Why Do Hunters Pattern Their Shotguns, and what does it mean? Before the hunting season, many hunters pattern their shotguns where patterning is loading a shotgun with shot and firing it at a target to detect where the pellets hit.
Most hunters pattern shotguns because they feel it improves hunting accuracy and ensures that they are shooting at their targeted prey.
If someone is trying to shoot ducks but failing to hit them, they should pattern their shotgun to see what’s wrong.
In our guide, you can learn why a shotgun pattern is vital to improving your hunting skills. By the end, you’ll see how you can carry out shotgun patterning and how your patterned shotgun could help improve your hunting compared to other hunters. (Read Gifts For Duck Hunters Guide)
The Surprising Truth Of Why Do Hunters Pattern Their Shotguns?
When you get your shotgun from the store, it doesn’t fire reliably. That’s why it’s a good idea to know how the shotgun works. The model and manufacturer, shorter or longer barrels, and different cartridges all affect the shot patterns.
When you carry out patterning your shotgun, you’ll know exactly what the gun’s shooting pattern is and how to position yourself for an accurate shot.
Shooting a target repeatedly with different shells and shot sizes is how you pattern a shotgun. It helps determine which shells, shot sizes, and loads work best and at what effective range for your type of hunting.
The reason for this is that when you’re hunting, it is crucial to focus on your prey, and knowing your shotgun pattern makes it easier to know where to aim, and the pellets fired stand more chance of hitting your target.
Hunters pattern shotguns because they feel it improves their accuracy and speed when shooting on a hunt.
Using a hunting rifle for deer hunting, you sight in the scope for much of the same reason. Clean kills in a hunt, avoid suffering, and better meat to eat. (Learn How To Keep Feet Warm While Hunting)
Tips For How To Pattern Shotgun
Here are a few tips on patterning your shotgun.
Support Hand:
While shooting, the support hand is utilized to keep the gun stable. It can also be used for reloading.
Turn Your Sideways:
Turning the pistol sideways has the purpose of reducing recoil and increasing accuracy. Because this approach is symmetrical, it may be used with both right-handed and left-handed firearms, but it’s especially useful with shotguns that have greater weight on one side than the other.
Pellet Diameter:
The distance the pellets spread out will be determined by their size. A shotgun with a bigger pellet diameter will produce a more focused shot pattern. In contrast, a shotgun with smaller pellets will produce a broader shot pattern and allow for more target penetration.
Gun Bore:
The barrel’s size impacts how quickly ballistics can occur inside it, resulting in faster patterns and greater accuracy.
Stock Length:
This can vary depending on the type of shotgun you have, but for hunting purposes, it should be roughly 18-22 inches long.
Things To Remember When Patterning A Shotgun
- Hold the shotgun with both hands.
- Ensure your dominant eye is toward the rear of the stock.
- Make sure your muzzle sits on top of a target (shotgun patterning board).
- Take a deep breath, then focus on what is in front of you.
- Gently squeeze the trigger until you feel resistance from the gun.
- Please get familiar with your gun before using it.
- Practice shooting at your target as close as possible.
- Make sure you can use different shotgun shells.
How To Pattern Your Shotgun
Patterning a shotgun is not as complicated as it may appear; to pattern a shotgun, you must first decide on the sort of ammunition that you will use in it. You should also make sure you have the necessary tools and safety equipment.
The first step is to decide the sorts of ammunition you wish to use. Next, select your caliber, which relates to the shell’s diameter.
You can choose between what comes standard with your firearm and what you require for your particular needs. (Learn How To Set Nocking Point With Bow Square)
For example, if you want to practice using a shotgun to shoot clay pigeons, then a smaller bore can be ideal because of the smaller shot size.
However, if you’re going hunting, you’ll need something bigger, like a 12-gauge shotgun that can offer a clean kill.
More about patterning your shotgun.
- Keep count of the number of shots you make every time you shoot at the target, as you’ll need at least ten shots when you start shooting for patterning your shotgun at a large cardboard target.
- Remember, you’ll get different patterns from different brands of guns and shells.
- Try different shotguns and shotgun shells, so you can know if you’ll need to switch weapons while hunting for better accuracy.
- Pattern your shotgun before hunting. If it’s your first time, you can ask a local gunsmith to help you out.
The Importance of Cartridges and Shotgun Chokes
Every shotgun has a choke size that is suitable for the type of game hunting or bird or turkey hunting it’s used for.
The weight and length of the barrel, the distance to the target, and other variables all influence the size of the cartridge and choke.
Shotgun chokes come in a variety of sizes and for a variety of purposes. The four types are Skeet, Improved Cylinder, Modified choke, and Full Choke.
An improved cylinder choke is used on a shotgun with a lot of power, while a modified choke is used on a shotgun with low recoil. Improved and improved modified chokes are the two varieties of full chokes available.
Shotgun choke tubes ensure a shotgun barrel has a consistent performance. A full choke ensures a clean kill in such a way you get a different pattern, which can be a good pattern of spread or a more concentrated area for high impact.
Cartridge and Choke Performance
It’s possible that patterning your shotgun is like zeroing in a rifle in the eyes of some. However, there are distinctions between a shotgun and a rifle.
Shotguns have distinct spraying patterns for how many pellets are in the shotgun cartridge when fired.
Rifles fire a single bullet, thus more accuracy at a longer distance.
In your shotgun, the type of choke is such a subjective thing that new hunters are often unaware of its impact.
What Is a Choke?
Basically, a choke is a tapered constriction of the shotgun’s barrel, which is located at the end of the barrel. The main purpose of the choke is to shape the spreading pellets and concentrate them into a single area.
A choke can increase accuracy at a distance for the shotgun as the pellets won’t spread too wide.
Shotguns can have a fixed choke or an adjustable one. One hunter may use an adjustable choke as the hunter can tailor their shooting for the accuracy or for different prey on different days. (Learn Deer Hunting With a Recurve Bow Guide)
Shotgun Shell Performance
Now you can see what a choke is and how it can affect how you shoot; you need to see how cartridges also make a difference and why a hunter chooses one over another.
- The shotgun model has a significant impact on the pellet flight when fire. A variety of spraying patterns, including oval and round, are available on different models. Some patterns allow the bullets to stay closer to the target, while others scatter randomly.
- The direction of these pellets is related to the shotgun’s stocking level. Short-stock shotguns, for example, tend to shoot pellets high, whereas long-stock shotguns tend to blast them down.
- The gun’s high comb and low comb variations can cause the pellets to travel in either a left or right direction.
Hunters use these items to help them pattern the shotgun as accurately as possible.
Your Dominant Eye
You can use a straightforward rule to determine which eye is dominant. However, we must keep in mind that most shotguns do not come with sights. Hunters only use patterning for this reason. Otherwise, wouldn’t the entire procedure be pointless?
The ‘finger rule’ is the sole guideline to follow here. One finger of the right hand can point to the desired object. While pointing at the object, we must make sure that both of our eyes are open. If we close our left eye, for example, the object’s position will shift slightly. Shotguns have the same rule, and many hunters follow it.
The Patterning Process
We may confidently discuss the specifics of the entire patterning process now that we’ve covered the most crucial points. However, there are a few more noteworthy points and suggestions to make, so read closely.
Impact Point
POI (point of impact) is one such point, and it’s almost a requirement to comprehend it completely. The shotgun’s tendency to redirect pellets from point A to point B is referred to as the point of impact.
To put it another way, our shot can end somewhere we don’t want it to. Another reason so many hunters highlight the necessity of patterning the shotgun is that it also fixes this.
Resting Spot
We may wish to find a well-supported resting area for our gun, and you have the option of purchasing a ready-made gun rest or making one to shoot from.
If we only use it for patterns, we don’t see the point in buying a brand new rest. As a result, we can make one by stacking sandbags on top of each other. Alternatively, we can set up a stable table or bench; hunters do this all the time.
Target Area
You’ll need something to aim at now that we have a shotgun and a place to rest it.
- Many hunters stretch out a wide sheet of white paper or cardboard.
- Draw a circle and make a dot or mark in the center.
- Once you fire the shotgun at the target, you’ll see the shot gun pattern.
- To find the most optimal, it can take 10 to 12 shots, although, once experienced, hunters can do it in 6 shots.
