Choke size

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop

Your letter should have read 255 pellets in a 30" circle at 40 yards which is also the standard for a 12 ga. today. Your number of pellets in a 40" circle should be lower than a 30" circle at the same distance. I'm sending you a revised letter.

If I did the math correctly, Tatham had approximately 325 pellets in 1 1/8 oz. of size 7 shot so 255 / 325 = .788 % which is a full choke

Mr. Bishop is a wizard! Well worth the price of admission.

[Pa SxS]

Originally Posted by Dylan Rhodes

Chuck, you lost me here. Just making sure I don’t have an egregious misunderstanding of patterning. Shouldn’t the number of pellets in a 40” circle be higher than a 30” at the same distance?

No Dylan, you are correct, I get confused in my old age. At least tell me I figured out the percentage correctly!

[Researcher]

In my saved pictures of Parker Bros. hang-tags from around the 1923-time frame I see lighter 12-gauges targeted with 1 1/8-ounce and heavier guns targeted with 1 1/4-ounce. So, 1 1/4-ounce of #7 chilled would be 374 pellets. That would be 255/374 = 68.2%. My table shows 336 in 1 1/8-ounce so 255/336 = 75.8%. I'd say 68% is more reasonable. Damn few guns patterned over 70% back in the day.

[Pa SxS]

My table for Tatham shot shows 1 oz is 291 pellets of size 7 shot and I assumed a 1 1/8 oz. weight.

[Researcher]

291 is soft, 299 is chilled. Hang-tags from the 1920s and considerably earlier state "chilled."

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Dylan Rhodes

Chuck, you lost me here. Just making sure I don’t have an egregious misunderstanding of patterning. Shouldn’t the number of pellets in a 40” circle be higher than a 30” at the same distance?

Yes it should. Chuck just did a typo.