Barney86 Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Hi Can anyone that's patterned a few guns give me an idea of what I should be looking at and the variation between guns? I bought 1000 Eley Olympics 8's and headed off the the clay ground to try them out (normally use 21g or 26g Lyalvale 7.5's). My score was far worse than normal. As the place was empty, the guy who runs it opened up some empty boxes for me to shoot at to see the pattern. I certainly wasn't expecting a perfect circle pattern, but the result was hideous, with a quite a few clay-sized gaps within about an 18inch circle @ 20 yds My old carts were more uniform, but smaller pattern overall (less lead) and a 32g 6 (super game) looked pretty good too. It seems as though (for my gun with these carts) choke choice for mid-range clays is a trade off between lucky hits with the fliers at the edge of the pattern, verses unlucky misses where the shot misses the clay. Is this a fair assessment? Comments welcome - but I'd rather not need to buy a new gun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert 888 Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 What chokes did you have in. Ive patterned a few steel carts with differnt chokes 1/4 &1/2 4,s and not many clays would esacpe at 20yrds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gixer1 Posted March 3, 2013 Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Oddly enough myself and a friend tried out my mossberg in the snow at around 25 yards and it has a fixed cyl barrel - the pattern was around 18"-24" spread... I thought that was not too bad for cylinder... Regards, Gixer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matone Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 In reality the clay is moving through a moving mass of pellets,it doesn`t matter if there are a few clay sized gaps !Put more open chokes in and see if that improves your shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewluke Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 i think it would be a miracle if the clay just happened to be in that gap of your pattern!,myself i dont believe in these pattern tests as it would show the pattern from the whole string of shot at a stationary target,most targets would be on the move so would not be hit by the whole string of shot so the pattern at a stationary target would be irrelevant,pattern testing is ok if looking at width of spread and POI but i would not read anything else into it,just my opinion andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert 888 Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Poa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi Can anyone that's patterned a few guns give me an idea of what I should be looking at and the variation between guns? I bought 1000 Eley Olympics 8's and headed off the the clay ground to try them out (normally use 21g or 26g Lyalvale 7.5's). My score was far worse than normal. As the place was empty, the guy who runs it opened up some empty boxes for me to shoot at to see the pattern. I certainly wasn't expecting a perfect circle pattern, but the result was hideous, with a quite a few clay-sized gaps within about an 18inch circle @ 20 yds My old carts were more uniform, but smaller pattern overall (less lead) and a 32g 6 (super game) looked pretty good too. It seems as though (for my gun with these carts) choke choice for mid-range clays is a trade off between lucky hits with the fliers at the edge of the pattern, verses unlucky misses where the shot misses the clay. Is this a fair assessment? Comments welcome - but I'd rather not need to buy a new gun!! NO! If you already have the gun, don't worry about other guns! Sort out what you wish to do with it; Pigeons. Driven Game. Sporting Clays. Trap Disciplines. Skeet. Once you have an idea of what you wish to KILL or BREAK, then you can decide on which choke to use and then look around for a cartridge that you can pattern properly on a PATTERN PLATE! Work out the expected range, size of target and your budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 I suspect you don't mean cartridge cartons so a "box" may give a fair assessment at 20 yards. Your No 8s were shooting 3/4 choke and as the whole of the load (bar the odd flyer) would have been in the 18", there patently should have been no gaps as you describe. Other than to say that it's likely that they do not suit your gun, there's no need for further comment simply because Tightchoke has given the definitive answer. Using 6 shots from a previously fired barrel will provide a sufficiently accurate average 'field' assessment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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