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Dave McC · November 22, 1999, 06:49 AM

Thanks, Giz. I've heard of that one inch per yard rule for a few decades, but never tested it out. Some variables, like choke, forcing cone length, pellet size, roundness, wad, velocity,etc, kinda make the "Rule" pretty elastic.

And, for HD I'm no fan of large pattern spread. I'd prefer all the pellets striking in a .80 caliber to 5 inch pattern, center mass. Pellets outside the pattern pose a threat to the wrong people.

I did some testing a while back with duty ammo and weapons. The ammo was standard Winchester 00 2 3/4" loads, and the weapons were 870s with 18" IC choke bbls. Targets were standard FBI silohuettes. Around 40 rounds were fired, half at 15 and half at 25 yards. At 25 yards, no target showed all 9 pellets in the vitals.

A brief check later with my personal 870, zero choke, lengthened forcing cone, gave 2 targets out of five with all pellets in the vitals. I heartily recommend having the forcing cone done.

November 22, 1999, 06:49 AM	#3
Dave McC Staff In Memoriam Join Date: October 13, 1999 Location: Columbia, Md, USA Posts: 8,811	Thanks, Giz. I've heard of that one inch per yard rule for a few decades, but never tested it out. Some variables, like choke, forcing cone length, pellet size, roundness, wad, velocity,etc, kinda make the "Rule" pretty elastic. And, for HD I'm no fan of large pattern spread. I'd prefer all the pellets striking in a .80 caliber to 5 inch pattern, center mass. Pellets outside the pattern pose a threat to the wrong people. I did some testing a while back with duty ammo and weapons. The ammo was standard Winchester 00 2 3/4" loads, and the weapons were 870s with 18" IC choke bbls. Targets were standard FBI silohuettes. Around 40 rounds were fired, half at 15 and half at 25 yards. At 25 yards, no target showed all 9 pellets in the vitals. A brief check later with my personal 870, zero choke, lengthened forcing cone, gave 2 targets out of five with all pellets in the vitals. I heartily recommend having the forcing cone done.