SHOTGUN – THE PROOF IS IN THE PATTERN

Paul Bradley explores the latest developments in kinetic counter-drone solutions. Despite many innovations, the most viable option for infantry remains the 12-gauge shotgun. Swapping carbines and bolt-action rifles for testing provided not only technical insights but also material for this article.

The questions asked the most by prospective customers in the sporting shotgun world are “which cartridges should I use?” and “which chokes should I select?”. These questions are usually met with standardised answers – “¾ and Full for Trap” spring to mind. Surely the answer should be – whichever combination gives the greatest hit probability at your chosen shooting discipline. This may not be an easy answer for a customer to digest, but it can be made more palatable with some advice on how they might discover this quickly and efficiently.

We took a variety of Shotguns including the Benelli M4, Beretta 1301, and Beretta DT11 to the pattern plate. We also took a selection of sporting cartridges from Gamebore and Fiocchi and our own Norma Governmental AD-LER ammunition (Anti Drone Long Effective Range). Our aim was to discover if we could provide our military customers with some simple answers such as what choke they should select for a specific load and distance. The results were somewhat surprising and made me re-evaluate my own choices for clays..

Patterns were shot at 40ys onto a cardboard sheet approximately 100cm x 100cm. Lead sporting loads were incredibly fussy about choke selection in a specific gun. Different brands of cartridge in the same loading (28gm 7.5) all had very different preferences. While a ¾ choke produced pleasing results with one brand it would blow the pattern completely in another. What do I mean by blown? Well a good pattern would be pellets spread evenly across the target, leaving no room for your target to avoid being hit within that area. A blown pattern would be one which has large gaps in it or has noticeably less pellets on target. Care must be taken to differentiate spread getting wider at range vs a pattern which has been disrupted.

What causes a blown pattern? There are several factors. A wad and pellets are propelled down the shotguns bore. They are constricted at the end by the choke. This constriction can either be beneficial, producing a tight consistent pattern or disruptive. In an ideal world the wad leaves the muzzle cupping the shot (or sitting behind it in the case of fibre). The wad then falls away as it has more resistance to air and a higher velocity decay. To much or to little constriction can result in a wad deforming or tumbling as it leaves the muzzle which disrupts pellets. The pellets themselves can also become effected by being forced to closely together and deforming or by not being pushed together enough resulting in a wide dispersion. There are other factors as well but we only have so much space here.

I found that in some cases chokes which were not commonly considered ideal in certain disciplines were actually the best choice by far for certain brands of cartridges. An example would be a light modified choke for trap. Very few trap shooters would select it because it differs from the common selection. However, in one of the popular brands we tested it produced the best pattern by far. We should also bear in mind that this situation is made more complex if the manufacturers are changing the internal components from lot to lot. You might have found your perfect combination (chokes/cartridge/gun) but if the wad changes on the next lot, those tests will mean nothing. Usually manufacturers try to avoid internal changes at all cost but the supply chain issues recently have made that a lot harder to stick to.

The patterns that were blown were bad enough that they would lead to misses. There were plenty of patches in them which a clay or a pigeon would get through. At high level competition even one missed clay on the day is enough to cost you a place on the podium. In some cases the patterns were so blown you would be lucky to hit anything. There were also differences between guns of the same brand any type. There will be engineering tolerance differences, especially with the chokes, which will give your system its preferences.

If you are getting chippy breaks, poor kills, or missing, it might not be you! Do your own testing with your gun. Do not listen to what others suggest; they only know what works in their specific gun. If you have a fixed choke gun you can vary cartridges until you find one that suits. If you have multi choke then you can vary both to find the best recipe. When you have settled on a cartridge it would be worth buying it in bulk to ensure you are not having to retest every time in case components have changed from the manufacturer.

For dealers, this all helps to keep your customers happy. The sales opportunity with a new gun would be a selection of chokes, cartridges and a pack of pattern cards. When your customer finds their perfect load, hopefully they come back for a bulk of cartridges. It would be great if manufacturers and dealers worked together to inform customers of component changes so they could repeat testing.