I worked in retail gun sales for a number of years. I know that most people didn't ever pattern a gun or load.
Last year my son went turkey hunting with an "experienced" turkey hunter. My son was shooting my old Rem. 870, 12 ga., 2 3/4" fixed full choke barrel. The other guy was shooting a 3" magnum 12 ga. and 3" shells. I don't know any more details of his gun and load. They called in two gobblers at the same time. My son shot the one on his side and the other guy shot the bird on his side. They were basically at the same range. My son's bird dropped at the shot. The other guy fired 3 times and knocked his bird down at least once, but didn't recover it. I know my son was shooting a load that I had patterned after testing numerous loads. I doubt, but don't know for a fact if the other guy had patterned his gun and load. I suspect that the other guy wasn't shooting the best load for his gun. If he hadn't patterned the gun, chances are the barrel was slightly off and his pattern wasn't centered on his target.
I embarrassed myself something terrible years ago. I went out to my bosses ranch for a day of clay bird shooting with a number of folks in the shooting industry. First round I hit 1 out of 25 birds. Well, I learned my lesson. in the following weeks I patterned my gun with a number of different loads and chose the best one. Next time out I broke 23 out of 25 birds. I've done much better than that since then. No doubt about it folks, shotguns need to be patterned!
Interesting that Benelli owns Franchi. The guy I mentioned above sent his gun in and got it back several weeks later. They hadn't done a thing to it. They said it was within their specs. He has since mounted a Holo-Sight on it to compensate for the load hitting to the left of point of aim.
Personally, I don't enjoy patterning shotguns, especially 3" mags. I do however like to know that I'm shooting the best loads, am on target and know what my pattern is doing at different ranges.
Last year my son went turkey hunting with an "experienced" turkey hunter. My son was shooting my old Rem. 870, 12 ga., 2 3/4" fixed full choke barrel. The other guy was shooting a 3" magnum 12 ga. and 3" shells. I don't know any more details of his gun and load. They called in two gobblers at the same time. My son shot the one on his side and the other guy shot the bird on his side. They were basically at the same range. My son's bird dropped at the shot. The other guy fired 3 times and knocked his bird down at least once, but didn't recover it. I know my son was shooting a load that I had patterned after testing numerous loads. I doubt, but don't know for a fact if the other guy had patterned his gun and load. I suspect that the other guy wasn't shooting the best load for his gun. If he hadn't patterned the gun, chances are the barrel was slightly off and his pattern wasn't centered on his target.
I embarrassed myself something terrible years ago. I went out to my bosses ranch for a day of clay bird shooting with a number of folks in the shooting industry. First round I hit 1 out of 25 birds. Well, I learned my lesson. in the following weeks I patterned my gun with a number of different loads and chose the best one. Next time out I broke 23 out of 25 birds. I've done much better than that since then. No doubt about it folks, shotguns need to be patterned!
Interesting that Benelli owns Franchi. The guy I mentioned above sent his gun in and got it back several weeks later. They hadn't done a thing to it. They said it was within their specs. He has since mounted a Holo-Sight on it to compensate for the load hitting to the left of point of aim.
Personally, I don't enjoy patterning shotguns, especially 3" mags. I do however like to know that I'm shooting the best loads, am on target and know what my pattern is doing at different ranges.