Quote from: BoWhoop on March 19, 2015, 01:21:56 PM
Google is amazing. Lots of info out there.
QuoteClark, have you ever done a study or seen one comparing shotshell performance over a range of temperatures from say (ideally) 0 to 100 in 10 degree increments, or anything even close to this? I've been aware of temp changes affecting shell performance since I started loading steel shot back in the 80's, Tom Roster mentioned it quite often. I never tested that theory before, but this experience does make me curious.
Some of the better studies about the effects of temperature on patterns was done many years ago by the engineering staff at Olin/Winchester. You may be able to find it, as you've found other information, by "Googling" it.
In the last 6 months, I've evaluated a number of different turkey chokes. Some, as I mentioned, were in pretty warm temperatures and then some were in more realistic temperatures for turkey hunting. I saw dramatic differences in performance as measured by "hits" in a 10" circle at 40 yards.
When you drop down to temps below 40, you can usually expect to see even more dramatic changes than I saw. That's one reason not to depend upon the patterns that we see in very warm temperatures for those chilly mornings in the turkey woods.
Over the last 16 years I've been involved in the sport of still target shooting and have travelled over a good bit of the eastern side of the U.S., the south, midwest and as far west as Kansas. That sport begins now in February and runs through October, with an occasional event in November. I've been able to observe how all kinds of guns/chokes/shells react to different atmospheric conditions. We may begin with a cold morning, have a hot mid day and a cold afternoon for example. For the most part, patterns react as you might expect during those changing conditions.
It's been a good experience because I've not been limited to just my experiences as those conditions change but I've been able to observe many, many others over that time and note that changes are pretty much the same for everyone no matter what choke/gun/shell is used. When it's hot, patterns are better, is a good general rule.
Lastly, and maybe the most important factor is that still target shooters know their guns. We know that a particular gun may shoot at its best after the 4th shot without being cleaned, or a particular gun may need to be cleaned after every shot. If you look down the line of shooters, and observe closely how they deal with their guns, you'll find this to be very true.
Starting out "squeaky" clean and shooting without cleaning between shots until the pattern either improves of degrades is the only method that I know of to find out exactly how your particular gun shoots best.
Thanks,
Clark
