What Distance Should Be Used To Pattern A Shotgun?

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The pellet of the shotgun starts to spread out into a pattern once the shell exits the barrels of the gun. This happens especially when you are firing with a shotgun having a multiple pellet shell. The diameter of the pattern increases with the increase in distance between the pellets and the shotgun.

In general, different shotguns are equipped with different pellet patterns. With this, we can infer that it is highly impossible to have the same pellet pattern for different shotguns. Shell brand, choke, and shot size are some of the major factors that determine the shotgun’s pellet pattern. There are several other factors too.

Therefore, it is said, when you are selecting ammunition for your shotgun, we recommend the best home defense shotgun ammo, that said, you must know how to pattern it.

Generally, it is preferred to try and shoot from different distances when you are patterning your shotgun. The ideal range to start shooting to observe favorable pellet patterns is between 25 yards to 40 yards. 

This article is a brief description to make you understand what distance should be used to pattern a shotgun. We will be answering a few correlated questions as well to draw a clearer picture of how shot distance affects the patterning along with several other factors.

What To Use To Pattern A Shotgun?

Along with knowing the right distance to pattern your shotgun, you must also get an idea of what other factors are needed to be considered. It is not at all possible to pattern your shotgun only with the help of shot distance. 

The several other things you would need while patterning your shotgun, like:

  • A square blank paper with the dimensions of 4 x 4 inches.
  • A strong and sturdy patterning board with dimensions similar to the square paper.
  • An open area that is free from human traffic.
  • A steady platform, where you want to place your patterning board.

The blank paper tends to have certain limitations. As an alternative, people chose to use commercial targets with a bull’s eye at the center. These targets could be a nice substitute for the square paper.

This commercial target’s main limitation is that it cannot be used for the entire patterning procedure. Hence, it is highly recommendable to go with the square blank paper attached to your patterning board while patterning your shotguns.

How Choke Affects Pellet Patterns?

Choke is one of the prime factors that affect the shotgun’s pellet pattern. The latter is a constriction at the muzzle of a shotgun. This constriction is a significant contributor to improving the performance of the shotgun and its popularity among many hunters.

Let us understand how this constriction affects the pellet pattern.

The choke determines how tight and spread out the shotgun’s pattern would be. We generally come across four different kinds of chokes: full, modified, cylinder, and improved cylinder.

The full choke mode produces a 40-inch spread at approximately 40 yards when the shotgun is fired. The modified choke produces the same 40-inch spread at almost 35 yards.

The improved cylinder and cylinder choke produces this 40-inch spread at 30 and 25 yards, respectively.

Cylindrical choke refers to a gun barrel without a constriction, whereas the improved cylindrical choke means that the shotgun has a slightly constricted barrel. 

A shotgun having an improved cylindrical choke is capable of producing a pattern that spreads out fairly quickly. This makes it ideal for hunting upland games such as rabbits.

A shotgun with a modified choke has a moderate constriction. It keeps the pattern together and is denser. This type of choke is generally preferred for long-range shooting. Therefore, a gun with a modified choke is capable of producing a dense pellet pattern.

On the other hand, a full choke has a tight constriction that keeps the pellet pattern together. This choke is considered ideal for hunting squirrels as well as long-range hunting.

While considering the distance for patterning a shotgun, it is also necessary to keep choke as a factor in mind as we determined how influential can choke be on patterning.

Which Is The Right Pellet Pattern?

Before diving deep into the main question of what distance should be used to pattern a shotgun, we will first try to answer a closely related question: the right pellet pattern.

The pellet pattern of your gun determines a lot of things, including the shot distance and how well it shoots.

In order to judge your shooting skills, check the pattern that ends up on the target. It might help you in determining whether your shooting was good or bad. If the pattern contains a good number of pellets that excited your shotgun, then your shooting is defined as good.

Generally, there is no such thing as an even pattern. All patterns have holes, and it is their nature of the distribution. Basically, we would observe that most patterns are denser in the center than at the edges.

An “ideal” pattern is not believed to be something where one pellet strikes each square inch of a target. However, it would surely be ideal. Rather an ideal pattern is believed to have few gaps and good distribution of fringes in order to make hitting easier and more efficient.

Too much choke might result in a pattern that is denser in the center and sparse across the edges, whereas too few chokes shoot patterns that are patchy all over.

The most effective patterns are said to be the ones that accommodate 70 to 80 percent of the shot charge into a 30-inch circle at whatever range you are patterning. Shotgun patterns are counted inside a 30-inch circle for a reason. Thirty inches is about the maximum useful spread of a pattern. Mispoint by more than 15 inches, and you might get lucky with a stray pellet— but you most likely won’t.

This composition would certainly not be too dense in the center and should be able to put plenty of pellets in the outer fringe of the circle so that you can hit birds even when you mispoint the gun slightly. 

The bottom line is that physical inspection of a pellet pattern is not rocket science. It is easy to determine whether you are a good shooter or bad based on your targets hitting the mark.

Do You Really Need To Pattern Your Shotgun?

A question might arise in your mind that whether it is really necessary to pattern a shotgun? The answer to this question purely depends on your interests and desire to yield a good result. If you wish to yield the desired result, patterning the shotgun is a must.

The reason is that patterning helps you to determine where you need to shoot the gun. For instance, if you are a hunter, hunter patterning might help you decide which prey to shoot at using your shotgun. This is the main reason why patterning is so crucial to hunters in particular.

Patterning your shotgun also helps you to analyze the intensity or the impact delivered by the shotgun.

Another reason that makes patterning of the shotgun important is when you need to check for voids. A void is generally defined as an area on the target that has not been hit by the pellet. When your pattern has a void, your chances of killing a waterfowl reduce to a greater extent. 

The reason is, being a hunter, you would be aiming for the head of the waterfowl. A void in the pellet pattern might result in a miss.

Hence, it is recommended that you better pattern your shotgun before using it for shooting.

How To Pattern A Shotgun?

Let’s get to the actual process of patterning a shotgun. The procedure is fairly simple and can be achieved without any problems.

The first step will be to set up the patterning board with the blank paper. Once you have set the target, try shooting the target from a distance of 40 yards. If you are thinking of going bird hunting immediately after patterning, then aim from 35 yards. Try to aim at the center of the square paper target.

Repeat the first step with a new piece of blank paper two times. Essentially, you should shoot at three different pieces of paper. Once you have shot at all three blank papers, draw a thirty-inch circle on all of them. Draw the circle around the area of the pattern that is most dense. This should be done on all three paper targets.

The next step is the most crucial and will entail you doing some calculations. In this step, you will have to determine the percentage of load that will land on the target of 40 yards. 

Next, you need to count the number of shots that have hit all three targets. Once you have gotten the result, divide it by three. The result you get will be your pellet count average. Divide this average by the number of pellets you had originally. 

When doing this calculation, include pellets that you have used. Multiply that number by 100, and the result you get is your load percentage. Ideally, the load percentage should be between 55 and 60%.

What Distance Should Be Used To Pattern Your Shotgun?

After addressing all the necessary correlated questions, it is time to move towards the most important question, what distance should be used to pattern your shotgun. The answer to this question highly depends on the standard kill distance of the shotgun.

Sometimes the shot distance might also depend on what you are using the shotgun for.

For trap shooting and hunting of peasants and waterfowls, the ideal kill range is around 40 yards. For competitive skeet shooters, this range drops to 25 yards. Any distance between 25 yards to 40 yards is considered adequate.

Shotguns are traditionally patterned at 40 yards, most likely because that is the shotgun’s maximum range. However, plenty of shells shoot farther now. But the best range to shoot patterns, if any, would be 40 yards.

Shotguns are mostly used by people for hunting. Therefore, 40 yards is recommended to be the optimal distance that should be used to pattern your shotgun.

However, if you wish to observe different patterns, you can try shooting from the range of 25 yards and go up to 40 yards. There are techniques that can be applied if you wish to know for sure what your gun does five or ten yards downrange from a distance you patterned it. All you need to do is set some targets at those distances and shoot some more patterns to find out. 

What Distance Should Be Used To Pattern A Shotgun? – Conclusion

As we witnessed, there are many factors that determine the optimum shot distance. The main benefit of using a shotgun is the number of projectiles that can be fired with a single shot.

This article provides you an idea of the ideal distance that should be used to pattern your shotgun. It suggested that the apt range of shooting a shotgun in order to experience a proper pattern lies between 25 yards and 40 yards.

Patterning a shotgun is not a tedious task. It can be easily done at your home. There are some very basic requirements and a few simple steps to carry out patterning.

One thing you must always ensure is that there is no one near the target.

Different distances can lead to the observation of different patterns on the target. You need to choose the distance based on the activity you are using the shotgun for. Activities like hunting require a longer distance, whereas activities like skeet shooting require a much shorter shooting distance.

In case you get some inconsistencies in your pellet pattern, it is highly recommended to pick the most suitable pattern.  It is advisable to use some other shell if your pellets are unevenly distributed on the target.

In conclusion, this article focuses on all the necessary aspects for patterning and the need for patterning your shotgun. We hope that now you got a better idea of what distance should be used to pattern your shotgun so that it yields the desired results.