Component Analysis
TBC
Performance Data
| Date | Range | Choke (Nominal) | 30" Circle Impacts (Total) | Performance (Nominal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.005" (Cylinder) | 100 (283) | 35% (< Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.005" (Cylinder) | 110 (283) | 39% (< Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.010" (Improved Cylinder) | 129 (283) | 46% (< Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.010" (Improved Cylinder) | 132 (283) | 47% (< Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.015" (Modified) | 179 (283) | 63% (Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.015" (Modified) | 171 (283) | 60% (Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.020" (Improved Modified) | 183 (283) | 65% (Cylinder) |
| 11/06/2017 | 30 Yards | 0.020" (Improved Modified) | 195 (283) | 69% (Improved Cylinder) |
Performance Analysis
After some consideration, the SmallBoreShotguns team decided that employing their usual methodology for pattern testing the #9 shot loading of the Eley “Trap” cartridge would not be particularly useful or appropriate, so the data presented above is of a slightly different kind, being – at the time of writing – for patterns shot entirely at a single distance.
The difficulties in producing useful data for this particular cartridge are twofold.
Firstly, whatever one thinks of using the smallest shot sizes on live quarry, it is clear that the “Trap” cartridge is intended to be a short-range cartridge. In the field, it could hardly be effective on game beyond 20-25 yards. (We implore readers not to attempt to take game with shot this small! – Ed.) On the skeet field – for which the cartridge was almost certainly intended – targets will be in the region of 21 yards distant. Past experience has shown that #9 shot used beyond these ranges can be unpredictable and ineffective: targets may chipped or deflected but not broken. Patterning the cartridge at longer ranges is therefore somewhat worthless.
Second, whilst we expected to see patterns from the #9 “Trap” cartridge having lower density than its sibling #7½ loading due to proportionately greater individual pellet deformation, even a 20%-30% reduction in performance would see 20-yard patterns with over 200 pellets in the 30″ circle with the lightest chokings – not remotely marginal. Tighter chokes should provide even higher pattern density, which once again renders the question of overall effectiveness one of penetration and not pattern density. In the event, pattern densities were between 3% and 10% lower for the #9 cartridge on average.
It is for these reasons that we have produced data for a series of patterns all shot at 30 yards. Although this is probably beyond the effective range of the cartridge, the differences in performance for the different choke constrictions of the test gun can clearly be seen. (They may have been less obvious from patterns shot at 20 or 25 yards.)
Although the “Trap” cartridge, shot through the cylinder (0.005″ constriction) choke of the SBS test gun, fails to exceed our “minimum threshold” of 120 pellets in the standard circle at 30 yards, there is very little likelihood that that standard will not be met at 20 or 25 yards. The question of “best performance” therefore becomes one of how large we can make our effective pattern area to be at whatever we choose to be our maximum range.
Clearly, the larger the effective pattern, the easier it is for the shooter to connect with the target. Standing on the skeet field, we could argue for a slightly denser pattern of perhaps 160-170 pellets in the standard circle, given the small size of an edge-on clay target.
By the rule of thumb which states that percentage performance tends to decrease by approximately 10% for every 5 yards further one stands from the target, we can interpolate that the performance of the Eley cartridge with the 0.005″ choke, averaging 105 pellets in the circle at 30 yards, should give us this kind of pattern density (c. 160 pellets) we require at 20-21 yards where the majority of skeet targets are broken.
For other purposes, individual pellet energy and penetration is likely to prove insufficient well before pattern density fails, irrespective of choke.
Example Patterns
