my choke

[Kingbarn]

When i brought my hatsan escort i asked the bloke behind the counter what choke he would recomend ?, i said all id be doing to start with was clay shooting till i became a decent shot then i plan to become the great white hunter ,he said the quarter and put that one in.

when i went i seemed to get along just fine but i seen in these over and under guns they all seem to use for clay shooting they have a half and three quarter choke in them. i also had a go at the skeet shooting the one time(how hard was that )should i be using the skeet choke for that wich i got with the gun? am i useing the right one im confused tbh ? any help will be more than gratefull,and a simple exsplanation would be great,im a simple kind of guy lol thanks

[turbo33]

When i brought my hatsan escort i asked the bloke behind the counter what choke he would recomend ?, i said all id be doing to start with was clay shooting till i became a decent shot then i plan to become the great white hunter ,he said the quarter and put that one in.

when i went i seemed to get along just fine but i seen in these over and under guns they all seem to use for clay shooting they have a half and three quarter choke in them. i also had a go at the skeet shooting the one time(how hard was that )should i be using the skeet choke for that wich i got with the gun? am i useing the right one im confused tbh ? any help will be more than gratefull,and a simple exsplanation would be great,im a simple kind of guy lol thanks

 

Chokes are essentially open pattern to start with ending up in a tight pattern. So starting with cylinder, then 1/4,1/2,3/4 and full. The point being that as the shot travels further, the spread gets greater thus leaving "holes" in the pattern. There are chokes for some guns in between these sizes, but they are for the purest!! As a rough guide, close shots.......20 yds Skeet/cylinder .....longish shots 40 yds full choke. The others somewhere in between. For rough shooting most fixed choke guns are 1/4 and 1/2. IMHO they are pretty much a good all round compromise. When you become the great white hunter and shoot a pigeon at 20 yards with the full choke there will be something akin to pigeon pate' to show for your efforts Similarly, if you use a cylinder out to 40yds, the pattern may be so spread out that it won't ensure a clean kill.In time you will learn which works best for you, 1/4 was good advice.

Hope this helps

[Gordon R]

The gun shop told you correctly. Stick with 1/4 - it's good enough for sporting and okay for skeet.

[Simon123]

I used 1/4 and 1/2 in my lanber when i started, but not that i've got a hatsan escort magnum (after less than half a year shooting) i much rather having a 1/2 in when shooting clays/skeet, which seems to suit me better ;)

[Kingbarn]

thanks for your replies and thanks turbo for that well exsplained reply it seems a lot more simple than i thourght,i think ill stick with the quarter and see how it goes and when it comes to a bit of hunting i think the experimenting will start then ?

[KFC]

I have a Stoeger semi auto.

 

It was ex-demo and came with 1/2 choke. I then bought a 1/4 and 3/4 for it.

 

I only ever use the 1/4 choke for everything.

 

The reality of chokes is that, over 40yds, the actual spread of the pattern is only 18" tighter with full choke. That is 9" radius. If you look at something that you estimate is 40yds away and then estimate the 9" you'll see it's not that critical.

What choke does do is increase the percentage of shot at the centre of the pattern so there's fewer holes in the pattern within a 30" circle at 40yds.

 

I've worked on shoots and clay grounds.

I've often seen shooters on the clay grounds who'll ask to see a pair of clays then change chokes accordingly. If it works for them then fine.

However, on all kinds of game and pest control shooting, I've never yet seen a gun who, upon spotting an approaching bird, decided that he needed to change the chokes and then shot the bird. I've never done it myself either.

 

Yes, there is a place for full choke on long birds but all I'm sayings is, don't get too hung up on all the talk of chokes. Accuracy and reading the target is more important.

[steve_b_wales]

I use a 3/4 choke in my semi auto, and 1/2 & 3/4 in my O/U.

[COACH]

1/4 or I.C is the best all round choke there is.

Its perfect for a beginner trying there hand at most things with the acception of geese and trap shooting maybe.

I use it for skeet and English sporting in both barrels. Will swap the top barrel with a 3/4 for FITASC. Works a treat.

 

However it has been found that many of the chokes supplied with the guns are nothing like what they are suppose to be and are found to be more open in general.

[Guest cookoff013]

The gun shop told you correctly. Stick with 1/4 - it's good enough for sporting and okay for skeet.

 

as a general rule, that is correct.

 

i`ve shot some places, that have pushed targets beyond what we would reasonably try to shoot them.

often just full gets put in the top.

 

at the end of the day its the hands that do the shooting ..

i`ve hit 60+ yard crossers, using 1oz of 7.5s in a cylinder choke (my skeet setup) i just couldnt believe it. the breaks were very poor, clays just splitting in 2 pieces, not crushing targets.

 

full chokes, can get a pattern out of most cartridges

 

but for "everyday" sporting 1/4 is the minimum, without hindering you.

for everyday bird shooting, 3/4. 1/4 for "sitting on decoys" and full for pass shooting, or on the flightline.

[David BASC]

To be honest the best thing you can do is to get down to a shooting ground with a pattern plate and shoot a few patterns with the cartridge of your choice - there can be significant differences in the shot patters guns will throw with the same cartridge.

 

In a recent test we shot the same brand of cartridge from the same box of 25 at a pattern plate 30 yards away, all guns with the same choke.- some guns happily put 150-180 pellets into the 30 inch circle, one gun only put 50!

 

David

[Guest cookoff013]

To be honest the best thing you can do is to get down to a shooting ground with a pattern plate and shoot a few patterns with the cartridge of your choice - there can be significant differences in the shot patters guns will throw with the same cartridge.

 

In a recent test we shot the same brand of cartridge from the same box of 25 at a pattern plate 30 yards away, all guns with the same choke.- some guns happily put 150-180 pellets into the 30 inch circle, one gun only put 50!

 

David

 

he isnt wrong.

 

if you had a statstician and 1000+ firings and the data analysed to the Nth degree. you would come up with a conclusion of average x amount of pellets in 30" circle. sometimes more sometimes less.

 

shotgunning isnt about stats, or technology, often cartridges are good enough just to carry on. i`ve not patterned too many loads. but the stats on them are all over the place.

one cartridge will fire completely different from the next, from the same brand and batch.

put in a different choke, and that can all change. changing from 1/2 to full, could make no difference at all.

 

if you really wanted to do stats on a shotshell, you`d need to fire 1000 minimum.

 

but then you`d have meaningless and worthless data for the average shooter.

 

i`m in the "whack" full choke in their and forget. unless i`m shooting steel, on 1/2choke.

[Kingbarn]

thanks again for your other replies v much apreciated