IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
From this it will be seen that a considerable proportion 
of the charge of shot cannot be utilised for striking a high 
or a distant crossing bird, and this is another reason why it 
is so hard to kill ; though you may shoot your gun at 40 yds. 
at a stationary target and wonder if even a jack-snipe could 
escape the close pattern it makes. 
The stationary target does not, however, show the stringing 
of a charge of shot. 
pattern of lo ft. to 12 ft.; but if it had been revolving at 600 ft. per second, 
the pattern, or string of shot, from the first to the last pellets, would have been 
nearly three times as long, or, as Mr. Griffith pointed out, about 30 ft. la 
the case of a rotating disc — or for that matter a long flat target, if it could be 
arranged to move longitudinally at a sufficient speed — the pattern of the shot- 
stream would always be lengthened just in proportion as the velocity of the 
shot-pellets exceeded the speed at which the disc revolved, or at which the target 
passed in front of the gun. 
A pheasant crossing overhead, or to one side, at 40 yds., flies, when there is 
no wind, at a rate of about 60 ft. per second, and travels nearly 9 ft. during the 
time occupied by the fastest pellets of the charge of shot in reaching it. 
If a crossing pheasant at 40 yds. requires an allowance of from 8 ft. to 9 ft. 
under the above conditions, it is clear that the slowest pellets of the string of shot 
could not come up to the bird [should it not be killed] before it had flown clear 
of them : i.e. beyond the position it was in when the fastest pellets reached it. 
Anyhow, it is well to give a high, or a distant, crossing pheasant a rather more 
ample forward allowance than at first sight might appear necessary ; as if the 
fastest pellets of the shot-charge did happen to pass in front of it, then slower 
pellets might come up in time to kill. 
If, however, the forward allowance is not sufficient, then, of course, the first 
part of the shot-charge, and the slower part that follows it, will both pass behind 
the bird. 
What percentage of the fastest portion of the shot-string strikes a crossing bird,, 
and what percentage of the slower portion of the shot-string comes up too late 
to be of service to the shooter, is, however, beyond conjecture. 
F 
