Patterning

[Cold Spring]

Nowadays I rarely do paper or plate patterning except to determine efficiency (percentage 30"/40-50-60 yards) when testing loads in special long range shotguns. I shoot a variety of guns regularly and with a new one I'll shoot a shot or two at a floating leaf or such in the water at about 30 yards and while on a platform or hill etc. I see the pattern in the water and can determine the approximate degree of choke and point of impact; rarely do I see much of a horizontal deviation. As the saying goes, "close enough for government work"; you can go nuts trying to be too precise given the poi variation with different loads and even a new lot of the same loading. That's something I learned from the late Kenny Eyster the noted barrelsmith from many days in his shop while tuning competition shotguns. I keep track of the vertical "water" height in a notebook and refer to it when using that shotgun on future outings. Subconscious does the rest.