patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I just went out and shot the new gun with the new choke tube with the new shotgun shells and I was wanting to get some feed back on the pattern. My buddy and I went out to pattern both his gun and mine, but my buddy was on call and got the dreaded call to come work, therefore, our patterning trip got cut short and on top of that, I forgot a screw-driver to adjust my sights. So, basically I shot one time! To me, it looks a little bit low, therefore I will adjust my sights to bring the pattern up a little, but I am looking for as many opinions and inputs as I can get. I am extremely new to patterning a shotgun, so there probably is a lot of work to be done!

Here are the specs: I am shooting a Remington 870 SPS-T thumbhole shotgun with the Primos Jelly Head choke tube. The ammo I am using is the Hevi-Shot Hevi-13's, 5 shot, 3.5 inch shells. This particular target is at 40 yards.

I am planning to go back out next weekend and do much more fine tuning.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

One more thing...does the shot patten look a little low to you? It does to me!

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Yes does look a little low... What size(constriction) is your choke???

Have you tryed any of the Win HV loads yet... If not I would recomend trying them...

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Is it low? well if you were aiming at the head then maybe a little. If you're aiming at the base of the neck then it looks about right.....but....I don't think that's your issue. I wouldn't call this a good apttern at 40 yds. There is a lot of pellets that haven't made that killing shot. 1 in the brain and only 2 in the spine. I'd want to see 100 plus pellets in a 10 inch cricle and a consitent pattern (not a lot of "holes")

Like you said it is only one shot so I'd be trying other choke/loads.

Good luck.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

.665 constriction and I haven't tried the Win HV loads...

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I moved to a larger constriction .680 from a .665 with the Hevi shot and it was whole new ballgame. Might try a different choke.

Good luck again.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

thats a pretty open pattern regaurdless of low or not. odd for hevi shot. id say the choke is too tight. my undertaker is .675. throws a pretty nice pattern at 40yds with high velocity #6 remington hevishot and a 3 inch shell. patterned every load i tried very well. id try some diffrent shells and see if anything patterns better. try some #6 lead if you have any it..might pattern better. hevi shot generally likes .670-.680 chokes..think its because its harder than lead and doesnt give..which also supposedly caused some barrels to rupture..but lead 6s might pattern well for that choke..i got some 5s to test out this spring...patterned well with lead 4s so hevi 5s should work good for me..just runnin low on 6s

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Ya, I usally get a quite tighter patterns in my standard beretta super-full.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I get about 320 pellets at 40 yards. I am using Nitro ammo.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I see only 4 pellet holes in what I consider a clean kill shot. My rule is 8 to 12 at a minimum. You are beyond my effective range and I would look at 30 to 35 and see what I get. Other lodas might help.

I do not count pellet holes outside the actual vertabrae(neck bones) or actual skull.

Ya I am not going to argue here that it only takes one pellet in the right spot so don't go there!

JW

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Same thoughts here!:)

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I definetely not going to argue. I thought the pattern looked a little "weak" to say the least. Does the pattern look a little low to you? Thanks for your input...

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Like I told you before r33h, the hevi 13's didn't do well for me with the jellyhead. The Rem. hevi shot mags. outperformed the rest. Hevi 13's are good, they just may not do well with the jellyhead. I would try the Win. Xtended. Also you can get an undertaker hevi shot choke for under $25.00. You may want to try that with the hevi 13's. I have one and it works just as well as the jellyhead.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Well just didn't want to start a debate that it takes only one pellet to kill as they are correct.

Did PM you back

JW

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

Looks a bit low, I would try a 3" shell, bigger is not always better. My Mossberg 835 w/jellyheadchoke and my Benelli w/x full both shoot tighter patterns with 3" than 3 1/2". Easy solution to try!

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

You could swap out the turkey choke and put your factory full in and re pattern those loads and see if it patterns a little better... If so then you could buy the undertaker with the .675 constriction...

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

That pattern is not good at all I wouldn't except that with a 20 gauge. Hevi-13 likes to be chokes down so if you want to use hevi-13 I'd get a tighter choke. around .650 would suit you best. If you want to keep that choke get some win extended range 5's.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

i have a beretta extrema 2 and when I shot the jellyhead I tried alot of different shells to see what patterned best and the Federal Vital Shock 3 1/2 #5's patterned the best for me. Thats another thing I would recomend, Try alot of different shells. I realize the hevi shot's etc. can be expensive, but the federal, winchester, etc. standard lead shots are fairly inexpensive.

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I have some federal 3.5" #5 shot that I hadn't tried out of this gun / choke combo. I am going to try those loads this weekend and see how things look. I just started the patterning process with a new gun / choke / ammo, so I still have a lot of tweaking to do. Thanks again to all who have given advice...

RE: patterning gun pics...please advise!
 

I can't tell you if its low or not because that piece of paper isn't exactly 30" round. While that bird is dead, I think that you can do better.

As others have mentioned, that tight a constriction is often best used with lead shot. Try some copper plated 6's, or a more open choke with some High Density loads.

And don't forget your screwdriver!