Thread: Expected spread for a full choked 12 gauge @ 30 meters?

Checking where the shotgun is shooting is one of the times you actually aim at the target like a rifle. Put up a sheet of cardboard or similar up at 30-40m. Put an aiming mark in central point. Aim at the mark with mark sitting on top of bead and fire a shot. Make sure you’re sighting flat along the rib. Check wear the shot pattern hits in relation to aiming mark. Gun might be shooting 70/30 ie. 70% above mark 30% below mark. Might be shooting 50/50, 30/70 or completely below bead. Most Clay Target Clubs have a pattern plate for checking this. Go along to your local one and see if someone will help you out. Most will be happy to do so on the off chance you might take up the sport which is great fun by the way. Good i

How far did you miss by??? Well as I said unless it was a Jaffa packet,at least 600mm. And fifty yards is a VERY long shot on a possum. Why on earth didn't you get closer. For reference sake.very few willows grow more than 30 feet high.10 yards. A massive Lombardy poplar is no more than 90 feet,30 yards high. I wouldn't attempt possum at that height even though I've taken ducks from it often. Twenty yards is a sweet spot. Seriously,get some big bits of cardboard or paper and find out what going on...bit tip here,if eyes are screwed shut and trigger yanked in flinch,you will miss,I know as have done it more often than care to think about.

I agree with Micky Duck; 50 yards (or metres) is a helluva long shot on a possum with a typical gun/ammo combination. Possums are tough to kill and your pattern at 50+ yards will likely be too sparse to land enough pellets in vital brain-neck-chest area. And branches and foliage will further thin the pattern.

Originally Posted by woods223

Checking where the shotgun is shooting is one of the times you actually aim at the target like a rifle. Put up a sheet of cardboard or similar up at 30-40m. Put an aiming mark in central point. Aim at the mark with mark sitting on top of bead and fire a shot. Make sure you’re sighting flat along the rib. Check wear the shot pattern hits in relation to aiming mark. Gun might be shooting 70/30 ie. 70% above mark 30% below mark. Might be shooting 50/50, 30/70 or completely below bead. Most Clay Target Clubs have a pattern plate for checking this. Go along to your local one and see if someone will help you out. Most will be happy to do so on the off chance you might take up the sport which is great fun by the way. Good i

Yes that sounds like a good idea, I might be aiming wrong if ive been placing the bead over my target, could mean im shooting a bit high.
I know a fella in the local club, so might give him a call.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

How far did you miss by??? Well as I said unless it was a Jaffa packet,at least 600mm. And fifty yards is a VERY long shot on a possum. Why on earth didn't you get closer. For reference sake.very few willows grow more than 30 feet high.10 yards. A massive Lombardy poplar is no more than 90 feet,30 yards high. I wouldn't attempt possum at that height even though I've taken ducks from it often. Twenty yards is a sweet spot. Seriously,get some big bits of cardboard or paper and find out what going on...bit tip here,if eyes are screwed shut and trigger yanked in flinch,you will miss,I know as have done it more often than care to think about.

Yes I figured 50M was a bit far, I only attempt to shoot that far away if i feel the possum is going to run away or if its on a tree where access is difficult, I often find they run further up the tree out of sight when we get closer, or even run down to the ground and get away if they see us coming, i find they can hide quite well in pine trees, quite often I can hear a ton of noise up in those trees but cant spot any possums, but know they are up there.

The guy in our store reckons its easy enough and just told me to shoot a bit high to compensate, but i would say its a stretch, ive definitely been able to knock them off at least a couple of times from that range, but have more than likely fluked it.

Anyway, I found 20M was the maximum range with the old skeet barrel that had no choke at all, I was hoping it would have been somewhat better with a full choke barrel
As far as rabbits go, I find I cant get very close to the jolly things and 30M is about the closest I can get to them, even when I try my best to sneak up.
If i get a chance this weekend I will find some cardboard to shoot for sure.

What I did with mine was get one of those clay bird holders and set it up in front of a dirt bank. It doest shoot where you think its shooting. Mine shoots way low to where I aim it

Shoot high is a crock of shit bud....seriously a crock of big smelly Pooh's n wees. If your pattern is 30" round at say 30 yards it will be man sized at fifty.... So if you aimed to put centre of pattern at man sized targets ball bag region you would still have pellets at head and at feet regardless of any small drop of individual pellets!!!! Find a big puddle,mudflats,clay bank,sheet of paper or iron(NOT back of the long drop behind shearing shed,by the way #8s will go through corrugated iron at thirty yards) and see for yourself what's going on. Just like sighting in a rifle,patterning shotgun tells you what's going on.

So it doesnt shoot low? Must of been shooting standing on my head.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Shoot high is a crock of shit bud....seriously a crock of big smelly Pooh's n wees. If your pattern is 30" round at say 30 yards it will be man sized at fifty.... So if you aimed to put centre of pattern at man sized targets ball bag region you would still have pellets at head and at feet regardless of any small drop of individual pellets!!!! Find a big puddle,mudflats,clay bank,sheet of paper or iron(NOT back of the long drop behind shearing shed,by the way #8s will go through corrugated iron at thirty yards) and see for yourself what's going on. Just like sighting in a rifle,patterning shotgun tells you what's going on.

Yeah i figured that would be the case, best thing is to check the pattern at various ranges im thinking.

No expert but I would of thought youd be looking for where the center of the pattern is? Is that not the case?

Well sort of...and sort of not. Your vitals on duck...or rabbit for that matter are about as big is your hitchhiking fist,thumb extended. Another way to look at it is you need five or so hits on that big of area to cleanly kill.in theory the centre of your three,four,five foot roundish pattern gives you best chance of doing that..a error or miss of the centre foot still gives bargain for error. Also in theory the tighter that pattern the less magain for error BUT if your aim is true the tighter pattern will deliver MORE pellets per given area,be it fist,Jaffa box,shoe box or TV box.

Ok, I shot a large sheet of cardboard today and the sights are out.
Not too sure why, or how to correct, but basically the pattern is way too low and a bit to the right.
No wonder I've been missing targets! I don't see any damage or bends to the barrel anywhere.
This sheet is slightly more than 1mx1m in size.
Pattern is rather tight and am happy with it.
See photo attached, this was shot at 30m range.
I was aiming for the area circled in red.
The outer fringes of the spread are just reaching it with the odd stray pellet around the board elsewhere.
I shot it a second time aiming a bit higher closer to 3/4 the way to the top and slightly to the left and got more of the pattern over the centre.

The sights are not out, the gun just does not fit you.
You should imagine the "rear sight" on a shotgun as being your eye. That's why your head needs to be on the same spot on the stock every time. If your head is too low on the stock, the pattern will be lower than your aim point. Vice versa. No doubt you've seen adjustable comb stocks? That's how you adjust gun fit (to a degree) and how you can raise/lower impact points relative to where you're pointing it. Similarly moving the comb left or right will change your head (eye) position and hence move the point of impact left or right.
Once a shotgun fits you, you actually don't need to look at the bead at all. You just look at your target (with both eyes) and point the gun at it. Hand/eye co-ordination does the rest. I took the bead off my skeet gun and shoot way better without it as I'm not tempted to take a peek at it from time-to-time.

I'm not sure if the stock can be adjusted on your Remington. For Benelli semiautos and the like, the stock can be fitted to the receiver with different shims to raise or lower the angle of the stock relative to the receiver, thereby putting your head in a different position relative to the axis of the barrel. Maybe there's something on Youtube about fitting 1100s?

Shooting low....too long of stock,too thick of jacket,eye too low down. Try...small something taped above action maybe five??mm high so you have to look over it to see bead. Yes in perfect world you don't aim a shotgun...I must be very imperfect as do it a lot, particularly on stationary targets. The left,right thing will come right once you have beed centred over action..that small block will help with that.its how a double bead works.