I've heard a lot over the years about how incredibly powerful a shotgun loaded with absolutely anything was at close range. This began with my father, who attempted to demonstrate by shooting a decaying tree at a distance of about 3 feet.
I was under-impressed by the result.
Look, it's easy enough. Get some gallon jugs, or cheat and just buy the cheapest 1 gallon jugs of water you can find. After you've patterned your load, line up the jugs and shoot them. 2 jugs is not enough penetration. More than 5 is too much. If you're concerned about overpenetration, stopping in the third should be "just right", though on the shallow side, as suggested by most experts.
Too easy.
If you want to get slightly more complicated, cover the line with a flannel shirt, old BDUs, or a light jacket. Set the jugs out at about 7 yards, and hit 'em.
The results may surprise you. Or, you can talk a lot about it here. The latter seems to be the preferred method for lots of folk on the net.
Additional advice if you want it: using light dove loads instead of mini-shells will not only be less expensive, but it's also likely to make your wife's early experiences with a shotgun less frustrating. Mini-shells frequently malfunction in repeating shotguns: they're really only (barely) useful in singles or doubles.
John
I was under-impressed by the result.
Look, it's easy enough. Get some gallon jugs, or cheat and just buy the cheapest 1 gallon jugs of water you can find. After you've patterned your load, line up the jugs and shoot them. 2 jugs is not enough penetration. More than 5 is too much. If you're concerned about overpenetration, stopping in the third should be "just right", though on the shallow side, as suggested by most experts.
Too easy.
If you want to get slightly more complicated, cover the line with a flannel shirt, old BDUs, or a light jacket. Set the jugs out at about 7 yards, and hit 'em.
The results may surprise you. Or, you can talk a lot about it here. The latter seems to be the preferred method for lots of folk on the net.
Additional advice if you want it: using light dove loads instead of mini-shells will not only be less expensive, but it's also likely to make your wife's early experiences with a shotgun less frustrating. Mini-shells frequently malfunction in repeating shotguns: they're really only (barely) useful in singles or doubles.
John