Shotgun Patterns

LarryB

September 25, 2003 12:18

Does a 'field' gun pattern differently than a 'skeet' gun and does a 'trap' or 'sporting clay' gun pattern differently as well?

Basically, what is the difference between a field, skeet, sporintg clays or trap gun?

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  Bushnell Boy

  September 25, 2003 14:13

  I think the difference is the barrel length and the ribbing on the barrels. your pattern should be determined by your choke and shot used. I could be wrong on this, I'm sure somebody else on here knows for sure.
  
  
  
  
  In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey
  
  -Beck (1993)

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  LarryB

  September 25, 2003 14:29

  I thought the difference was the way the gun patterened. For instance, if a 30 inch circle is used, a 'trap' gun will pattern 60% of the pellets above the center line. A 'skeet' gun patterns 50% of the pellets above the center line and a 'field' gun patterns 40% above the center line. I'm just trying to verify if this is true or not.
  Thanks for your post.
  Larry

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  fourdees

  September 25, 2003 15:47

  LarryB;
  
  Basically, the choke determines the pattern spread at a given distance. The tighter the choke the farther distance the load travels before spreading.
  
  A cylinder choke lets the shot spread quickly over a shorter distance to get a lot of the pellets available for close-up hunting or for skeet. Some skeet shooters use the both the skeet and inproved cylinder chokes as well. I have even seen shooters using their modified fixed choked shotguns as well.
  
  As far as trap, the choke I see used most often is improved modified which produces a tighter patern to travel the longer distance to tackle the outgoing birds. True trap guns that I have seen have a higher rib that as I understand it, allows the gun to shoot higher since the bird is still climbing when most experienced shooters attack it.
  
  Sporting clays uses a variety of chokes depending on the size of the target, speed, angle, etc.
  
  I don't ever recall seeing any percentages given on shot in relation to above, at, or below center line. It would make sense that trap guns would place more shot above because of the different rib.
  
  I use the same shotgun hunting, and both skeet and trap shooting changing chokes as required. I adjust my swing and sight picture accordingly.
  
  Fourdees

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  bobski

  September 27, 2003 19:27

  to answer your question let me just simply say, 'yes.' field guns are patterned (and designed) to shoot 50-50, or point of aim keeping in mind that 50% of the shot pattern will form half the shot pattern above and below the point of aim. this is to take into consideration odd flight charactaristics of diving birds and poa shots on deer, etc... on target guns, most shooters prefer a 60-40 or 70-30 pattern. the way a guns pattern is effected is by altering the stock dimensions. thus the terms field stocks or target stocks are used when buying guns. a field gun can achieve target shots if the shooter raises his 'head' to allow more of the top of the rib to show, or on a plain bbl, more bbl to show. all choke does is group the shot pellets closer together or farther apart as they leave the bbl. fine tuning a choke eliminates holes in a pattern but it does not effect 50-50 or 60-40 patterning on target. that is achieved by elivating the gun in relation to your head. i/e: monte carlo stocks are high up to allow you to see more of the bbl's top plain. skeet shooters can adjust their pattern striking area by adjusting custom adjustable combs. but shot is shot. it goes straight out a bbl. most trap shots are on rising targets if you put a bead on the target most likley it will move before the shot arrives where you were looking. so, trap shooters shoot 60-40 or 70-30 and use monte carlo stocks. this makes the gun shoot higher than what youre looking at. its hard to explain w/o drawing a picture, but the 3rd dimension that has to be remembered is the distance to the target as shot flies. you want it to be higher at the target than it appears as you look at it. thus 70% of my pellets will be hitting above my line of sight. follow me?
  
  former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.

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