Someone managed to reach me through E mail on this, and on the premise that if one asks, maybe 100 need to know, here's something on chokes, choke tubes, and the arcane and mysterious world of pellet performance.
Maybe you've stood and waited on a clays course while someone switched tubes for a shot that is maybe 4 yards further/closer than the last one, which they smoked.
Or maybe you've toyed with the idea of spending your hardearned money sending your trap gun to Stan Baker for a rebore, choke work and a shiny new forcing cone.
Well, here's some info that might surprise you.
Briley makes choke tubes in 10 contrictions, and sells lots of complete sets. Now, given the fact that straight Cylinder is a fine choke out to 20 yards, and maybe 25 with a top quality load, and Extra Full can hit things hard at 50 yards, that means the 25-30 yards in between has 8 different chokes possible from this maker. Sounds like overkill, huh? Maybe....
Here's some of that arcane stuff.
Firs,remember that the marking on the choke are merely educated guesses by the maker.
Patterns neither open nor close in a linear manner. Sometimes a change of a few thousandths makes an enormous difference in how the pellets pattern. Pre plastic wads, few true cylinder chokes were around, since the loads of those days tended towards raggedness without a few Points Of Constriction. Newer loads do not, and a true Cylinder choke is a marvelous tool at closer ranges and with good loads.
So, for the obsessed and those wanting to wring the last bit of performance out of their equipment, patterning with those 10 choke tubes and the loads of choice means getting the exact spread and density wanted at a given range. For an dedicated turkey hunter or a quail wizard, this is the same, tho they're looking for performance under criteria that vary.
Same applies to an AA27AA trapshooter, tuning his pattern to give the best spread while maintaining good density way out there.
But this doesn't mean we all have to have the mortgage money tied up in chokes. Figure out the mission, test choke/load combos and go with the best. And remember the load has as much to do with the pattern as the choke.
Brister reported in his magnum opus that changing the load can alter the pellets in the pattern up to 40%. Just switching pellets from cheap soft shot of dubious roundness to hard trap grade shot of better quality will do close to that. Dropping the velocity a hair might also. Fast, soft shot deform under the pressures and accelerational forces of being fired more than hard shot launched as a more sedate pace.
And, my slipshod and rough testing shows that elongating the forcing cone gives about the same effect as tightening the choke almost one increment, like IC to Mod. This is with coarse shot,I've not tested fine shot enough to substantiate similar results.
So, how many chokes should the all around shotgunner have? As many as needed. And that is probably around 3, IF they're the right constriction for the job.
And the job is roughly to produce a pattern at a given range that is as large as possible while maintaining sufficent density to put 3-5 pellets of sufficient energy and size into the vitals of a bird, or 3 pellets into a clay.
And, while the ballisticians preach about 30 inch circles, most folks are doing OK with 26"-28" of spread. Past that, the edge does get ragged.
Barring slugs and steel, a shotgunner that shoots lots of clays and upland stuff should have an open choke, something around Modified, and something tight for starters. Call it around 5, 15 and 25 POC with leeway on all. And again, your needs may vary. A woodcock double choked zero and 5 POC is more useful than the common IC/Mod combo. OTOH, a prairie pheasant chaser who goes after cranes each year might do best with Improved Mod and Full.
And for those with just one choke, all in all I'd pick a light Modified, opening and tightening the pattern as needed with load selection.This would work for 16 yard trap and much bird hunting, tho like all other compromises, not as ideal as a dedicated choke.
HTH, and sing out if there's questions...
Maybe you've stood and waited on a clays course while someone switched tubes for a shot that is maybe 4 yards further/closer than the last one, which they smoked.
Or maybe you've toyed with the idea of spending your hardearned money sending your trap gun to Stan Baker for a rebore, choke work and a shiny new forcing cone.
Well, here's some info that might surprise you.
Briley makes choke tubes in 10 contrictions, and sells lots of complete sets. Now, given the fact that straight Cylinder is a fine choke out to 20 yards, and maybe 25 with a top quality load, and Extra Full can hit things hard at 50 yards, that means the 25-30 yards in between has 8 different chokes possible from this maker. Sounds like overkill, huh? Maybe....
Here's some of that arcane stuff.
Firs,remember that the marking on the choke are merely educated guesses by the maker.
Patterns neither open nor close in a linear manner. Sometimes a change of a few thousandths makes an enormous difference in how the pellets pattern. Pre plastic wads, few true cylinder chokes were around, since the loads of those days tended towards raggedness without a few Points Of Constriction. Newer loads do not, and a true Cylinder choke is a marvelous tool at closer ranges and with good loads.
So, for the obsessed and those wanting to wring the last bit of performance out of their equipment, patterning with those 10 choke tubes and the loads of choice means getting the exact spread and density wanted at a given range. For an dedicated turkey hunter or a quail wizard, this is the same, tho they're looking for performance under criteria that vary.
Same applies to an AA27AA trapshooter, tuning his pattern to give the best spread while maintaining good density way out there.
But this doesn't mean we all have to have the mortgage money tied up in chokes. Figure out the mission, test choke/load combos and go with the best. And remember the load has as much to do with the pattern as the choke.
Brister reported in his magnum opus that changing the load can alter the pellets in the pattern up to 40%. Just switching pellets from cheap soft shot of dubious roundness to hard trap grade shot of better quality will do close to that. Dropping the velocity a hair might also. Fast, soft shot deform under the pressures and accelerational forces of being fired more than hard shot launched as a more sedate pace.
And, my slipshod and rough testing shows that elongating the forcing cone gives about the same effect as tightening the choke almost one increment, like IC to Mod. This is with coarse shot,I've not tested fine shot enough to substantiate similar results.
So, how many chokes should the all around shotgunner have? As many as needed. And that is probably around 3, IF they're the right constriction for the job.
And the job is roughly to produce a pattern at a given range that is as large as possible while maintaining sufficent density to put 3-5 pellets of sufficient energy and size into the vitals of a bird, or 3 pellets into a clay.
And, while the ballisticians preach about 30 inch circles, most folks are doing OK with 26"-28" of spread. Past that, the edge does get ragged.
Barring slugs and steel, a shotgunner that shoots lots of clays and upland stuff should have an open choke, something around Modified, and something tight for starters. Call it around 5, 15 and 25 POC with leeway on all. And again, your needs may vary. A woodcock double choked zero and 5 POC is more useful than the common IC/Mod combo. OTOH, a prairie pheasant chaser who goes after cranes each year might do best with Improved Mod and Full.
And for those with just one choke, all in all I'd pick a light Modified, opening and tightening the pattern as needed with load selection.This would work for 16 yard trap and much bird hunting, tho like all other compromises, not as ideal as a dedicated choke.
HTH, and sing out if there's questions...
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