JDog Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Recently there was a trailer for a program about a poor little chap who was having difficulties in his early years. When they xrayed his head it was found to be empty. How he manages I will never know but I wish him well. Sometimes I feel that I have the same physical characteristic. Having been shooting for forty years or so I have only just begun to understand choke in a shot gun. When I have been firing at long or high birds (I won't put a distance on this for obvious reasons) and I have extracted feathers but not enough to kill the bird I have always put it down to my inaccuracy. Now I am beginning to understand that it could have been the lack of density of pellets in the pattern as well as my aimless shooting. On some of the flight lines I have been finding half choke has not been enough it would seem and against my better judgement I replace that with full choke. This has made a lot of difference and I have killed cleanly some pretty high and rangey pigeons. The other symptom from my lack of brains has been my forgetfulness. On cleaning my semi auto last week I forgot to put the choke back in, not that I noticed until I came to clean the gun after another outing. When I took the choke key to unscrew the choke it simply wasn't there and I cursed myself for not screwing it in tight enough. Only when I unravelled the cloth from my cleaning kit did I discover that I had forgotten to put the thing back in. Five pigeon paid the price with whatever constriction the barrel must have with no choke. If someone sees a doddery old man wandering on the side of the road completely lost it might be me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 i will send you one of my clean bibs..............................scan the daily telegraph in the ads section for "rubber incontinance pants"...made from the finest malayan imported rubber...a must for the man about town...........get your dear lady to apply for a carers allowance.....(could use it on cartridges) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adge Cutler Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Forget about it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 You're not the first and won't be the last. Unlikely you've knackered the choke. Give the threads (and the brain ) a bit of a scrub and you'll be good to go again. Oh and don't forget to stick full in for next time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIDENSEEK Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Recently there was a trailer for a program about a poor little chap who was having difficulties in his early years. When they xrayed his head it was found to be empty. How he manages I will never know but I wish him well. Sometimes I feel that I have the same physical characteristic. Having been shooting for forty years or so I have only just begun to understand choke in a shot gun. When I have been firing at long or high birds (I won't put a distance on this for obvious reasons) and I have extracted feathers but not enough to kill the bird I have always put it down to my inaccuracy. Now I am beginning to understand that it could have been the lack of density of pellets in the pattern as well as my aimless shooting. On some of the flight lines I have been finding half choke has not been enough it would seem and against my better judgement I replace that with full choke. This has made a lot of difference and I have killed cleanly some pretty high and rangey pigeons. The other symptom from my lack of brains has been my forgetfulness. On cleaning my semi auto last week I forgot to put the choke back in, not that I noticed until I came to clean the gun after another outing. When I took the choke key to unscrew the choke it simply wasn't there and I cursed myself for not screwing it in tight enough. Only when I unravelled the cloth from my cleaning kit did I discover that I had forgotten to put the thing back in. Five pigeon paid the price with whatever constriction the barrel must have with no choke. If someone sees a doddery old man wandering on the side of the road completely lost it might be me. Just out of interest, were the pigeon high? I used to use heavy loads & plenty of choke when I started shooting, now I'm happy with 30 gr of 6 fibre with 1/2 choke if I'm expecting high birds, cylinder or quarter over decoys. You seem to be adjusting to the semi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Forgetfulness, Us older generation often have lapses into it, I have on one occasion left my gun at home and not noticed until completely set up! But for you their is a simple solution get the butler to clean the semi next time, ho and fit the full choke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooder Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 forgot my decoys a few weeks ago ! my memory seems to be getting worse, my wife puts it down to excessive red wine consumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Hi JD, I'm having the same problem here in Canada when after geese. Because of the law regarding steel shot, we are advised to use BB's. Lighter pellets won't do the job. Then 1 1/4 oz of BB's gives me only 90 pellets. Then, I am told that I can't use more than 1/2 choke with steel pellets. At 40 yards, which isn't a long way to hit a great big goose, the pattern is supposed to be 40 inch diameter or 1250 square inches. Not enough pellet density to ensure a clean kill. Where do I go from here? - don't say "get nearer" the trees they are flying over ( with some clearance) are 100 ft high so unless you are directly under the flight path you are at 40+yards. What do you UK wildfowlers do, the mathmatics will be the same? Go to Scotland and use No2 lead over farms land? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Hi JD, I'm having the same problem here in Canada when after geese. Because of the law regarding steel shot, we are advised to use BB's. Lighter pellets won't do the job. Then 1 1/4 oz of BB's gives me only 90 pellets. Then, I am told that I can't use more than 1/2 choke with steel pellets. At 40 yards, which isn't a long way to hit a great big goose, the pattern is supposed to be 40 inch diameter or 1250 square inches. Not enough pellet density to ensure a clean kill. Where do I go from here? - don't say "get nearer" the trees they are flying over ( with some clearance) are 100 ft high so unless you are directly under the flight path you are at 40+yards. What do you UK wildfowlers do, the mathmatics will be the same? Go to Scotland and use No2 lead over farms land? If you are struggling, my advice would be to use a heavier load (maybe an ounce and a half of BBs) and perhaps a tighter choke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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