Patterning a Shotgun: Tips and Techniques

Tried patterning a shotgun? Are you missing more
than your share of doves, or quail, or pheasant? When
than happens we jokingly blame the gun. But sometimes
it really is the gun. Or the combination of that gun
and the loads fired through it. Patterning your gun can
tell you if anything is wrong and how to fix it.

“Missed again,” Joey said disgustedly. “That one should have been centered!”

That was the last in a long string of inexplicable misses he’d suffered with a new shotgun. When we got home from that quail hunting trip I suggested it was time to pattern his shotgun.

“Are you kidding,” he exclaimed. “Patterning a shotgun is the most boring exercise in the world.”

Joey was right. Patterning a shotgun using full classic test ranks right up there, in excitement, with watching the paint dry. But it can tell you an incredible amount about how your gun shoots.

Like so much having to do with scattergunning, patterning a shotgun was developed in the 19th century, primarily by British gunners. The way patterning a shotgun works is deceptively simple. You tack a sheet of paper, about 40 inches square, on a target board. In the center you draw, or more likely, nowadays, paste, an aiming dot. Backing off 25 yards, you fire at the dot.

Eyeballing the holes left by the shot, you next scribe a 30-inch circle around the densest portion of the pattern. Within that you draw a 20-inch circle. Americans who bother with patterning a shotgun usually stop there, creating three zones---the center, the edge, and the total pattern. Brits go much further, bisecting the circles with straight lines. Ultimately, as many as 16 zones are created that way.

First step in patterning a shotgun is to see how the density of shot compares to the aiming point. Ideally the pattern will be a series of holes surrounding that point, with each hole equally distant from the next. That never happens.

Usually the pattern is densest away from the center point. That tells you how you need to adjust your shooting with that load.

Next step in patterning a shotgun? You figure the proportion of shot that has fallen within each zone. That means actually counting each hole, and comparing the number of holes with the total number of shot in that load. The rest is simply math.

But, of course, one shot tells you almost nothing. For each load you have to fire at least five patterns, and ten is even better. Then you take the average of all five (or ten). And repeat the process for patterning a shotgun with every load and choke you use in that gun.

It’s understandable, therefore, why most of us do not bother to go through the drill of patterning a shotgun.

There’s a much easier way, however, one that lets you, as a hunter, develop information that is much more meaningful.

First step is determining whether or not your gun shoots to center. You’d be surprised at how many do not, and how far off they can be. In one case I know of, the gun, at 25 yards, was shooting 18 inches to the left and 13 inches low. No, that wasn’t my friend Joey’s gun. But his, as it turns out, was almost as bad, and he wisely returned it to the dealer.

To figure this out, put an aiming dot on a large sheet of paper. Then back off 15 feet. No typo, there. Feet is exactly what I mean.

Mount your gun and fire one shot at the dot. At that distance the shot load hasn’t had room to open much, and you’ll have one large hole in the paper. Consider how near or far it is from the aiming dot. Slightly off doesn’t mean much, in practical terms. But if you’re even an inch or so off, there’s no way that gun will hit anything in the field except by dumb luck. Just imagine, if you will, how far from point of aim that load will be at 25 yards if it’s an inch or more off at only 15 feet.

Of course it might not be the gun. It could have been how you fired. So repeat the exercise several times to establish a consistent point-of-aim to point-of-impact ratio.

Assuming the gun does shoot to center it’s time to set up your patterning.

Draw or obtain a life-sized outline of the game you hunt. Best bet, with birds, is to have them in a flying position, because that’s how you’ll be shooting at live birds. I like to make a master pattern on stiff cardboard, because you’ll be doing a number of these tests. With the master you can just hold it against the paper draw the outline around it with a marking pen. No fuss, no muss.

In addition to the target, write on the paper the load you are shooting. If not you’ll only confuse yourself when doing the analysis later on. And, again, because we’re looking at averages, you want to do at least five patterns for each load. You might also want to do five more with each choke tube you use with that gun for that game. Make sure, if you do, that the choke is also noted on the paper.

Now you’re ready to go. Step off 25 yards. Imagining the target to be a live bird, mount and fire as normal. Unlike target shooting games, where distances are fairly set, live game can flush both near and far. So fire five patterns at, say, 15 yards, and another five at about 40 yards.

In other words, for each change in load or choke you’re going to have 15 patterning sheets. Not to worry. None of that counting and figuring percentages of shot is in the works.

What you’re going to do, instead, is figure how that load actually performs on game. Start with a fine-tip marker and either circle or make a check mark over each hole. This is just so you can more easily see what has happened.

Now, eyeball the pattern. Is the densest part over the bird, or somewhere else on the paper? What about the hole spacing? Is it fairly even? Or do you have clumping in some areas and holes in others?

What about the number of holes in the body of the target? There should be a consistent number of them high enough to assure a clean kill. But there are nuances. Let’s say you average 8-10 “shot” in the bird. That’s more than enough to drop most gamebirds. But if the target is surrounded by big holes it could be that delivering that shot was problematical. Maybe that isn’t the right load for you.

Next, compare how changes in choke affect the pattern. It might be that the load is right with a choke that’s either tighter or more open.

If all the chokes give you a sloppy pattern, then the obvious solution is to play with different loads, until you find the best one for that gun.

As should be evident, a wing-shooters pattern is a lot easier than a classic one. And you probably learn more from it that you can use in the field. In addition, you can have a lot of fun with patterning a shotgun if you get together with some of your buddies, and make a game of it---a pleasant way of spending an afternoon when there’s no other shooting available.