Patterned a 12ga Skeet Gun

[J.B. Books]

I put my 12ga GHE skeet on paper tonight. It's bored .731 in both barrels, marked Skeet Out on the right barrel flat with .007 constriction and Skeet In on the left barrel flat with .004 constriction.

I shot 1 ounce of #8 with an actual count of 415 pellets. At 40 yards it put 173 pellets in a 30" circle for 41.7% from Skeet In (left barrel), and 177 pellets in a 30" circle for 42.6% from Skeet Out (right barrel).

What I learned tonight; the slight constriction of .004 and .007 delivered barely more than a cylinder pattern (40%), the Skeet In and Skeet Out markings add monetary value but each barrel is so close in performance as to not matter which is shot first by percent, BUT the Skeet Out had a more uniform pattern making it the better choice for a long shot, the gun will perform best on 25 to 30 yd targets, when shooting sporting clays if there is a long shot (30+ yds) I would do well to have a few 1 1/8 ounce loads in my vest to increase my pellet count and odds.

There is value to patterning a gun.

Right Barrel



Left Barrel

[Chris T.]

Hey Pete, There is value to patterning a gun, interesting information. I have heard many times if you have a gun that you like and shoot well, never to pattern it because you may be disappointed.

[J.B. Books]

I read one source that stated a pattern has to be 65% to be effective, it said if you are below 65% you are beyond the effective range of that choke and load. I think that is too high. With a skeet choke it is recommended that you pattern at 25 yards with an expectation of 50% inside a 30 inch circle. 25 yards is 4 yards beyond the middle post on a skeet field, a place where most shooters are breaking the target. If a 50% pattern at 25 yards is the goal in skeet it would seem to me in most clay target situations the range the load and choke achieve 50% is the end of effective range and beyond that range luck becomes a factor, with more luck needed for every additional yard even if the bird is centered. Just my .02.

[wayne goerres]

pete Where did you get those targets. I have several guns to pattern and I really like the looks of them.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by wayne goerres

pete Where did you get those targets. I have several guns to pattern and I really like the looks of them.

Wayne I bought those targets from the "junk bin" at Riley's Gun Shop in Hooksett NH years ago. Looking around I found they can be purchased from Ballistic Products.

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Win...uctinfo/WPTSC/

[wayne goerres]

Thanks pete.

[Gary Laudermilch]

Hey, if you guys are into patterning shotguns you might want to try a product called Shotgun Insight. I have an early version of it and have used it extensively with excellent results. The procedure calls for shooting a target on a clean sheet of paper (white works best) and then taking the target indoors where the processing is done. A digital image is taken of the target and supplying some data to determine scale and aiming point. The software takes over from there, recognizing the pellet strikes and doing all the mathematical work. The output will provide you with more info than you will ever need. Their website will describe the product quite well.

www.shotguninsight.com