Patterning a Smoothbore

[paco97]

Tomorrow I'm going to be taking my new 20 Gauge smoothbore out and get her patterned for turkey season.  I have some turkey head targets and I have #5 shot.

I've never patterned a smoothbore before and was wondering what is an acceptable pattern and does anyone know what range I should limit myself.  Thanks for any tips.

[jbullard1]

With my 12 gauge I limit my shot to 30 yards
shooting 1 1/2 ounces #6
I prefer 20 to 25 yards if the bird is still coming in

[albertburns]

I shoot a Pedersoli 10 Ga. for Turkey and Waterfowl hunting. I can tell you what has worked  for me. It may not be completely traditional, as I don't always use Black Powder,and use Remington Magnum 10 shot cups, but I'm trying. The best load so far has been with 100 gr. of  Triple Seven and then a wonder wad, and on top of that I use the Remington cup with 1 1/2 oz. of nickel plated #6's  and an overshot card. This load has a killing pattern out to 40 yards, I would not shoot anything past that with it. We also used nickel plated # 4 shot and also had similar result's. I have been shooting black powder rifles for many years, but am a novice with the shotguns.  This site is a great place to learn what work's and to share information.  Hope this helps.

[Captchee]

acceptable patern would be the same as an acceptable patern for any shotgun .
10 to 20 BB in the kill areas of the head will do it fine .
 as to distance . what i do  to check my load is once i have a patern , i  take a 1/4 innch thick peice of ply  and shoot  it at 30 yards " my  longest distance ". i then  count the number of  BB's in the board  and compair that number with those that passed all the way through to the back side of the board . 80% or better penitration  tells me that  the load has more then enough  pooop for that distance .
 i also ONLY take head shots with turkey . their feathers are like Armor  and will reduce the power of the bb's .

[Gambia]

I personally use a 4ft square piece of steel plate mounted at 6 ft from ground level .In the centre of the plate paint a 3 inch black or red   circle which is the aiming point
Standing back from the plate to the required distance of 30 yards and with your required load shoot at the plate ,on examing the plate draw a 30 inch circle from the red or black circle  then examine the shot pattern for any large hole through which a bird will fly within that circle this is the main part of the shot pattern anything outside this pattern is not worth bothering about .
For  the next test have a bucket of whitewash or emulision and paint the plate covering the last pattern .
With this method you can work up a shot load and also it will tell you if you are shooting of centre.
Feltwad
A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door

[tg]

I use a cross stgake with a 3x3 ft or larger piece of cardboard attatched firmly abot 6'high  and  tape pieces of butcher paper or roofing felt at mark or tape a spot to aim at and replace the paper after each shot after counting the pellets in a 30" circle that I scribe with a yard stick with a hole drilled at one inch and 16", it's one I had from marking circles on plywood  when making Beaver boards.I have not seriously patterned my fusil the first squirll fell and they kept falling so I left things alone but i do need to see what I really have it's a .58 and I was using 1 1/8 oz #8 and 55 gr 3f this works out to more shot tyhan powder by volume as I recall.

[No Deer]

Go look at this site:

http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/

Everything you always wanted to know about shooting a smoothbore.  Excellent place for someone new with a smoothbore to start.  Lots of detail on patterning for turkey.