Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why is a "Short Shot String" Good?

A short shot string is supposedly good because more of the pellets will hit the flying bird. But what if your lead is not precise enough? Wouldn't an elongated shot string be better in this case because you'd have a greater chance of hitting the bird with the front or rear of the shot string?

There are many shooters better qualified to answer this than I but I will make a stab at it. A shorter shot string does put more pellets on the target provided your lead is correct and the gun is centering it's pattern close to where you are looking.

A long shot string would only help if you are consistently shooting in front of the target. Most shooters are not. I've been shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays for 35 years as well as shooting birds. I would say the vast majority of birds or targets are missed because shooters either don't lead enough or stop their swing and shoot behind the target. In this case a long shot string isn't going to help and for that matter a short shot string isn't either. A short shot string will help when the lead is correct and the target is centered in the pattern. More pellets on target means higher scores and more cleanly killed birds. One of the best upland bird loads has always been the Winchester AA 7 1/2's trap loads. Usually very uniform patterns, short shot string and harder shot than found in most field loads.

I hope some real shotgun experts weigh in on this. These are just observations from a lot of years with a shotgun in the field and on the range. My sporting clays scores would certainly disqualify me from ever claiming "expert" status when it comes to shotguns.

Mart

Certainly no expert here, but I can repeat what I was taught on this board...

Short fat shot columns tend to pattern better.

I learned this when I patterned a 20 gauge while getting ready to take a grandson turkey hunting. I had assumed that anything you could do with a 12 gauge standard cartridge, you could do with a 20 gauge magnum cartridge. It isn't so. The 12 will tend to pattern better because the shot column is shorter and fatter. That's what I was told, and it seems to be true in practice.

IMO there is more malarky in this subject than confirmable truth.

It ranks well with moly coating and cryogenic freezing as subjects with no proof or substance behind them.

For those who have been around sporting clays shooters, you will notice many will use tighter chokes when practicing. That is because hits from the fringe, not the core, is almost a miss. When we fringe a clay target, it breaks. When fringing a live bird, the bird is crippled and may go to waste. A longer shot string has a considerable percentage of the pellets that will end up as fliers.

So, the short shot string is going to put an adequate number of pellets into a live bird. It does require the shooter be more precise in their shooting though, especially as the distance increases. Generally the tighter the choke, the shorter the shot string, as long as quality shot is used.

I would prefer a short string for live Birds and a longer string for clays.

Here's an example of some proof....

Let's say one has passing shots at ducks, a subject I am intimately familiar with.
Gun is swinging with a moving target. Trigger is pulled and payload is on the way to the target.
If the shot string is long, meaning a "column" if you will, from the barrel to the moving target, the first few pellets may hit the bird while most rearward pellets fly off behind it into never never land. Remember, the target is moving.
You have just lost part of your payload on target. This results in cripples. When shooting steel, this really sucks due to the low hitting energy steel has over a more dense shot such as lead.

A shorter shot string will get the payload of pellets on target roughly at the same time, exponentially increasing the energy delivered and more DRT birds.

Long shot strings are fine on stationary targets like a turkey or when shooting moving targets that are flying directly at or away from the shooter.

As the shot is moving 20+ times as fast as the target. A 20 ft
long shot string will hit the target while it is moving one foot.

At what distance?

Geezuz!

A long shot string happens because some of the pellets are slowing down faster than others. That happens for two reasons. One some of the pellets in the middle face less air resistance in the beginning. Two some of the pellets deform and present more surface area and begin to deflect out of the pattern earlier.

A short shot string will put more pellets onto a moving target than a long string. If you am poorly then it may not make a difference. If you aim poorly you can also be accidentally helped by a longer string.

All things about the pattern being equal (shot size, velocity and density or number of pellets in the pattern) a basketball shaped shot cloud will kill birds better and break targets better than a shot cloud that's 4-6 basket balls long but equivalent diameter.

It ain't that difficult.

Lots of good replies here but I'd have to say mart has the answer.

IME, shooting extremely long crossing targets, shot string is your friend. I tend to shoot in front of targets (even though my shooting buddies say I'm behind LOL). There are many times I'll take the front side off of a long crosser, and it's then that I know the end of the shot string saved me. I then can also adjust my lead for the next target.

For incommers or trap birds, I don't thing either a short or long string makes a bit of difference.

One thing though about the way shot strings are shaped that was discussed in another thread here. I've fired millions of shotgun shells and have looked over the shoulders of shooters seeing even millions of more. I can see shot and shot string. It's very important to be able to do so to be a good instructor and shooter.

The shot string is shaped like a "Horn 'O Plenty" or tornado shaped cone, large at the front and narrowing back toward the shooter.


*******

I use slugs for everything

Waiting for doubters to question seeing a shotstring cloud. Believe me, once one has looked over the shoulder of enough shooters shooting enough shells it will become commonplace. First time I saw it was a revelation.

At night under lights it is easy and you can often see what appears to be a bend in the cloud on crossers. During the day conditions have to be right-target in the sky-but most times you can spot the cloud.

Agree Rick: The more one shoots the more they tend to miss in front and a longer string will give you some chips along with a clue on your leads.

That's why I say it looks like the horn 'O plenty. It definitely has a bend in it if a guy is moving the gun in time with a crosser

The doubters will probably show up but seeing the shot is a fact. And you are right about seeing it best under the lights. I seem to see the shot fairly well on overcast days also.

Mart

So your saying you can move a shotgun fast enough to "spray" pellets that are coming out of a barrel at 1100fps or so with shot column about maybe an inch long?

Thinking you don't significantly spray the shot and it has to do with different pellets traveling at different speeds and also some being more effected by wind and air resistance depending on their speed and the trailing shot not being protected by being in the more populated portion of the cloud.

Shot that has their shape changed by being rubbed against the barrel-occurs even with a shot cup-will slow down faster than those that remain perfectly round and will veer off from the main cloud.

Much the same as water out of hose that is being moved horizontal. It just happens quicker.


Addition: I have thought for sometime now, top clay shooters can subconsciously visualize what a shot stream looks like and use it to their advantage. They often let the smaller target run into and hit a long-bigger-shot stream vs trying to hit a small target with the stream. Have noticed you can apparently overlead a quartering bird significantly and still crush it due to it eventually running into a long shot string. Hoping Rick comments on this, if how I wrote it makes sense.

I was going to say NO to this, but the more I think about it, it has to be the case.

I have never seen a shot string fired with a stationary shotgun that has a "bend" in its tornado or "conical" shape, therefore, I would have to come to the conclusion that the movement of the barrel has to play some part in why I always see a bend in the shot string when crossers are shot. If anyone has a better explanation, I'm all ears.

I would also think that Battue's reasoning that some of the pellets are slowing at different rates because of deformation has merit. The hose/water analogy is good.

Quartering birds have always been tough for me. Most every presentation the birds are quartering to some degree. Very seldom do you have a 90 degree crosser or a bird directly incoming or outgoing. I believe you have to visualize everything, including what the shot is doing, to break birds. Quartering birds are the easiest to shoot in front of. They require a delicate and precise approach.

But you definitely can over-think things. Most of the time to shoot your best, you need to just shoot and let it happen

That's very likely what's happening.

Stringing of the shot cloud happens partly because different pellets have slightly different ballistic coefficients, mostly to irregular pellets. All the pellets leave the muzzle at very close to the same time, but with a swining shotgun they probably have some sideways impetus as well. The higher-BC pellets in the lead would be less affected by the sideways swing than the slower pellets in the rear, resulting in the elliptical shape of the string.

This would probably be exaggerated when swinging into any wind, because the slower pellets would be blown more off course, just as slower rifle bullets with lower BC's are more affected by wind.

Agree with both of you, however next we will have someone try to have it happen by shooting into a pond of water and say they can't tell the difference from holding the shotgun stationary. How do I know? Weeeel I and others have done so. Problem is there is no way to accurately measure it and it takes more than a little distance to have it happen. Up in the sky and under lights-especially on a skeet field-is when you can absolutely see it happen for whatever reason.