ORIGINAL: barry1me
ORIGINAL: r33h
barry1me...if I can make a comment. I wouldn't shoot at just a 8.5" X 11" piece of paper...especially from 40 or more yards (if you aren't then maybe I mis-read your statement). You aren't going to get a true picture at what you pattern is doing unless you use a "big" piece of paper such as butcher paper (some people use christmas wrapping paper and turn it over to the white side). Get an old wooden ruler (the kind you would buy your six year old for grade school) and take a drill and drill a whole at the 1" mark and drill another hole at the 2.5" mark (this creates a three inch circle) and then drill another hole at the 6" mark (this creates a ten inch circle). Then you can use a pencil eraser in the 1" mark and draw you a nice and pretty 3" and 10" circle on big paper. The big paper, such as butcher paper, lets you see what your pattern is doing and see if your point of impact is not on center.
Just my two cents...
If you check out my writeup on Supernova turkey choke and shell combo you can see all of the details of how we were doing the test
http://huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2640241 We had 3'x3' paper behind each 8.5x11 turkey target. Each shell and choke combo shot was shot with a new piece of 3x3 foot paper behind each turkey target. We then could see how the entire pattern was dispersed at 40+ yards.
Ah...ok. I just wanted to make sure. I have read several posts in the past where a person shoots at a small piece of paper, and you aren't going to see much of what your pattern is actually doing.