Less Is Less

Many of us enjoy shooting little guns and little shells. Reasons vary, but two of the best are that: 1) Sub-gauge guns are often lighter and easier to carry, and 2) smaller shotloads kick less than heavier ones when used in the same gun.

But what exactly do you give up in the way of patterns when you have fewer pellets coming out of the barrel? The math seems easy. Let’s say that you decide to use a 1-oz load instead of 1-1/4-oz. One ounce is 80 percent of 1-1/4 ounces. Is it correct to assume that your 1-oz pattern will be 80 percent of the size? If only life were that simple. When the loads get smaller, things go downhill much faster. And you are going to have to change your chokes too.

For those of you with time on your hands, here’s a little spreadsheet to show how much less less really is. In each case I’m defining a pattern’s effective fringe as a 95-percent chance of a one-pellet strike, which is about the same as an 80-percent chance of a two-pellet hit, or a 50-percent chance of three-pellet hit. Pattern percentages are given for a 30-inch circle.

I’ve tried to do the numbers for pheasants and quail. Pheasants were arbitrarily assigned a vital area of 20 square inches and No. 5 shot.  The quail get eight square inches and No. 8 shot. You might prefer different numbers, and I wouldn’t argue, but the comparative numbers are valid. In each case I’ll use the amount of shot, the ideal pattern percentage in a 30-inch circle, and the resulting largest effective pattern in diameter and area (square inches).

More-open patterns than the Ideal Patterns listed will, indeed, give larger patterns, but they won’t be larger effective patterns. Just bigger and thinner. The actual effective size will be smaller. On the other hand, you usually can shoot a little tighter than the Ideal Pattern Percentage and still retain optimal effective pattern diameter. The Ideal Pattern Percentage number I give is for the most-open pattern that will give ideal results.

As usual, I have derived these numbers using Ed Lowry’s most excellent “Shotshell Ballistics for Windows” program.

One of the first things you notice is that more pellets equal a larger effective pattern. That’s not rocket science. But it is also pretty clear that lighter loads need tighter—often considerably tighter—patterns to reach their maximum effectiveness. That means tighter chokes or shorter distances.

I’m not sure how valuable all of the above is in the real world, but if reading it has getting out this spring and doing some patterning, I’ve done my duty.

Boots off. Beer open.