The pattern you want is completely depending on what you are hunting. Since you are shooting 1 1/4 oz of #5, I'm going to assume you are hunting upland game like pheasant. I'm no expert on pheasant, but being about the same size as a mallard, I do know quite a bit about hunting those.
The standard way to pattern a shotgun for wingshooting is to shoot a target at 40 yards, draw a 30" diameter circle around the center, then count the pellets in that circle. The reason for the 30" circle is to get a large statistical vantage point, and 40 yards has maintained as the standard for comparative purposes for a long time now. You can pattern at shorter or longer ranges too, and it's a good idea. 40 yards is only the standard, mostly for comparing pattern percentages. I really do not understand what purpose pattern percentages serve for hunting. You only need to know how many hits you have.
The standard for patterning for head shooting, specifically turkey hunting is the same as before, but you use a 10" circle instead. You again use a large circle for a better statistical reading, but you would be counting forever if you used a 30" for reasons I'll get into next.
What you want from a pattern depends on what you are shooting as I said. For a mallard I am happy with 100 pellets in a 30" circle. Where I get that is my maximum range. Tom Roster says 90-95 is the minimum, and says this should put 2-3 pellets in a bird, which mirrors my real world results. I'll link the chart below which show what he believes to be good minimums. Tom Roster is a fantastic source of knowledge, and has done more real world testing on birds than anyone else ever has.
For turkey hunting you need a much denser pattern if you are going to shoot them in the head. For this reason, you would need a ton of shot in a 30" circle. Nobody has that kind of time to be counting out hundreds of pellets every target. Instead the NWTF and turkey hunters have gone to a 10" circle. The time proven statistic is 100 pellets in a 10" circle is your maximum range. This should put 4-5 pellets in the brain or neck. I'm sure you are asking why you would want so many hits. The reason is there will always be variations. Every pattern has dense and sparse areas. Over time hunters have found these minimums to be good for guaranteeing at least 1 hit in a vital. It's also good practice to shoot your good loads at least 3 times to be sure you have not got a fluke pattern.
I can't give you a specific answer on how good your pattern is. It doesn't look bad, but without knowing a number, I have nothing to compare it to. I can guarantee it will kill a bird at 25 yards, but will it at 35 yards, or 45 yards? You will have to test it and count pellets to know. For your wads, I've tried a few different wad punches. My favorite is the C.S. Osborne arch punch. For 12 gauge, 3/4" is perfect. A whole bunch of us shooter use some kind of paper/card wad of some form. You can shoot with less, but in my own testing, you will want at least 1/8" thick worth of card wadding to provide a good seal. By that I mean if you have .030" card stock, you can cut those out, and stack 5 of them over the powder. I personally am using .090" pallet slip sheet, same thing just thicker, and I use 2 of them. Leather is a surprisingly effective wad. A single cow leather wad provides a good seal.
2015-08-29 121150 (sd.gov)
