Thread: Chokes and short shot strings...

Steve Grooms in his book Modern Pheasant Hunting (second edition) states...

The improved cylinder choke offers the highest quality patterns at real world pheasant shooting ranges, though modified chokes work almost as well. The full choke ranks a distant third place. The harsh constriction o fthe full choke throws uneven patterns with lots of fliers and long shot stringings.

Research shows that the shot swarm does not disperse at an even rate upon leaving the barrel. Patterns from an improved-cylinder choke open up quickly, then hold together for a long time in a deadly swarm, finally dispersing too thinly to be effective. Contrarily, full-choke patterns move out in a tight clump until some point downrange, when they quickly open up and become too dispersed to kill cleanly. Full chokes are at their best from forty to fifty yards, which is to say they are effective only within a short distance that is well beyond the range most shots at pheasants. Modified chokes fall somewhere between improved cyclinder and full chokes in their behaviour, showing more of the good qualities of improved cylinders than the bad qualities of full chokes.

Unquote.

I have spoken to shotgun owners who only ever use full choke...are they compensating by the ammuniation weight or just plain lucky!! How could the lay person test the shot stringing of their shotgun?

Swing over a board and fire then look for lateral dispersion ?

I have no idea really used a shot gun with a bit of success on bunnys as a kid and haven't really used one since.

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Its a bit of a crock in my opinion saying IC is best and full is 3rd
Whats 2nd? DF, C, SK, LM, M, IM, LF, XF???
I had a shotgun that would blow a foot hole in the middle of a full choke pattern with Falcon 42gr
Another gun that would pattern nicely and another that was so tight you could shoot rabbits at about 60+ yds with little spread.
Gun + choke + ammo will change things dramatically
eg: Briley replacements are typically 5 thou tighter in equivalent patterns to the same size Browning choke

Modified chokes fall somewhere between improved cyclinder and full chokes in their behaviour

No shit! Mod just happens to be in the middle of that range
So do 3 or 4 other chokes... prob more than outside that range..
Cyl is typically 0 thou constriction, mod 20 thou and full 40 thou
They all fall in that range

I'd flush that 'technical' piece of writing myself

Thank you!!!! The ballistic side of things is somewhat perplexing to me...!!! I appreciate your comments, Spanners.

Somebody had better tell George Digweed he's doing it all wrong and open up his barrels to IC .Even better Steve Grooms should maybe give George a few lessons on how to shoot Pheasant"s .


Ken

No one said you can't shoot with whatever choke (I know someone who shoots skeet with full for sporting practice and still shoots 20+) but the reasoning etc in the article copied above is just horse shit.
It's like saying double DDs are best and 3rd are As and that Bs are in between somewhere. 2x personal statements and some obvious fact thrown in at the end to fill a few more lines in an article that didn't need to be written other that to fill space...

Welcome to the wonderful world of gunwriting!

I had a book - I think by Bob Brister, which was on "Shotgunning - The art and the science" (or similar), where Bob did a huge amount of testing using targets towed behind a car (driven by his wife!!). This gave him all the info on shot stringing using various loads and chokes. I lent the book to someone, who has permanently "relocated" it to their place. Be worth getting a copy if you really want to know. If you find my copy - PM me.

Found it on amazon. Thank you, Lentil

Amazon.com: shorgunning, the art and science

My bloody choke is stuck fast,can't move it but its splattering things now

Originally Posted by Dundee

My bloody choke is stuck fast,can't move it but its splattering things now

Store barrel down in pottle of Rostoff or similar decent quality penetrant and give it a go in a weeks time

To test the pattern of my shooting stick I used an old sheet strung up between two big poles. I shot at the intended shooting range for my pond with the intended ammo. Use a different sheet for each choke you are testing. If you know where the holes are in your pattern, with each choke type, you can compensate when aiming at your prey.

Have a look at this web site , there are several good articles on chokes which are worth reading . Search website