Choke tubes

[llewellinsetter]

hey y'all I've been shooting a lot of trap and skeet in the off season, hoping i can be a better shooter next season in the field. what chokes do y'all run in your guns? Im shooting my over under with full chokes. i feel like the full chokes with clays will give me the ability to make cleaner kills when i shoot birds, also hoping it gives me a little more range.

[NC Quailhunter]

I shoot cylinder and Improved cylinder in my gun for skeet. That is when I am trying to do well with skeet. I actually hunt with the same choke combination. I do alright when we find them.
I have a gun that is fixed choke mod/full and I use that when I am shooting dove or something that is a little farther. That is what I do and I am sure there are many other combinations that you will hear about.

[Urban_Redneck]

I mostly shoot an auto loader at clays.

Low gun Skeet- Cylinder choke with #8 shot & .007 with #9

Trap- .025 Imp Mod, although I bet I break as many with .015 light mod. I'll put in .035 if we are shooting a game that ends near or past the 27y line.

My primary upland SxS gun is .007 & .015

[JONOV]

I shoot modified at just about everything in my autoloader. Every time I start to overthink it and play around with it, the birds behave the opposite of what I expect. The exception is turkey hunting or if I get wrangled into shooting trap from a far handicap line.

I shoot IC/Full in my 28 gauge over under.

[gundogguy]

hey y'all I've been shooting a lot of trap and skeet in the off season, hoping i can be a better shooter next season in the field. what chokes do y'all run in your guns? Im shooting my over under with full chokes. i feel like the full chokes with clays will give me the ability to make cleaner kills when i shoot birds, also hoping it gives me a little more range.

In and of themselves chokes will not necessarily make one a better shot. Trap and skeet are excellent forms of practice though they require different styles of shooting.
Trap literally demands a "swing-thru" style, with the right hand and face doing the work, for the right handed shooter. The opposite is true for the Lefty Yet to shoot skeet properly a "sustained lead" method is the most efficient. Especially when calling for doubles. The sustained lead method requires both hands and head working in unison. When it comes to live birds, the longer the shot tends to favor the "sustained lead" method. Way less gun movement is required. Watch some of the really good skeet shooters at your club, on doubles, gun movement is not very noticeable.
Swing thru requires the gun to be inserted behind the target swung thru the target, bang! The sustained lead requires the gun to be inserted in front of the target, as you are moving with the target the perceived lead is achieved,bang! Practise will teach your mind when the perceived lead is obtained.
For conversations sake my dbl has a nominal bore measurement .750. My 1st barrel has choke constriction .40 the 2nd barrel the constriction .50....Very tight
As for cleaner kills larger shot size can make a big difference,especially on pheasants.

[Tooling]

hey y'all I've been shooting a lot of trap and skeet in the off season, hoping i can be a better shooter next season in the field. what chokes do y'all run in your guns? Im shooting my over under with full chokes. i feel like the full chokes with clays will give me the ability to make cleaner kills when i shoot birds, also hoping it gives me a little more range.

For conversations sake my dbl has a nominal bore measurement .750. My 1st barrel has choke constriction .40 the 2nd barrel the constriction .50....Very tight
As for cleaner kills larger shot size can make a big difference,especially on pheasants.

Your bore measurement is quite large (.750) - was that honed out or did it come to you that way?

Also, I'm certain you meant .04 & .05 choke constrictions..pretty tight indeed.

[fishvik]

It all depends on what I'm hunting and when. Early season forest grouse and tight cover pheasants and it's IC and Mod in a 20 ga. Mostly I use Mod in my 12 ga. for sharptails, pheasants and late season ducks. I use IC for early season ducks and Full for late season sharpies.

[gundogguy]

hey y'all I've been shooting a lot of trap and skeet in the off season, hoping i can be a better shooter next season in the field. what chokes do y'all run in your guns? Im shooting my over under with full chokes. i feel like the full chokes with clays will give me the ability to make cleaner kills when i shoot birds, also hoping it gives me a little more range.

For conversations sake my dbl has a nominal bore measurement .750. My 1st barrel has choke constriction .40 the 2nd barrel the constriction .50....Very tight
As for cleaner kills larger shot size can make a big difference,especially on pheasants.

Your bore measurement is quite large (.750) - was that honed out or did it come to you that way?

Also, I'm certain you meant .04 & .05 choke constrictions..pretty tight indeed.

My bad I was off a few thousands, my Browning Citori XT Trap 12g measures like this:
Bore Diameter - .742"
Now heres the fun part using Hasting Chokes.
Cylinder .725
Skeet .720
Improved Cylinder .715
Light Modified .710
Modified .705
Improved Modified .700
Full .695
Extra-Full* .685

[Mountaineer]

hey y'all I've been shooting a lot of trap and skeet in the off season, hoping i can be a better shooter next season in the field. what chokes do y'all run in your guns? Im shooting my over under with full chokes. i feel like the full chokes with clays will give me the ability to make cleaner kills when i shoot birds, also hoping it gives me a little more range.

"shoot birds"....is not enough of a description to determine barrel constriction.

"Full" choke will not permit you to make "cleaner" kills on birds.

Chokes or choke tubes chosen are determined by bird, distance and a host of other particulars unique to the day and, to the shooter.

In general terms, full choke is seldom a solid choice for shooting flying, beyond a small set of conditions. Full choke is often an enabler of mistakes.

"Range" questing is another enabler of mistakes......consider entering respect for the bird into all desision to swat...or not.

[llewellinsetter]

So to be a little more clear, and explain my thought a little better. shooting a bird with a full choke at 50 yards (in my mind) focuses the shot in a tighter pattern on the bird delivering more kinetic energy on the bird giving it more knock down power.furthermore in regards to clean kills, a full choke keeps a tighter pattern, therefore delivering more shot to the target i shoot for head shoots on every pheasant or chukar i shoot, so i believe in my situation it means cleaner kills.

my thought regarding range is to challenge myself as a hunter and sportsmen, most likely at a greater distance with a tightly choked gun if my shot is not clean and accurate the bird fly off without injury, if my shot is clean and tight delivered properly the bird goes down with no suffering, the utmost respect for the animal.

i typically hunt in the high desert of California, the birds are super jumpy my pup mostly points from 15-25 yards out and the birds are up and moving when I'm within 12 yards, my average shot is atleast 40 yards some shots push 60 yards. my goal is to push myself and make myself a more proficient shooter. it is very interesting to hear everyones thoughts on this.

[Mountaineer]

You routinely shoot at a flying pheasant's head @ 40-60+ yards...with a shotgun....as the norm, rather than the odd occurrence?
Have you patterened much at 40+, let alone 60+ and taken into account a moving target?

Depending but generally....full choke can increase the pattern spread( decreasing the pattern %) from deformation alone, as distance begins to quickly reach past 40....one can up the shot count but that is no solid answer, to me, and carries it's own patterning downsides.
Common to all constrictions but even with hard or special shot and full on the edge of what constriction constitutes full, full is a tough mistress on shooting flying. The odd golden BB is best left to the odd catagory where we all have ocassionally experienced it.
Some of the hard and so, higher-patterning shot may indeed hold better core densities but with lead......40+ yards and odds on with a scattergun, imo, shows little respect for any bird....especially a tough pheasant.
A light-feathered bird like a quail or dove are more easily affected and dropped...but, pheasant...a pheasant with legs? not so much respect.
Or, the 40-60+ yards is not actually 40-60+ yards.

IMO, a birdhunting "sportsman" does not challenge himself with increasing the range....the bird always holds trump from respect and acceptance of worst case odds.
The kill clean vs. miss clean theory is very faulty(especially with a scattergun)...faulty in...the....extreme and ignores wounding.....wounding which may not be readily noticable at that 40-60+ yards and in that, again, real world of birdhunting with variables out the kazoo.

Place any challenge at shorter distances and/or with the dog work....and, then accept when....one should simply let 'em go.
One does not equipment or skill their way to ever-tougher shots re gamebirds....leave that to the clay range where a chip counts as a dead bird.

[Tooling]

You routinely shoot at a flying pheasant's head @ 40-60+ yards...with a shotgun....as the norm, rather than the odd occurrence?
Have you patterened much at 40+, let alone 60+ and taken into account a moving target?

Depending but generally....full choke can increase the pattern spread( decreasing the pattern %) from deformation alone, as distance begins to quickly reach past 40....one can up the shot count but that is no solid answer, to me, and carries it's own patterning downsides.
Common to all constrictions but even with hard or special shot and full on the edge of what constriction constitutes full, full is a tough mistress on shooting flying. The odd golden BB is best left to the odd catagory where we all have ocassionally experienced it.
Some of the hard and so, higher-patterning shot may indeed hold better core densities but with lead......40+ yards and odds on with a scattergun, imo, shows little respect for any bird....especially a tough pheasant.
A light-feathered bird like a quail or dove are more easily affected and dropped...but, pheasant...a pheasant with legs? not so much respect.
Or, the 40-60+ yards is not actually 40-60+ yards.

IMO, a birdhunting "sportsman" does not challenge himself with increasing the range....the bird always holds trump from respect and acceptance of worst case odds.
The kill clean vs. miss clean theory is very faulty(especially with a scattergun)...faulty in...the....extreme and ignores wounding.....wounding which may not be readily noticable at that 40-60+ yards and in that, again, real world of birdhunting with variables out the kazoo.

Place any challenge at shorter distances and/or with the dog work....and, then accept when....one should simply let 'em go.
One does not equipment or skill their way to ever-tougher shots re gamebirds....leave that to the clay range where a chip counts as a dead bird.

+1

Mountaineer, (or anyone else); some say that w/the advent of the plastic shot cup came the near end of shot deformation. Or so they say. Care to comment or share experience?

[Mountaineer]

I would think that lead shot deformation depends upon the shot, the particulars of the wad, the velocity (and perhaps the powder burn rate) and on and on and on.

However, while the various types of plastic wads no doubt help in reducing deformation, when in the scattergun range of 40-60 yards...then scatterguns, scatter.
Lead replacement options may offer different patterning characteristics but scatter remains.....as it is kinda sorta the point of a shotgun.

I did not mean to imply that shot deformation was the central reason to limit shot distances with real gamebirds.
That reason......would be one too many wounded and perhaps, lost gamebirds.

[Tooling]

Yep, there are a goodly number of variables. Not least of which is shot hardness, shot size to bore/choke ratio and overall bore / choke / cone geometry. I’m a believer in shot deformation regardless of shot cup, and I’ve collected the pellets to somewhat prove it before.

If long shots are a necessity, do consider a larger shot size, as that is what carries more energy down range. Caveat; Be careful of steel in larger shot sizes through those tight chokes, lest you bulge a barrel.

I've had good success with Remington Express Shotshells.

[gonehuntin']

My personal opinion is that people over-think it. Most people can not shoot to match the standard of the equipment they have. I shoot skeet and trap with the guns I hunt with, with the tubes I hunt with. Grouse and WC, cyl bottom, Imp. Cyl top. Pheasant IC bottom, Mod top. Waterfowl, IC decoys, Mod. Pass.

So when I shoot skeet, I shoot IC, IC. Trap Mod. Both sports I shoot gun down.

[Featherfinder]

GREAT subject! The variables are SO many, aren't they? I personally put very little value on chokes. For-that-matter, I prefer fixed choked guns over screw-ins. That said, I'm not a BIG waterfowler. Most of my gunning is done over pointing dogs and wild birds. The shooting technique I personally deploy just in the transition from wild birds to game farm birds is more significant. More-often-than-not, my wild bird hunting situations do not present the opportunities for follow-thru or sustained lead. They are more instinctive and require an expertise developed thru gun fit and shooting form.
I wouldn't leave the yard for ditch parrots either so that further narrows my choices. That said, ditch parrots over flushers is a BLAST!
I predominantly hunt dense cover for grouse/woodcock to quail to Huns/sharpies on the prairies. My guns are typically choked IC and mod. (My preferred prairies shotgun happens to have factory IC and Full.) Success in this regard is often determined BEHIND the gun and not at the muzzle/chokes. When I'm on, the birds go down and it's done ethically. I don't need a 12 gauge for my hunting applications - 20 or 28 AND I don't use 3" anything. I rarely shoot my limit (don't recall the last time) but that's a choice rather than thru inability. Dog work is my priority.
In my personal application, I can get a significant, more-practical variance by way of my choice in shot-shells - much more-so than from chokes.
Modern chokes are improved but I believe the old technology contributed significantly to down-field pattern degradation. Yet another reason why I prefer fixed chokes from longer forcing cones for my bird hunting forays.
In closing, if you can't hit a cow in the asterisk with a snow shovel, chokes are not the answer.