Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

Ballistics

Pellets, pattern

and penetration

Therehas beenmuch debate overthe years

abouttheoptimum shot size.Diggory Hadoke

tries to settle the matter once and for all

thathadyou,fora wholeseason,no

othersizedshot,youwouldfindthat

youhadkilledmoregame.”Hawker

mostlyshotoverdogs,whatwewould

callwalked-upshootingtoday.

Strikinga balance

Thereareprosandconstoshotsize.

Smallshotproducesa fullerpattern

becausethereis moreofit inthe

cartridge(assumingthesameweight

load).Largershotcarriesmomentum

andenergyforlongerdistancesand

penetratesdeeper.However,with

fewerpelletsinthepattern,therewill

begreaterspacebetweeneachone.

GoughThomascalledthese

limitingfactors“patternat the

expenseofenergy”(smallshot)and

“energyat theexpenseofpattern”

(large shot). The balance to be

S

hotsizehasbeendebated

foraslongasgunshave

beenthrowingclustersof

smallleadballsat flying

birds.Everyonehasa pettheoryand

fashionswaxandwane,butwhen

webreaktheconundrumdowntoits

basiccomponentswe have two key

issuestoaddress.

Wechooseshottoproduce

anacceptablecompromiseforthe

shootingwedoandthegunweuse.

Theidealweseekis a killingpattern

thatcoversthetargetandindividual

pelletsinthatpatternthathitwith

sufficientforcetoimpart shock and

dolethaldamage.

In 1833 LieutenantColonelPeter

Hawkertoldreaders:“Acommon-

sizedgunwillshootNo.7 shotbetter

than any other shot... I am confident

P. QUAGLIANA / H. ALKEN / BRIDGEMAN ARTS LIBRARY

48 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

struckis onebetweenpatternand

penetration.Hittinga birdwithlots

oftinyshotthatdoesn’tpenetratethe

skinwon’tkillit andhittinga birdwith

onepelletthatbreaksitslegwon’t

killit either.Youselectshotsizesto

ensureyouhaveenoughshottohit

oneormorevitalorgansandproduce

sufficientshocktokillit.Thatshot

needstopenetratedeepenoughto

entervitalorgansandbreakbones.

Atcloserranges,smallshothas

sufficientmomentumtopenetrate.

Onlyat longerrangesdoesit lose

energy.Atshortrange,largeshot

remainscloseenoughtogetherto

makemultiplehits,sopatternis not

a problem. The problems manifest

Debateabouttheoptimum

shotsizegoesbacktothe

beginning of the 19th century