I've never really tried to see how my gun patterns with different kinds of shells. I've read different guns and different shells may all pattern differently...any suggestions on how to do this? Do I tape or tack on a 5'x5' area of newspaper or something on stakes? Distance needs to be 50' or 60'? Thanks for any suggestions or lessons learned.

just put a piece of a 30 inch circle of paper on the some cardboard and shoot at it and look at the paper and see if you like the pattern(doesnt have holes and most pellet are inside the circle). Replace the paper everytime you shoot and find the best loads at the best distances.

thanks, I'll give it a try.

You want a bigger piece than 30 inches....use at least 4x4 sheet of plywood or cardboard and then put butcher block or construction paper on it with each shot refresh the paper. Take a look at your pattern and see where the densest 30 inch circle is and start counting pellets (holes).

There is POI vs POA patterning that is completely different and that is just making sure the densest pattern is where you are looking/aiming.

So really two different types of patterning.

Got it, thanks.

X2 on Judd coment above.

But I mad a 30" circle on paper cardboard first with a red dot in the center to give me a good point of aim.

Then I shoot at 20 yards,30 and 40 yards.

I got a little more technical by counting the number of pellets inside the 30"circle and figured out the percentage of shot inside the 30" circle by cutting open 3 shells and counting every pellet inside and averaged them out and this is the number i used to figure out the percentage.

Just like Judd said. POI and POA might be different unless you have adjusted that on your gun, so just shooting at a 30" circle doesn't give you a true understanding of the pattern the gun is throwing if you aren't hitting where you are aiming. Also, a cross wind could be a factor and move your pattern as well.

I use a 4'X4' piece of cardboard that seperates paper on a pallet. I get these from a friend in the paper business. I try to pattern when there is little to no wind. If there is wind I try to put the wind at my back so there is no cross wind. Put a dot on the center of the cardboard and shoot at it. Take a cut out 30" circle and move it around until you find the denses part of the pattern. Count holes and see what percentage you have at each distance and with each choke combo until you find what you are looking for.

here's an example I did on my turkey gun (circles are 10" and 20" as I want a tighter pattern for turkey):



as you can see my POA and POI with the dense part of my pattern is low. Another example:



Here an example of POA and POI being dead on after I adjusted my reddot from the previous two shots. Okay, maybe a touch to the right :



Again with a different load:



I find it very beneficial to take a sharpie to write gun, choke, load, and distance on each patter as well as take pictures for future reference.

Very informative, I really appreciate the your time detailing out the process you took. I'll try this out next time out in God's country (the woods) and check out how my gun is shooting with a few different shells/shots/chokes.

Cut'em!