Excessive Speeding

Speed kills, but it also thrills. Many years ago, when I was in one of those immortal phases we all go through, I raced motorcycles a little. Not much and not well, but enough to begin to appreciate speed. In racing, faster is always better until it becomes too fast. Too fast is very bad.

Shotgun shells can be a little like that also. You'd think that faster is always better-more power, less lead and that sort of stuff. But there are trade-offs, and they come into play pretty early in the game. Here I'm going to talk about lead pellets, not steel. I'll save steel for special vituperation later on.

Let's take pellet energy first and use the lead No. 6 pellet, because it is so popular. Here are single-pellet energies for various speeds and distances. The results are in foot-pounds:

1,200 fps: 3.33 (20 yards), 2.49 (30 yards), 1.90 (40 yards), 1.48 (50 yards)
1,300 fps: 3.74 (20 yards), 2.76 (30 yards), 2.10 (40 yards), 1.62 (50 yards)
1,400 fps: 4.17 (20 yards), 3.04 (30 yards), 2.29 (40 yards), 1.76 (50 yards)

There is some impact difference depending on the muzzle velocity, but not all that much. Note the 1,200/1,400 difference at 20 yards is .84 foot-pounds, whereas at 50 yards (where you really need some suds) the difference is only .28 foot-pounds. Blame that one on the wretched dynamics of a sphere. The faster you push it, the faster it slows down. Moral: If you need knockdown power at distance, speed doesn't help much. But pellet size sure does. A lead No. 5 at 1,200 fps gives you 2.13 foot-pounds at 50 yards compared to the 1,200-fps lead No. 6's 1.48 foot-pounds.

Well, if speed doesn't do much for impact energy, it must surely help with forward allowance. If you start the shot fast enough, you ought to be able to just about aim dead-on at everything, right? Nope.

Let's take a 40-yard 90-degree crosser traveling at 35 mph. That's a long shot, maximum angle and relatively fast bird. Again, with lead No. 6 shot, here are your leads at various muzzle velocities:

1,200 fps: 7.05 feet
1,300 fps: 6.65 feet
1,400 fps: 6.30 feet

So the difference in lead between a 1,200-fps load of No. 6s on a 40-yard 35-mph crosser and one at 1,400 fps is 9 inches. Can you spot 9 inches out of 6-1/2 feet at 40 yards on something going that speed? Bless you if you can. Now add this: Few shots are pure 90-degree crossers. A more common quartering shot would have a perceived lead of very much less. On a straightaway, there's no difference at all.

So if the upside to speed is shaky, what's the downside? Let's start with a little self-flagellation. Recoil jumps dramatically with increases in velocity and/or payload. Take a typical 7-pound field gun shooting a 1-1/4-oz load. Here's the recoil you get at the different muzzle velocities:

1,200 fps: 28.8 foot-pounds
1,300 fps: 35.5 foot-pounds
1,400 fps: 43.3 foot-pounds

That's a big difference in recoil for a very modest difference in performance. Perhaps you don't notice recoil too much in the field, but heavy recoil does make it much harder to stay on target for a second shot. Lighter-recoiling loads are simply easier to hit with because they are easier to shoot. Missing hard doesn't give the dog much to do.

If you don't want to think about the extra beating you are taking, think about the beating the shot is taking. Lead shot, even the high-antimony stuff, is pretty soft. The more violently it starts out, the more setback there is. Setback is simply the weight of the pellets on top of the shot column squashing the pellets on the bottom during acceleration. Flattened pellets don't fly straight, so the more beaten up your shot gets, the spottier your pattern becomes.

Now let's talk about what heavy loads do to wear out a nice double over time. No, lets not. It's too painful.

I think I'll just slow down.

That's it for now. Boots off. Beer open.