, but the shot column on the 20 is longer therefore the target may fly out of the rear most pellets. Any thoughts/experiments on this?

 

[Fred Fuller]

You heard right.

Best explanation you're likely to find is in Bob Brister's classic Shotgunning: The Art And The Science. A used copy can be had for the price of a Happy Meal, often enough.

See http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Brister&sts=t&tn=Shotgunning&x=35&y=17 , if the search will transfer. If not just search on http://www.abebooks.com .

lpl

 

[JohnBT]

Some of it is available on line at google books if you'd like to sample it before ordering. Me, I bought a copy. John

http://books.google.com/books?id=WK...0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES#PPP1,M1

How do you measure shot string? Get your wife to tow a target trailer behind the car while you shoot at it.

 

[chas08]

How do you measure shot string? Get your wife to tow a target trailer behind the car while you shoot at it.

Shooting the side of a speeding pickup, after they smashed your mailbox, works too. Easy to spot in town. (LOL)

 

[JohnBT]

www.shotgunreport.com/TechTech/TechnoidArchive/24-Jul-06.pdf

The Technoid, Bruce Buck, on shot strings. Hint: read Brister.

John

 

[firesafety3]

That's one of the reasons I own a 10 gauge.

 

[rcmodel]

Shot-string always puzzled me.

Everything says a short shot string is good.
In otherwords a "flat" circular pattern.

A long shot string is bad.
In other words a long strung-out oval shaped pattern.

What puzzled me is why flat is better on crossing shots?

Assuming a speeding duck flys across in front of you at 40 yards.

With a short or flat shot string, you have to have exactly the right amount of lead for the shot & the duck to intersect each other at exactly the right point in time.

With a longer shot string however, you can be off on lead a little one way or the other, and the duck will fly into the longer shot string at some point in time.

Where am I thinking wrong?
??????

rc

 

[jim in Anchorage]

I think I see what you're getting at at,but that would only apply if you lead to far ahead. Missed,actually. There is a chance the duck may fly into the rear most pellets. But a short shot string on a good shot will put the most pellets in he target.

 

[MCgunner]

That's one of the reasons I own a 10 gauge.

Me, too, but ya know, that thing also just plain patterns better than anything I've fired on a pattern board, before, shot string or no. From what I read, that's kind of a trait of the 10.

I think I see what you're getting at at,but that would only apply if you lead to far ahead. Missed,actually.

If your shot strings out in length, the shot density in any part of the column is going to suffer. Shot density is important. As you are thinking, I think, a short, tight shot column is a dense shot column. If the the pattern is dense, there are fewer holes in it and more pellets on target. That 10 gauge knocks big ol' geese out of the stratosphere.

 

[rcmodel]

But see, a shot charge going 1,000 FPS will have all the shot string going past the same place in space in 1/50 of a second.

Not even a very fast duck could get out of the way off all the sting eventually hitting him.

Still seems to me a long string would make for a more forgiving lead on crossing shots.

rc

 

[jim in Anchorage]

That 10 gauge knocks big ol' geese out of the stratosphere.

I'm sure it will. In my case however[grouse and snipe] two oz. of shot at a bird that weighs about the same is a bit much

 

[chas08]

Where am I thinking wrong?
??????

Only if you are overleading the bird. That too is why I prefer a 10 over a 3.5 12 for geese, even though their respective shot charges are nearly the same. You need only to cap a distant cripple on water, at a shallow angle, to see this first hand. The 3.5 12 will have a much longer shot string.

 

[9x23]

Ya think this could become an Olympic Sport?

chas08

Shooting the side of a speeding pickup, after they smashed your mailbox, works too. Easy to spot in town. (LOL)

It's almost too easy to do! You just have to figure out their migration pattern.

First check your local news agency, ie. newspaper, TV web site sports page, Bulletin Board flyer, etc. for the local high school football/basketball/baseball game that week. Estimate the length of the game, allow time to drink a couple of beers and the driving time from the game.

Allow a window of 15 minutes on either side of your estimate and you'll have the Sweet Old Boys in your sights or on your bead!

NEVER more than a skeet load of #9s. No need killing anyone over a mailbox.
Of course a responsible gun owner would never do this, but it's always nice to dream about revenge!

Anyone feeling irresponsible???.....9x23

 

[Extremely Pro Gun]

NEVER more than a skeet load of #9s. No need killing anyone over a mailbox.

Ant that would leave some nice little dents all over his truck. I think you might get into more trouble than its worth though.

Fill a decoy mailbox full of concrete so he breaks his arm, thats what you should do. And no food for the Anti-Gunners

 

[MCgunner]

I'm sure it will. In my case however[grouse and snipe] two oz. of shot at a bird that weighs about the same is a bit much

Well, I also have a 20, a 16, and three 12s. Every tool has its use.

 

[chas08]

NEVER more than a skeet load of #9s. No need killing anyone over a mailbox.

I never said it was me... and the shot was # 8.

 

[9x23]

Hey! It was a joke!!! J-O-K-E

Extremely Pro Gun

And that would leave some nice little dents all over his truck. I think you might get into more trouble than its worth though.

You are absolutely right! The comment was just my feeble attempt at bantering with chas08. I hope no one else takes it literally - something like that could make your life miserable with arrests and civil lawsuits.

All the courts that I know of have taken the position that your property is NOT worth more than the perps life in cases where there is no threat to your life or threat of great bodily harm. Therfore the use of, or threat of deadly force, is prohibited in this case

Political correctness requires that I make this clear to those not having the common sense to see the humor in my comments, or at least my sarcastic version of it. For fear of being accused of hijacking a thread I won't respond to this anymore.....9x23

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Well, I also have a 20, a 16, and three 12s. Every tool has its use.

No 28? How crude

 

[MCgunner]

Is there a box of 28 gauge for sale in Alaska? ROFL! I like the 20. The 28 is a little weird, probably a better kids gun than a .410, but I really don't see the love people have with it. Talk about shot stringing, the .410, size of a pencil and 3" long? I never really thought about that one. Had a .410 when I was a kid, shot my first dove with it.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

little hard to come by,but it can be done.[I speak as the proud owner of 4 new boxes of .32 long RF-try to find THAT] I just always remember a line by Jack O'Connor I read in a Early 70's outdoor life-"The 28 gauge is a real shotgun,the .410 is a FREAK."

 

[JohnBT]

"but I really don't see the love people have with it."

It's never too late to learn. The 28 throws great patterns.

You only need a huge load of lead if it's strung out over 10 or 15 feet. The 3/4ths of an ounce in a 28 ga. shell tends to mostly get there at the same time. Stand on a riverbank, dock or duck blind and spend an afternoon shooting different gauges and chokes into the water and you can see the differences in the patterns and strings.

Come to think of it, shooting lead into a body of water is probably politically incorrect these days and unlawful. Oh well.

John

 

[MCgunner]

I think it's only unlawful if you're hunting ducks with it. If you're just shooting it into the water, it's legal. Go figure. Sorta like I can go out to a field full of doves and shoot 7.5 lead all afternoon. When the geese migrate in from Jim's part of the world and I go out there with my 10 gauge to set up my Texas rag decoys, I gotta use steel in the very same field. Weird.

But, if the gubment thinks too long on this one, they'll no doubt require me to shoot steel on doves. Lead for geese won't be an option.

 

[chas08]

Come to think of it, shooting lead into a body of water is probably politically incorrect these days and unlawful. Oh well.

Nothing displays it better than water. But a plowed field that has had enough time for the surface to dry out, shows it pretty well too. I learned this chasing down crippled Geese. I too own a 28 ga and much prefer it over a 20. The 3/4 oz load is near perfect for dove.

 

[Virginian]

How in the heck do you figure water shows shot string? You may think it does, but that is not what you are seeing. You're seeing pattern and drop.
How in the heck do you figure you are going to influence shot string to your advantage anyway?

 

[chas08]

Well, I just figured if all the pellets in the pattern weren't hitting the water in close proximity of each other, and were strung out over a 12 or 15 foot length, then that was shot string. If it isn't then enlighten us in detail. I would truly like to know, as I'm sure so would others. Seems to me, pattern and drop would equal shot string. But then I'm no physics major. As far as trying to use it to to an advantage, I don't. I've just noticed over the years and many gauges I own and shoot, some patterns look more square than others.