Shot String experiments

[Pheroze]

I would be very interested to know people's thoughts. Certainly some interesting work.

 

[WAB]

Read Bob Brister’s work. Absolutely the best practical work on shot strings I have seen.

 

[Pheroze]

Read Bob Brister’s work. Absolutely the best practical work on shot strings I have seen.

Are the results of these experiments consistent? I think this fellow makes the case that it doesn't matter.

 

[BourbonTrail]

The patternmaster is disturbing the flow at the beginning which causes the string to spread early. However, the wad causes base drag on the regular for a longer period of time. It’s probably a wash in terms of physics, it would be fun to make a CFD model.

As for shot string being longer, it may benefit wingshooting doves in large groups. May go from 1 dove to 2-3. Still, error margin is probably going to ruin that benefit

 

[503]

Patternmaster never made sense to me. How can a choke with no constriction shoot better even if all the shot gets there at the same micro second?

And why would the wad being slowed down for a split second have that effect on the shot string? Always seemed to me that ot wouod pattern worse. Plus certain wads can cause barrel obstructions with the Patternmaster choke. Kinda weirds me out.

With that said if they pattern well with your gun/ ammo then go for it but I think chokes with constriction make more sense. I run kicks and jebs, both excellent. Also the OG rem. Full choke that is rated for steel is a great one if you can find one for buckshot as well as waterfowl.

Cheers

 

[WAB]

He is wrong. Read Shotgunning, the Art and the Science by Bob Brister. He actually had his wife tow huge targets with the family car so he could paper shot strings. Stringing matters very much. Sometimes you want it, sometimes you don’t.

I get a kick out of this new batch of writers trying to reinvent work that has already been done. Here are some works to check out:

Brister’s work mentioned above,
Game Shooting by Robert Churchill,
The Better Shot by Ken Davies
Move, Mount Shoot by John Bidwell
Absolutely anything by Gough Thomas Garwood.

The first reference addresses your question. The rest make the new batch of shotgun writers totally redundant.

 

[Inline6]

The only thing I know about shotguns....I need to practice more!

 

[BourbonTrail]

The only thing I know about shotguns....I need to practice more!

Amen

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I have always liked patternmaster chokes. They have always worked well for me.

 

[crs]

Mmmm, I am self taught WRT all guns that I shoot.
Never read any such crap and just shot a lot until I rarely missed. Still rarely miss with pistol, shotgun , or rifle. Going this weekend with my son to shoot pistol and rifle. to get ready for fall season.

Just imagine how well I would be able to shoot if I read all those BS books and took lessons.
Just kidding, shooting is more fun.

 

[WAB]

Mmmm, I am self taught WRT all guns that I shoot.
Never read any such crap and just shot a lot until I rarely missed. Still rarely miss with pistol, shotgun , or rifle. Going this weekend with my son to shoot pistol and rifle. to get ready for fall season.

Just imagine how well I would be able to shoot if I read all those BS books and took lessons.
Just kidding, shooting is more fun.

If your shoot well that’s awesome. I always shot well growin up, but I wanted to take it to the highest level. I read everything on shotgun design and shooting technique I could get my hands on. I worked with the best instructors in the world, and I traveled globally to compete at the highest level. I did well at it.

It was a funny thing, I shot poorly in a pretty important competition in 1996 and I suddenly realized that I was under more pressure in my hobby, shotgunning, than I was in my job, and I was in a very high stress job! I haven’t shot a registered target since. I can still run low gun skeet with a .410 and shoot low ‘90’s in Sporting Clays, but I do it for fun now. I don’t subject myself to the pressure cooker anymore.

 

[Fixfire]

Same with me WAB!! I’m recently retired from a stressful high-finance job and I get more stress than ever from my weekly for-fun Skeet league. Not that I need to win, but rather doing what I’m capable of.

 

[Inline6]

If your shoot well that’s awesome. I always shot well growin up, but I wanted to take it to the highest level. I read everything on shotgun design and shooting technique I could get my hands on. I worked with the best instructors in the world, and I traveled globally to compete at the highest level. I did well at it.

It was a funny thing, I shot poorly in a pretty important competition in 1996 and I suddenly realized that I was under more pressure in my hobby, shotgunning, than I was in my job, and I was in a very high stress job! I haven’t shot a registered target since. I can still run low gun skeet with a .410 and shoot low ‘90’s in Sporting Clays, but I do it for fun now. I don’t subject myself to the pressure cooker anymore.

I always enjoyed the pressure, that said I knew I could not make every shot. It's like anything in life you have be able to accept the outcome. Like you, reading everything I can find on a discipline, taking instruction, and competing every chance I had.

I need to take lessons on a shotgun, well wing shoot shotgun.

 

[BRICKBURN]

The only thing I know about shotguns....I need to practice more!

Lead the damned target. Get out in front.

 

[503]

I practice for waterfowl season by doing a lot of crow hunting. It's fun and they are a tough hunt. They're smart and surprisingly hard to kill. If you can consistently hit them then ducks, geese, pheasant whatever should be easy

Cheers

 

[Inline6]

Lead the damned target. Get out in front.

I'm not saying your wrong! My problem is I have fired 10s of thousands of precision rifle rounds. So, I have so mental barriers when it comes to that. Hints why I believe I would benefit from a good instructor.

 

[Pheroze]

He is wrong. Read Shotgunning, the Art and the Science by Bob Brister. He actually had his wife tow huge targets with the family car so he could paper shot strings. Stringing matters very much. Sometimes you want it, sometimes you don’t.

He discusses what Bob Brister did in his first video. That might be of interest to you.

I think it interesting that he calculates a 9" difference in impact point as a duck flys past. That to me is the difference between a chest and tail feather on some. I am thinking that the location of the bulk of the pellets within the string is important.

I don't think this info will make me a better shot. But I just like to geek out on stuff. And slow motion is always cool

 

[WAB]

I practice for waterfowl season by doing a lot of crow hunting. It's fun and they are a tough hunt. They're smart and surprisingly hard to kill. If you can consistently hit them then ducks, geese, pheasant whatever should be easy

Cheers

Our farm was in a crow flyway growing up. I learned to voice call and used dead crows as decoys all winter. It got a little macabre with all of those crows hanging in the willow switches. Spring thaw got a little nasty as well.

Interesting fact, hang a dead crow by his neck and he’s a decoy, hang him by his foot and he drives every crow in the county away.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I'm not saying your wrong! My problem is I have fired 10s of thousands of precision rifle rounds. So, I have so mental barriers when it comes to that. Hints why I believe I would benefit from a good instructor.

I get that.
I have shot so many shotgun rounds that I have to relearn rifle shooting every year. Squeeze that trigger instead of slapping it.
Give me a shotgun and I can take running game. Put a scope on it and I am amazed if I hit anything running/moving.

 

[flatwater bill]

The video and camera work were fun to watch.....but the author, unfortunately, spent two years investigating an issue that is essentially meaningless.......(as he reluctantly concludes.) He gives an example under who's parameters a duck can travel 9 inches from the first to the last pellet in the shot string. What he fails to mention, is that this cannot ALL be eliminated. If we shorten the shot string by, say, 30%, then the duck moves only 6.3 inches, and we have gotten rid of 2.7 inches of quack. At 40 yards with a high speed Sprig, 2 inches is not the real problem. To @WAB 's excellent reading list, I would add authors Clair Rees, (who passed this year.), Francis Sell, and Tom Roster. Clair taught me to "Target" my shotgun, not simply "pattern" it. It was the single most useful and helpful thing I ever learned about the shotgun from any expert. Shot string length is about number 136 . I have shot clays and hunted birds for over half a century now.....still enjoy learning about the gun........thanks to OP for posting the vid...FWB