Shotgun ammo effectiveness

I was digging through my hard drive for something else, and came across this. It's a bit of testing I did with my shotgun when I was trying to find out which loads worked best.

	width	height	Area (square inches)	Hits	Percent hit
Winchester Super-X	17.5	20	350	8	89%
	13	18	234	6	67%
	15.25	20	305	8	89%
	18.5	21.5	397.75	8	89%
	18	19.25	346.5	8	89%
		Total Average	326.65		84%
Remington LE RR	10.25	13	133.25	8	100%
	9.25	11.75	108.6875	6	75%
	13.25	12.5	165.625	8	100%
	14	8.5	119	7	88%
	12.75	12	153	8	100%
		Total Average	135.9125		93%
Hornady TAP	15	13.5	202.5	8	100%
	5.75	4.5	25.875	8	100%
	13	8.5	110.5	8	100%
	12	12	144	7	88%
	8	4.5	36	8	100%
		Total Average	103.775		98%

Some explanation is required. I was testing at an indoor range, so environmental factors should be limited. All targets were at 25 meters.

Height and width were calculated by measuring the furthest pellets hits on paper. Area is a simple multiplication of height and width; not exact of course, but close enough to compare different rounds. Percentage of hits on target are those pellets which hit a human silhouette.

In all cases, the same shotgun was used. It has an 18 inch barrel with an improved cylinder ( i.e. open ) choke.

As you can see, the reduced recoil loads ( the Remington and the Hornady TAP ) have significantly tighter patterns than the regular 00 buckshot, even without a more restrictive choke. That's a feature I like, since in anything other than an open choke you risk damaging your barrel if you shoot deer slugs.

Also, my shoulder appreciates the lessened recoil.

So, while the reduced recoil ammo might be a bit more expensive than standard 00 buckshot there is an increase in performance that I find worth the cost.