Patterning Your Shotgun

No two shotguns or chokes, even from the same manufacturer, will shoot identical pellet patterns. In some cases, the pattern will be off-center. In other instances, there may be gaps in the pattern. In addition to the firing characteristics of the gun, the gun’s choke, the brand of shotshell, the shot size, and the type of shot also affect the pattern. In order to select ammunition that provides the best performance, it’s necessary to “pattern” your shotgun.

Patterning can be done with simple, homemade targets—sheets of blank paper about 4 x 4 feet in size. A commercial target with a bull’s-eye also can be used, but the bull’s-eye is used only to aim at—it is not used in steps 2-4 below. To pattern your shotgun, follow these steps:

1. Fire one shot at the center of the target (or bull's-eye) from the distance that you expect to be from your game plus five yards. Repeat this two more times, each time with a new sheet of target paper.
2. On each of the three targets, draw a 30-inch circle around the densest part of the shot pattern. (This is not necessarily the center of the paper.)
3. On each of the three targets, count the number of pellet holes that fall within the 30-inch circle, marking them with the marker as you count each one.
4. Calculate the percentage of the load that is expected to land in a 30-inch circle at the distance that you expect to be from the game you are hunting.
   • Average the pellet counts within the 30-inch circles (add the three counts from the previous step and divide the sum by three).
   • Then divide the average pellet count by the number of pellets in the load for the ammunition you are using, and multiply this result by 100.

The pattern of pellets within a 30-inch circle should be of a proper, even density to ensure a clean kill. The pattern should contain a sufficient percentage of the load, which should be at least 55% to 60%.

Continue this process, trying different choke and load combinations, until you get an even pattern density with a sufficient percentage of the load within a 30-inch circle while shooting from the distance that you expect to be from the game you are hunting.

Shooting at a target with a drawn bull’s-eye or at a bird or clay target is only useful when patterning for turkeys or determining your gun’s point of aim and fit. It is not useful in determining pattern density for flying or running targets.