The "Who uses Buckshot" thread reminded me that it was time to pattern the newly available RC4 11/0 cartridges.

We have been experiencing a good monsoon for several weeks now, but a half-day break on the weekend gave me time to mow the lawn, then head to the range for a few shots.

The next bank of storms was moving in fast so I only had time to pattern 2 shots of each cartridge type: Winchester Standard Velocity SG (= 00 Buck), Winchester High Velocity SG (00 Buck), and the RC4 11/0 (also = 00 Buck). All cartridges had 9 pellets per load. The test gun was my 24-inch barrel Wm Griffiths SxS smooth-bore with no chokes whatsoever.

This was the target set-up. All shots at 25 metres (=27 1/2 yds).

Here's the table of results:

Here are the actual patterns recorded. The scale-bar is 30cm or 1 foot.

I don't want to read too much into this as yet, but 25 metres is looking like maximum effective range from my make-shift double-slugger. Clearly, several more shots of each cartridge are required for a meaningful average, but the way this wet season is going that could be some time off!