Real difference between Modified and Improved Modified?

O

osallent

New member
As most of you know from my previous thread, I became a shotgun owner last week when a friend sold me his almost-new Remington 870 Express. I took it skeet shooting with another friend today and when he saw the shotgun he said "That's a modified choke on your shotgun. You need an improved modified choke if you are going to shoot skeet." Throughout the entire time we were there shooting he made me feel like I brought the wrong tool for the sport. Is modified really inferior for skeet shooting? Do I really need an improved modified?

I should add that I did get some satisfaction from shooting more clays than him, and he's been skeet shooting for a while. But he still kept on insisting that I had the wrong choke, and it's been bothering me ever since.
 
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Just to make sure ....are we really talking about "Skeet" as in two houses, a high house and a low house each throwing targets / and sometimes throwing pairs ....

or are you using the term "Skeet" meaning any game / with a clay target ??

Trap is a game - from the 16 yd line / where a Modified or an Improved Modified Choke is often used ....

Are you talking "Skeet" or maybe "Trap" ....not to insult you / but I'm wondering when your buddy said Imp Modified for skeet .... Like others I always use a Skeet choke or sometimes a Cyclinder choke for Skeet / depends on the gun and how it patterns at 21 yds or so....
 
Osallent, you can shoot skeet with any choke you really want to. What you find is that the more open the choke, the easier it gets. I have shot skeet using a full choke as a handicap.
 
I have shot skeet using a full choke as a handicap.​
My friend, I'm guessing your targets were either a clean miss or totally vaporized. :D
 
It's the one where a single clay is released from one spot, I believe it's called Trap Shooting. I said skeet at the beginning of this thread, but that was a mistake in my part. Keep in mind this was my first time shooting shotgun, so am still in the learning process.

Thank you for the links. I've found the information very helpful, and I think I have a better idea now about how chokes work and what kind of choke I should be using.
 
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What we got here's a failure to communicate.
 
If it is trap, where there are 5 stations located on a line 16 yards back from where the targets are released, an "improved modified" choke makes sense even though the standard choice of many would be a "modified". I tend to shoot late because I am slow and if the wind is in my face I have been told I would do better with an improved modified.
 
Ok, so now we know we're talking about Trap Singles ...from the 16 yard line ...

Modified should be plenty of choke ....and the idea on Trap targets ...is to hit them as they're rising ( and they're predictable because they're still under power !).

You don't want to wait for a Trap target to flatten out ....or drop :eek: ...because as they drop ...the more they drop, the faster they drop ...and you have to get way under them and follow thru by driving your barrel down ...which is way more difficult. Shoot a Trap target as they are rising. If you don't have a Modified choke / then shoot an Improved Modified --- but I wouldn't go any tighter than that.
 
A modified chock will work for 16 yd trap. An improved modified chock is better and a full chock is best.

Bob
 
FYI: My R-1100-Trap model (with Trap rolled into the side of the receiver, and Target on the step rib barrel) came with 3 Remington screw-in chokes, labeled: Trap Full, Extra Full and Super Full.
I can never remember which is tighter Super or Extra full; but, you can see the difference in wall the thicknesses,
 
Use St for skeet. C or iC if you do not have Skt chokes.

Use IM or F for trap. M is okay for short yardage.

Draw (or find in a book) layouts for trap and skeet. Read the 'how to', then post the pics by your desk and practice in your head ... visualize! The old copy of Shotgun Digest edited by Robert Stack is one of my favorites. Small books by D. Lee Braun and Little (The Little Trap Book) are good. Probably have to search Amazon.
 
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