46 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



the choke bore. At 30 yards the shot column takes .027 of a 

 second to reach the distance after the first pellets are up. The 

 60 feet a second bird takes .041 of a second, and the 100 feet 

 per second bird takes but .025, or a less period than the shot 

 column. At 40 yards the slow bird takes .050 and the fast 

 one .030 of a second, and the shot occupies .042 of a second. 

 At 50 yards the times are .062 for the slow bird and .037 for 

 the fast one, and the period taken by the shot column is .050 

 of the unit of time; so that at the longer range the best 

 timing possible would only give the game -- of the shot he 

 would have as a slow bird. 



The cylinder bore, with its longer column of shot and 

 wider spread as well, is a little different in effect. At 30 yards 

 the period occupied between first and last pellet is .034 of the 

 second, and the slow game takes .050, and the fast .030 of a 

 second. At 40 yards .049 is the period for the pellets; and 

 .062 and .037 of a second those for the quick and tardy game, 

 so that there is twelve parts in every 49 of the shot rendered 

 useless in spite of the best possible timing and the truest of 

 allowances in front. At 50 yards the shot pellets occupy .057 

 of a second for the rearguard to come up to the distance, 

 and the game takes respectively .075 and .045 of a second for 

 the slow and the fast. So that, again, one gets all the benefit 

 as if he were still, and the other cannot do so under any 

 circumstances. 



In the last case, at 40 yards, every misjudgment of distance 

 to allow ahead by I foot is equivalent to .016 of a second off the 

 total of .049 second occupied by the shot column, so that 3 feet 

 of error will be equivalent to a total miss for the slow bird, 

 whereas for the fast bird every foot of error is equivalent to 

 .010 of a second, and 5 feet of error in judgment in allowing 

 in front, may enable you to hit with the tail end of the shot 

 column, but only to wound most likely. 



The best shot - gun experiments ever made with the 

 chronograph, therefore, show that if you have to aim 5 feet 

 in front, and do aim 10 in front, you do not necessarily totally 

 miss at 40 yards ; whereas if, instead of aiming 5 feet too much 



