THE TECHNOID FINDS THE ANSWER... Last month we described the Editor's
attempt to build the ultimate sub-gauge sporting clays gun. It is
basically a tubed 30" O/U that has had 12 ounces backbored out of the
barrels before adding 12 ounces worth of Briley sub-gauge tubes. It
feels and balances exactly like a normal 12 gauge gun. This gun is THE
ANSWER to the sub-gauge sporter's dreams. Maybe.
In the hands of a good shooter, it should prove very entertaining
indeed. In the hands of the Editor... Well, let's just say that he
should probably stick to writing. Nothing makes up for a lack of talent,
not even THE ANSWER.
What makes the little gauges so hard to shoot? One reason is that the
small bore guns are generally light and whippy, not built for clays. THE
ANSWER solves this part of the puzzle.
The other reason that small gauges are hard to shoot is that they just
do not have very much shot and thus throw a smaller effective pattern.
Just how small? The numbers are interesting. Junior Technoids, man those
slide rules!
Let's say that we stick to 8 sized pellets for all shells. A 12 gauge 1
1/8 ounce load of 8s contains 460 pellets. We know from practical
experience that the actual maximum killing pattern of this load is 26",
not the mythically touted 30". In a perfect world, this works out to
one
pellet in every .87 square inches. The real world is not nearly so
uniform, and the small gauges even less so due to increased pellet
distortion, but we will use this one pellet per .87" to figure out
just
how big effective patterns can be with lighter loads.
SHOT LOAD 8s PATTERN SIZE 1 1/8 oz (std 12) 460 26.0" 1 oz (light 12)
409 24.5" 7/8 oz (20 ga.) 358 22.9" 3/4 oz (28 ga.) 307 21.2"
1/2 oz
(410) 205 17.4"
It does not really look as though you are giving up that much. After
all, the 22.9" pattern of the 20 gauge is almost as big as the 26"
pattern of the standard 12. Right? Wrong! Pattern diameters are
deceiving. It is the area of the pattern that counts. The following may
put it in a different light. Here we will show the pattern area of each
gauge as a percent of the standard 1 1/8 oz 12 gauge load.
SHOT LOAD PATTERN AREA 1 1/8 oz (std 12) 100% 1 oz (light 12) 89% 7/8 oz
(20 ga.) 78% 3/4 oz (28 ga.) 67% 1/2 oz (410) 45%
So, if you use a 20 gauge to compete against a 12 gauge, you ought to
know that the 12 gauge shooter has almost 1/3 more pellets than you do.
To put it another way, his killing pattern is 1/3 larger than yours. To
put it another way, he can be about 1/3 less accurate than you are and
still hit the bird. To put it another way... You get the point. The
numbers with the .410 are absolutely horrifying. The 12 gauge shooter
has a 120% better chance of hitting the target!
Sub-gauge sporting is just plain tough. The right gun makes it a little
less so, but the fact remains that the numbers are against you. The next
time someone wins his class using a handicapped small gauge gun go over
and shake his hand. He pushed a big rock up a steep hill. Remember the
motto: "Sub-gauge sporting: no whiners".
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