Comments on: Shotgun Shell Ballistics & Penetration

By: Roger Pyle

Roger Pyle — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:03:36 +0000

I have a Question. shooting a double barrelled 12ga what is the distance from the end of the barrell untill the bullets come together or (crisscross)

By: SoughSlayer

SoughSlayer — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:21:37 +0000

I’ve found in the type of hunting I do (mostly small sloughs) I have a much greater kill ratio with 1300 fps shot, reguardless of size. Perhaps it is the closer ranges I’m shooting at. Also, I recently watched a History Channel series on Special Forces Snipers who agreed that a slower bullet does more damage than a fast one, thus they try to match the range with the proper muzzle velocity of their rounds. If this phenom translates over to shell shot, it would reinforce my experience. Just the same, I have made very clean kills @ 70 yards using #4 – 1300 fps on teal. Enjoyed your article.

By: ydog

ydog — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:50:50 +0000

for pellet ballistics you can use chairgun.. its a freeware program for rifle and airgun folks. however you would assume a single round steel (or lead) bb instead at ranges of at most 70 yards.

all you would need is the ballistic coefficient of your respective bb which can be found anywhere or experimentally obtained (this factors size shape and density off of experimental values) and muzzle velocity. the outputs useful for this application would be velocity and possibly point of impact wrt distance.

By: C Dieker

C Dieker — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:05:25 +0000

Great article…

Similar to K Snead and LD Azevedo, for those of us who use steel shot for everything from small game to geese, is it possible to supply similar tables for 1300-1450 FPS steel loads?

Whatever revised table information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

By: K Snead

K Snead — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:46:47 +0000

To second Mr. L D Azevedo regarding data for other velocities. Could we see the same data tables for 1450fps and 1650fps as shown for 1550fps? That would go a long way in helping us decide if the higher velocities (with associated reduced payloads) is worth the trade-off.

By: K Snead

K Snead — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:38:34 +0000

This is a good question. I have yet to find shotgun ballistic software that can give you velocity at distance given the muzzle velocity, pellet size, and pellet material density. That capability would allow you to approximate penetration at any distance given the pellet specs and the initial velocity. That is why I am interested in finding the SSB software which I presume has this capability. Is there any other software out there that will do this?

By: L D Azevedo

L D Azevedo — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:00:58 +0000

Speaking of steelshot , you use a velocity of 1550 in your
article .I’m curious as to what differance 100 ft/sec makes
in the larger sizes ( 1’s , BB ,T’s ) in penetration at the
yardages you have listed ? Is 1400 ft/sec adequate for large
waterfowl at 60yds or is 1600 ft/sec that much better ? I’ve
read that shot travels at the same speed after a certain
distance ? I can’t read enough of your and Tom Rosters articles
Thank you

By: K Snead

K Snead — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:29:05 +0000

Extremely interesting and useful article. I have seen mention of the SSB software in several places around the Internet but I have not been able to find where it can be purchased. Anyone know where it can be found?

As to comparison between lead and steel, the equivalency equation only has to be modified to include the material density of lead and steel. Hence pdv is equal for two different pellets where p=material density, d=pellet diameter, v=pellet velocity.

By: David D.

David D. — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:42:29 +0000

This article is in my favorites box. I consider it a critically important update to the 600 fps rule. It is one of two or three that I always link people to on shotgun forums whenever a nube shows up asking questions about what steel shot to use.

By: Marv McDonald

Marv McDonald — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:59:33 +0000

Re: L.P Brezny Comments
Your use of a 600 fps rule for ducks with #3 shot (1.28″ penetration in ballistic gelatin) and for geese with BBs (1.8″ penetration) is reasonable for ideal conditions (e.g., shooting waterfowl overhead) although I like a little more penetration so as to be able to handle the less than ideal situations such as birds going away, etc.

The reason I wrote the article was that there were posts on DHC which listed shot sizes from #6 to BBB and their associated distances at 600 fps. These distances were called “max kill distances” without reference to waterfowl size, the implication being that all these shot sizes had the same penetration at 600 fps which is obviously not true! I found these statements incorrect at worst and misleading at best so I tried to correct that impression and give people another more realistic and technically sound way to look at what is required to kill various waterfowl.