largest shot you can fire through a fixed full choke 12 ga.

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DocSmokey

Inactive
Hey all,
Pardon my ignorance, but I've been a life long rifle owner & untill reciently, I've never owned a shotgun.
So I need to find out, what is the largest pellet size shot I can safely fire through a 12 ga. single shot fixed choke shotgun?? I was told 000 Buck shot, but No Slugs!! Is this accurate??
Thanks for whatever info you all send me!!
DOCSMOKEY
 
I would not want to use slugs or non-lead shot. Lead only , 000 shot.The pattern however might be terrible.
 
Just yesterday, I posted this comment about slugs:
Think about it: Any contemporary 12-ga slug has to be safe to shoot in any modern 12-ga shotgun with any standard choke else the SAAMI standards are worthless and a lot of gun/ammo manufacturers' attorneys and insurance carriers would be very unhappy campers. (An exception is the use of steel shot may damage chokes not intended for steel.) All of the recommendations for using a specific slug with a certain choke are for optimum performance and in no way indicate that other applications are unsafe.
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That you have a "fixed choke" only means your barrels choke or restriction is fixed and cannot be changed, as opposed to a barrel that is machine threaded to accept either external or internal screw on/in chokes that may be swapped for a tighrer or looser choke. Your barrel should be marked somewhere indicating its fixed restriction and it most likely is a fixed "modified" barrrel.

What is the make and model of you shotgun and how old is it?
 
As long as it's one of the standard chokes (Cyl, mod, full, etc.) you can shoot any size lead pellets & either lead or saboted slugs through it.
Denis
 
+1 DePris

Slugs are soft lead and hollow. They will form to the needed diameter.

However, a slug thru a single shot is not very comfortable to shoot!
 
If slugs were dangerious to shoot through full chokes than the box would have a giant warning lable on it saying not to shoot it through full chokes, just as some choke tubes tell you not to use steel shot on the side of them. I shoot slugs through my fixed full choke 410 with no problems.
 
As a general rule I won't shoot slugs through a full choke but it can be done, never extra full choke, better with IM or light full.

As for buckshot you have to try it in your gun. I have a 12 gauge and a 10 gauge outfitted with full chokes, The 12 shots 00 and slugs just fine and the 10 is just terrible but shoots anything from #6 to #3 shot nice and tight so buck is out and slugs not more than 10 yards.
 
klawman, You may not be aged enuff to remember but before threaded barrels were common, you could buy a gun with a fixed full choke from any hardware store that sold guns. It would be right beside the other guns and not a special order item. It was often called a "duck" or "goose" gun.

Brent
 
Zip, I seen a few but they were always gatherin' dust on racks... some were too long to fit in the meager display cabinets my folks owned...

You know... pre-safe days...

Brent
 
Yep, the good old days when every hardware store had guns and ammo.

Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember life before the GCA of 1968!
 
Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember life before the GCA of 1968!
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Hand raised, I was talking to the son of the original owner of Canfields here in Omaha. He recalls the days when we could walk in and buy a winchester 30-30. Was an Army Surplus store them days.

I had a winchester 1200 full choke, I shot deer slugs thru it as it was all I had at the time.
 
I always chuckle when I hear people say that you can't shoot slugs through a full choke barrel because I've got a Sears & Roebuck (store-brand Hi Standard Flite King) 20ga pump that I inherited from my grandfather which has probably had thousands of slugs fired through it and it still patterns as tight as it ever did. A lead slug is going to give before a steel barrel does although the accuracy may suffer (though my 20ga shoots slugs very well).

The bigger issue, as I understand it, is that very coarse shot in barrels with tight chokes often won't pattern very well because the degree of constriction will cause the pellets to bounce off of each other.
 
Webley, i wouldn't worry with "bouncing" it is the flat spot deformation that will create some radical fliers...

Brent
 
Webley, i wouldn't worry with "bouncing" it is the flat spot deformation that will create some radical fliers...
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Depends on what kind of shot you're using. Steel shot, as I understand it, doesn't pattern well with lots of constriction because the pellets bounce off each other. I should have been more precise in my initial post.
 
Tight "old" choke and steel shot is a great way to give your barrel that unique bulge so many folks loves to see...:D

Brent
 
Since you asked...

...what is the largest shot that can be fired through a fixed full choke.

There is the ultra-tight patterning Dixie Tri-Ball buckshot factory round with three .60" 315 grain hard cast pellets in the load. This one patterns best in full to extra full chokes.

000B pellets run .345 to .350" in diameter.
 
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