16ga.com ~ View topic - Green Dot powder equals tighter patterns?

Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 91

I kind of disagree with Charles on one thing. I have never had a load that patterned well that did not perform well on clays or birds. Except for experimenting with a damn 20 ga. to find decent patterns, I always try my loads on live birds, namely pigeons and starlings. If the load kills well for me with the same consistency or better than other loads, then they are ok with me.

As for the core doing the killing, I agree with Charles, as the fringe will do no more than consistently wound birds. Thus I do not ever have a concern for anything outside of 20".

Lenard

One thing folks seem to be overlooking here is that we should not be comparing patterns produced with a 16 to those produced with a 12 or a 20 or any other gauge. In fact, we should not really be comparing patterns produced by differnet 16 ga guns either. Every gun is a law unto itself when it comes to external ballistics.

That said, we should keep in mind that the smaller the gauge, the slower the powder's burning rate should be to obtain pressures, and velocities comparible to those produced in a bigger bore. If all else is equal, Green dot tends to tighten up the core of a pattern moreso than Red Dot in a 12 ga 1-1/8 ounce handicap load and in some 16 gauge guns when using it in 7/8 or 3/4 ounce loads. For 7/8 to 1 ounce 12 ga loads, Red Dot, 700X, Clays, and other simialr fast burning powders produce patterns with cores that are alrerady plenty tight enough for most trap singles and shorter range handicap shooting.

I can use a 7/8 ounce load at the 20 yard line and a 1 ounce load out to 23 yards without any apparent loss of effectiveness on the targets which are centered correctly. I simply use a slightly tighter choke tube to densen the pattern core and retain effectiveness as the range increases. Once I get to 24 yards, then the heavier shot load comes into play and chokes are also progressively tightened up out to the 27 yard line (and beyond if we are shooting Annie Oakleys.)

If you are reloading a 1 ounce 16 gauge load, Unique will produce a denser pattern core than Green Dot. That is because Green Dot is now on the fast end of useful powders for 1 ounce 16 gauge loads. So I generally prefer Unique for most of my 16 ga, 1 ounce loads. With Unique, I can reach higher velocities with less pressures and obtain a denser inner pattern for more effective kills at the long end of that 16 ga 1 ounce load's useful range (about 35 yards or so for me). I use Green Dot in my 3/4 and 7/8 ounce 16 gauge hunting loads, because the pattern cores it produces tend to be useful for me out to 30 yards.

Keep in mind, I tend not to rely on the outer ring or fringe of any pattern to effectively break targets or kill birds except maybe at very close range. I think placing that inner 20 inch pattern core is the best thing to do anytime you can. Most pellets found in the outer fringe of any pattern are there for a reason. They are either out of round, are losing velocity faster than the norm, and are flying excentrically on their way out of the pattern, or they have been bumped by another pellet and are losing velocity faster as well. Most every one of these outer fringe pellets are already lagging far behind the rest of the shot string to be effective. don't count on them.

Also keep in mind that tighter chokes tend to help tighten up the pattern center by lengthening the shot string to some degree. Tighter chokes do next to nothing for the pellets that end up in the fringe. Tighter chokes tend to cause more pellets to become deformed and to fly out of the pattern sooner. It is important to understand this in order to grasp what is happening in actual time and space as the shot string makes its way to the target. Only the central most core of a pattern opens gradually. The pellets in the fringe are flying away from the line of the shot and dropping behind a lot faster.

This last factor is what Charles has observed when comparing the relative effectiveness between two barrels. Some guns produce very nice looking patterns on a single plane sheet of paper, but the shot strings they produce tend to be longer than they should be to be really effective on a fast flying clay target. The trap target is too small and too fast to be hit by the back end of the string. The barrel that throws a shorter shot string will grind the target to dust a lot more effectively. More shot arrives in time to contribute to the destruction. The pattern imprinted on the pattern sheet might appear to be denser, because all the pellets still in the shot string will hit that single, stationary plane eventually. In actual time, space, and motion, that is not really the case when shooting at a trap target.

Bigger birds like pheasant which are not sailing along at 50 MPH like a trap target can still be hit by the back end of a longer shot string. However, the pellets that are roundest, fastest, and flying the straightest at the target when they hit also carry the most energy and penetrate the best. They also hit further up in the front where the vitals are or reach the vitals better from behind. That is also why I try to center the front of the bird in the center of the pattern or put the pattern center dead square on the rear if the bird is flying directly away. That is the hardest hitting part of the shot string.