Which choke tube ?

A

AC's & 45's

New member
I recently got my new 870 Express. It came with a modified choke tube. I bought an upgrade kit too. It has a full and improved cylinder tubes as well as a better wrench and a bottle of oil.

For use with 00 Buck and Foster type slugs, which Choke tube will give the optimum performance?
 
Generally, for buck and slugs, you'll need a more open choke (improved cylinder). However, you should try both the improved and modified and see which groups better.

In my Mossy, I get the best buckshot patterns at 25 yds with a modified choke. Your gun may have a different preference.

Never tried slugs, just repeating what I've heard from others. If you use the search feature, you should find quite a few threads on using slugs in smoothbore barrels.
 
Open chokes TEND to do better with the RIGHT slug, and only bench testing will establish which one is the right one. The good news is there's no ineffective slugs.I'd try that Modified tube,as well as IC, exceptions do happen.

If your hunting area is slug only, you may want to consider a rifled choke tube also. Going to one from an IC tube cut about an inch off my 50 yard groups. Rifled tube do poorly with shot,so if it's an either/or stay with an ungrooved tube.

Also, if you're doing both slugs and buck, after zeroing with one, see where the other load hits. 00 patterns 18" lower than slugs in my HD 870.
 
Which choke for Buck and Slugs?

The problem you run into here is if you want to shoot both there is no ggod answer, just a compromise.

As Dave McC said, slugs generally shoot better out of a barrel with little or no choke. The problem here is that 00 Buck doesn't pattern tightly out of a barrel without much choke. The key is to decide what you want out of your SG and choke appropriately. A common compromise for SG chokes is modified. It provides a decent pattern with buck and you are still able to shoot a slug accurately. The Vang Comp barrel work you hear allot about results in basically a modified choke. It gives great patterns with buck and still shoots slugs accurately.

I had my 11-87 Police Vang Comped and found that it greatly improved my buck patterns while I am still able to make consistant hits at a 15" (across) metal gong at 150m. I found the biggest key to shooting slugs accurately was having a good pair of sights. After I installed the MMC Ghost Rings on the 11-87P my slug accuracy increased dramatically.

Since you have both an IC and a modified choke, grab some ammo and see what works better for you.
 
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