scotslad Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Alright folks Just wondering wot a very rough approx figure for a true spread of a shotgun cartridge, ie the size of area to catch all/almost all off the pellets including the fliers? Say at a range of 30 or 40m Now i reallise spread will depend on various things from gun to gun and cartridge to cartridge so impossible to give anyting more than a general figure (barrel length, choke, type off wadding, shot size,velocity, hardness and ammount etc and i've probably missed a few to) will/could all effect the spread I realise that most pattern plates or spread tests are done on a 1' or 2' foot plate and the % of shot within that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 MOST pattern plates are considerably larger than you realise! A 30" circle is the usual requirement for percentage of shot calculations and that would be centered on a plate that would typically be 4 or 5 feet square. A pattern plate of those dimensions would normally be used for distances up to 25 metres, so for your desired distance a larger plate will be required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted October 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Cheers tightchoke, so very very roughly wot % of shot would u expect to find in the 4-5ft plate for a normalish game shell at 25m through normalish gun/chokes? I was sort of guessing at 8 to 10 ft, but that is purely off the top of my head Got first shoot on my wee shoot the morro and was thinking of adding this to my safety speach to to raise awareness of just how far a flier could be from the point of aim/bird. Been hit a few times at grouse in and around the horn posts (70-120m) only by fliers thou not full pattern and oncee my mate got hit picking up, we were far far too close (in hindsight) but was about the only haag around, we were only about 40-50m back but were 10ft below the line of sight to butts and thought we were totally safe. Mate took 1 in cheek (all ok just both shocked), still mystified how, either richocet or a flier, but very wet moor so very little chance of a richochet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry931 Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Well I remember firing a 50gm BB load through full choke at a roughly 4x4 ft pattern plate at 40 yards. I counted 36gm hit the plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 The 'true' spread of a shotgun load is specifically defined so that everyone sings from the same hymn sheet. It is the actual performance of the gun/cartridge that defines its choke, not the nominal barrel choke boring. If you can accept the answer in yards, then a "normalish" choke of 1/2 would give an overall spread of 32" at 30 yards and 46 at 40. Whereas Tightchoke is correct in what he says, it should be noted that he is referring to a test at the pattern plate with regard to the 30" circle. Apart from possibly a True Cylinder barrel, the effective pattern spread never achieves that (30") size. Your 25 figure - in yards - for the same choke would be a 26" spread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted October 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Possibly i've worded my question wrong wymberly in asking for 'true' spread/ Possibly should of asked for widest or extreme spread off pellets Sorry to be slow but are u saying that at say 25yds the all the shot would be within 26".. I was sort of looking for a ball park figure of how wide the furthest fliers or spread to capture 95% off shot if that makes sense to u. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Possibly i've worded my question wrong wymberly in asking for 'true' spread/ Possibly should of asked for widest or extreme spread off pellets Sorry to be slow but are u saying that at say 25yds the all the shot would be within 26".. I was sort of looking for a ball park figure of how wide the furthest fliers or spread to capture 95% off shot if that makes sense to u. Cheers It makes perfect sense. The answers that have been given are those to the questions that you wanted to (and actually did) ask. From your response to them, it is obvious that they have come as a bit of a surprise. Assuming that you will not be using a TC choke and ignoring the effect of shot string (which in practise you can't) for general use at the more normal ranges the maximum effective load diameter is c25". With regard to the 25 yards and the 26" - yes, assuming 1/2 choke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted October 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 As u can probably tell i'm completely shocked i fully expected any answer between 5 or 10 foot (that's mibee with my blunderbuss ) esp when out to 40ish m/yd. Might still tell the boys it is massive just to keep them on their toes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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