The length of a shot string

[Salopian]

An interesting comment from George Digweed in the Round Table Podcast on Shotgunworld.
He says he favours tight chokes as they give him a longer shot string ! REALLY? Do they?
Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham did extensive testing and concluded that Open chokes give a longer shot string .
Who is correct please?

 

[Will Hewland]

I’m massively impressed by Georges shooting over his illustrious career but I’m fairly convinced he’s not the best scientific resource in the game. Anybody with a calculator will soon figure out shot string doesn’t really exist as a usable entity, especially on close targets like skeet. I calculate that a six foot long shot string travels its own length (I.e passes the clay pigeon) in about 0.005 of a second, during which a 40mph clay travels about 0.29 of an inch. And if we’re only talking about extending the shot string over some other choke option, the “advantage” of lengthening the string (if it happens) is some small percentage of the 0.29”. Nah.. sorry.. If you shoot a pattern plate, the whole pattern hits the plate in one instant as far as the human senses can perceive it. The way some people talk it ought to sound like a tube of marbles being dropped onto a tiled floor.

It’s one of the great conundrums in listening to a fantastic shooter talk about how and why they achieve what they do. How much does their spoken opinion completely correlate to what really occurs? I’ve seen various videos over the years with top shots demonstrating their methods who are literally not doing what the images show. (Not Ben H btw.. ).

(Edited to clarify maths)

 

[perazman]

I guess if YOU believe that is the case and it gives you an advantage then psychologically it will.

He also states if you swing through from behind then you can't not be on the line. I beg to differ!

PM.

 

[bordergun]

What barrel constriction will give is better pattern density, not a longer shot-string. When the main mass of pellets is forced through some degree of choke, it causes the center of the shot column to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the bore and it will hold together better after exciting the barrel. The more choke, the greater the cohesion of pellets over a longer distance. However, the rear portion of the charge begins to disperse more rapidly for two reasons. These rear pellets have slightly less velocity, they are more deformed and therefore aerodynamically inferior to the front pellets, which will be more spherical and therefore less affected by air resistance.

The pellets passing through a cylinder barrel are not deflected inward in the choke area and the small cylinder of pellets emerges more or less intact. As soon as these pellets meet air resistance, a drag effect begins to separate them and because there is no slightly faster central portion to the column of shot, unlike the choke barrel, this happens quicker with the cylinder barrel. So, the cylinder barrel will give you a longer shotstring.

 

[Richard59]

An interesting comment from George Digweed in the Round Table Podcast on Shotgunworld.
He says he favours tight chokes as they give him a longer shot string ! REALLY? Do they?
Royal College of Military Science at Shrivenham did extensive testing and concluded that Open chokes give a longer shot string .
Who is correct please?

Just a typo but always thought it was RMCS not RCMS? Back in 70s us oiks and others from Lechlade (now Lechlade-on-Thames) used the play the officers there at cricket, first game of year and it was always the second Saturday in April, every time there we had an absolute hoot, no between innings tea as they wanted to play through and have “tea”afterwards, some dressed in uniform it was like the dinner party from Carry on up the Khyber (before the shelling) quite something for this country bumpkin, beer was not quite free but as close to it as it could be, they were the most wonderful of times