Pellet Energy

[gosmokeless]

I am seeking data on pellet energy, # pellet per ounce and ect.

Any one have a good sight with accurate shotshell data?

[snipehunter]

Below is one link and one picture. I have seen a pellet energy chart but when you are talking about tenths and hundredths of a ft/lb the graph is accurate enough. Also, velocity affects energy but within the normal velocity range of a shotgun the affects of changes in velocity are negligible.

SH


Pellet Count Chart

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

I may be nit-picking, but I disagree about the negligible velocity difference statement. I shoot loads ranging in speed from 1050 fps to 1380 fps.

If the difference in speed is of no great importance, what would you rather get hit with, a #4 pellet going 1 fps or one going 329 fps? ;D

I know that the faster that a pellet starts out, the faster it slows down, but I'd rather shoot at a clay that's 60 Yds out with a 1400 fps load than one going 1100 fps.

I have a few reloading booklets from the various powder mfg's. They have a chart showing # of pellets in a given shot charge weight in their booklets. The booklets are usually free, and are a very good source of reloading information. You might check the different web sites of the powder mfg's for information also.

Blue-Dot-37.5

[snipehunter]

Blue Dot, you can't be serious. The pellet traveling 329 fps is traveling 329 times faster than the one traveling 1 fps. While 1 fps is only 0.3% of 329 fps, 1100 fps is 78% of 1400 fps. That's not nitpicking, it's a poor comparison and it doesn't begin to offer a reasonable or rational reply to the original poster's inquiry.

But seriously, about that clay target sixty yards out. At that distance how fast is that pellet going that left the muzzle at 1400 fps and how fast is the one going that left the muzzle at 1100 fps? Most gauges work within a velocity range much narrower than that but even using that extreme velocity range will prove the facts of my point. Do you think what started out as a 22% advantage in speed is now greater than 5%? Grab one of those manuals, get the ballistic coefficient for a round projectile and tell us what the two pellets are now traveling at. While you're at it tell us the difference in energy between pellets. I'll give you a hint now, at sixty yards there isn't even 1/10 ft/lb of difference between the two pellets. To the rest of the world that is negligible.



Gosmokeless, let me recommend a couple of books that will teach you more about shotgunning and ballistics:

Shotgunning The Art and the Science, by Bob Brister
Shotgunning Trends In Transition, by Don Zutz

SH

[snipehunter]

Sometimes timing couldn't be better. Last night as soon as I finished my post I headed off to bed. I picked up Michael McIntosh's book Shotguns and Shooting and opened it up. What was staring me in the face was page 221. That is in his chapter on pheasant hunting. Interestingly I was looking at two small charts. One shows pellet velocity and the other pellet energy. McIntosh shows that the high velocity hunting load at forty yards is only 40 fps faster than the standard velocity load. How much difference do you think there is at that additional 50% increase in distance out to sixty yards. In addition, the pellet energy difference is sixteen one-hundredths of one ft./lb. different, and this is his pheasant load. Not that I needed probably the most respected current author on shotguns and bird hunting in this country to prove what I already stated, I just thought the irony of it all was too good to keep to myself. ;D

By the way Gosmokeless, if you don't have that book I'd also recommend it highly.

SH

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

snipehunter said:

Shotgunning The Art and the Science, by Bob Brister
Shotgunning Trends In Transition, by Don Zutz

SH

Dang it SH, now I have to go to my library! (he grumbles as he trudges upstairs to find those 2 books) ;D I think Bob's wife is a pretty gutsy lady for driving that station wagon!

Blue-Dot-37.5

[snipehunter]

Blue Dot, it took me a minute to figure out the station wagon you were referring to. That must be in the pictures for shooting patterns at moving targets. I need to go back and look at those myself. While that should be safe with any shooter I'd feel better with a 100' rope between the car I was driving and whatever was being shot at.

SH

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

SH:

I believe I read somewhere (maybe in his book?) that he had to aim at the station wagon to have his pattern hit the paper on the trailer at certain yardages..........

Blue-Dot-37.5

[snipehunter]

Yeah, thanks but no thanks. It would be wierd knowing he was aiming at me even if I knew his pattern was hitting behind me.

SK

[Blue-Dot-37.5]

SH:

I looked but can't find the info. Do you know the time of flight say to 40 Yds for a #7 1/2 @ mv of 1350 vs. a mv of 1150?

Any difference for a #9 at the same MV's?
Blue-Dot-37.5

[snipehunter]

Time of flight difference would be in the thousands of seconds. If it changed your point of impact between two and three inches with an effective pattern that is 30"-36" you haven't really changed anything. Whatever you gained on one edge of the pattern you'd lose on the other. As far as differences in time of flight there would be none regardless of pellet size. Ballistic coefficient and sectional density is identical for all pellets regardless of diameter. One thing I really do feel makes a difference is confidence. If someone thinks something makes them a better shot I believe it generally does. As much as with golf what goes on between the ears is vital to how well we shoot. Don't you agree? I think a good example of salesmanship based on velocity is the case of the one ounce twenty gauge loads. The "Upland", "Shur Shot", and "Field Load" shells all have an advertised velocity of 1165 fps while "Super-X", "Express", and "Hi-Power" start out at 1220. I can't tell you how many of the more expensive "high brass" shells I shot for years. Heck, they only started out with 55 fps difference in velocity. On well, if I felt those high brass were deadlier I probably shot them better, and that's really all that counts anyway, isn't it?

SH

[randywakeman]

scott said:

SH:

I looked but can't find the info. Do you know the time of flight say to 40 Yds for a #7 1/2 @ mv of 1350 vs. a mv of 1150?

Any difference for a #9 at the same MV's?
Blue-Dot-37.5

TOF 1330 fps #7-1/2: .129 sec.

TOF 1145 fps #7-1/2: .144 sec.

TOF 1155 fps #9: .151 sec.