The distribution of shotgun pellets after ricochet from an intermediate target surface

This paper presents a geometrical model for the ricochet of shotgun pellets from an intermediate target surface. The model predicts that after ricochet the shotgun pellet pattern will be elongated in the direction parallel to the intermediate target surface, as has been found in empirical studies. This paper also shows that the angle of impact theta of a mass of shotgun pellets with a target surface can be calculated without significant error from the width W and the length L of the pellet pattern using the formula: sin theta= W/L.