Originally Posted by rcamuglia
Originally Posted by bobski
all shotgun owners should pattern a gun when they buy it.
put up paper with a 30" circle drawn on it. mark center and draw cross hairs thru it. back off 21 yds, choose a choke, and shoot it the way you normally would hold your gun aiming at the center mark.
go look at your pattern.
the holes will tell you where your gun prints by design....if you didnt flinch. if you did, do it again with new paper.

look where the majority of holes are. they will either be equal in the whole circle in all sections, or high, low, left or right. do it a couple of times. get a trend.
now you know where your gun patterns, so when you actually shoot your gun, youll know where that shot is really going. no more magic guessing.



This is really not the best way to do it for a Sporting, FITASC, or hunting gun, but it's better than nothing for any other game that will be shot with a pre-mounted gun.

All it will tell you is where the barrels shoot when you get the sight picture you particularly want and then "aim" at the target.

There's no place for "aiming" in any shotgun sport.



Absolutely correct. This is why THE most important thing about buying a shotgun is the fit. It HAS to point where you are looking and come up to your head naturally. When I see people trying out a new shotgun and contorting themselves to get their face on the stock such that they can see the bead(s) on the rib. Some will stretch their necks out or tuck them in or pick their head up. All are doomed. Oh, and shoot with both eyes open. When I went to buy a hunting weight O/U for myself a number of years ago when the salesman asked me what I was interested in, I told him to just start handing me what he had on hand. When he handed me one that I could pull up to my shoulder and pointed where I was looking, then I looked at it to see what it was and how well made it was. It was a Franchi Alcione and has accounted for many pheasants, duck and geese over the years.

So, to pattern your shotgun, put up your 30" circle, look at it (and I mean fixate on the target) and quickly bring the shotgun up to your face and slap the trigger. That'll tell you how your shotgun patterns for you.