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Posted: 9/5/2026 10:51:11 PM EDT
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I was playing with a couple commercial shotgun loads the other day. Both were 9-pellet 00-buckshot, but one was high brass 1325 fps. ammo. The other is a low brass "Law Enforcement" load. I was shooting out of a 14" SBS and wanted to see how close they came to the advertised velocity. Getting shotgun velocity could be a challenge in the past, as the chance of taking out the skyscreens on your optical chronograph was pretty high. The Doppler radar chronographs take away that risk. However, I was surprised when the Garmin really seemed to struggle to pick up the shots. I fired a total of 10 rounds, 5 of each type. The Garmin picked up half of them. 2 of one type and 3 from the other. I had brought the chronograph out for some handgun loads I was working on and they picked up perfectly, shooting from the same position relative to the chronograph. I don't know if the slower velocity of the wad dropping away from the shot column confuses the system, or what else might cause this issue. Anyone else ever try this? Am I getting too far into the science of shooting, and should really just worry about... shooting? BTW, the low brass stuff was advertised at 1145 fps. The two readings I got were 1180 and 1140 fps. So an average of 1160 fps. is right in there. The high brass load is advertised at 1325 fps., while the three recorded shots averaged 1167 fps. Maybe they used a 30" test barrel... for tacticool buckshot. 
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I did once - a friend reloads shotgun ammo for clay shooting and was curious if velocity was where he expected. I told him we could try but I wasn't sure if it would work or not with the Xero (gen1). We tested ~10 rounds (don't remember exact count but was less than 15) and they all picked up without issue. Velocity was nearly dead on where he hoped to be so no further testing performed. |
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