Cylinder fun

[nagantino]

I keep an eye on a barley field near me and set up on it 2 weeks ago. Hot weather and all the gear made for an uncomfortable set up. I was using the Yeoman 1/4 and 1/2. I took about 12 birds with many missed birds especially crossers. Last Friday I noticed the field was cut with lots of birds flying around the trees and dropping in. So, I went out today again only this time I dumped all I could out of the kit bag that I thought was not needed. I only took one net and a few full bodied decoys. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the pigeon decoy and fitted one of those sticks with a spring. I also left the Yeoman and took the Mossberg 500 which is cylinder choked. What a difference. Crossers dropping and hitting way more birds than usual. It was cool today and even cold for a while, but the fun was mighty. I think I'll stick with the Mossberg. I know we often debate the hell out of the choke question but cylinder worked for me today.

[motty]

If it worked for you, great. Cylinder choke is a little too open for me.

[Walker570]

Should have had that yesterday....in fact could have done with one of those 'blunderbuses' with the end belled out ....probably would still have missed

[Old Boggy]

5 hours ago, motty said:

If it worked for you, great. Cylinder choke is a little too open for me.

I think, Motty, judging by the size of your previous bags, that you are an excellent shot and probably take your birds out at longer ranges than us mere mortals, so use tighter chokes. For us however, when decoying and if shooting within our 'comfort zone' the birds are much closer, so cylinder is perfectly adequate. Roost shooting or flighting, however is another thing. Confidence in one's gun and cartridges also plays a part even if it's purely psychological.  Just my thoughts.

OB

[motty]

1 hour ago, Old Boggy said:

I think, Motty, judging by the size of your previous bags, that you are an excellent shot and probably take your birds out at longer ranges than us mere mortals, so use tighter chokes. For us however, when decoying and if shooting within our 'comfort zone' the birds are much closer, so cylinder is perfectly adequate. Roost shooting or flighting, however is another thing. Confidence in one's gun and cartridges also plays a part even if it's purely psychological.  Just my thoughts.

OB

I'm not claiming to be an amazing shot, although I do like to think I can hold the gun straight every now and then. Maybe you're right, its about confidence. I don't think that I could cleanly kill birds that are skirting the decoys, with a cylinder choke. That's why I generally use full choke for my live bird shooting. I don't think you need to be a great shot to use tight chokes.

[marsh man]

I find whatever choke combination you use , the barrels have still got to be pointed in the right place and yes confidence do play an important part , every time I lift my gun up to fire at a pigeon I am going to hit it , or so my mind tell me I am going to , after I pull the trigger , like most average shots some are brought down and some carry on , its no point in taking one on if you think you are going to miss it because nine times out of ten you will miss because you thought you would before you pulled the trigger.

When my brother was at his peak at pigeon shooting he was one of the finest pigeon shots I had seen , his guns were normally cheap side by sides , one of the first jobs he done when he bought one was to put an electric drill in the barrels with metal sand paper and take the chokes out to make both barrels true cylinder , they suited him but not for me .

I have always used the same gun for all mt types of shooting , wild fowling , pigeon shooting and the odd day game shooting , I cant see any point in paying good money to stand on a peg with a gun you rarely use just because it look better than your gun that you use most days of the week.

When I was younger my main gun was a Midland Gun Company wild fowling gun that had full choke in both barrels and weighed a ton , I would decoy well out so you had time to swing and the weight of it absorbed all the recoil , I used that gun for donkey years until it became to loose to spend money on , In the time I had it , I must had shot several 1000 pigeons and a fair amount of wildfowl and was one of the happiest times during all the years that I had been shooting . 

 

[nagantino]

I forgot to give the tally........55 woodpigeon using 6's. Only 2 birds needed dispatch. There's something about choke that excites passions in shooters, especially wood pigeon shooters. Cylinder worked for me yesterday I know that, and I will use it again. 

[muncher]

11 minutes ago, nagantino said:

I forgot to give the tally........55 woodpigeon using 6's. Only 2 birds needed dispatch. There's something about choke that excites passions in shooters, especially wood pigeon shooters. Cylinder worked for me yesterday I know that, and I will use it again. 

I bet it wasn't the choke that helped ,I'd bet it was down to gun fit.

[yickdaz]

As said if it works for you crack on I like tighter chokes so I can take on the more rangier stuff flighting over and the birds that don't decoy usually 1/2 and full with lead  1/2 - 3/4 with steel

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, muncher said:

I bet it wasn't the choke that helped ,I'd bet it was down to gun fit.

Quite a bit is in the mind , my old s x s is around 1/2 and full and I tend to fire my left barrel a lot more than I do my right , although the same result could be got with either barrel , in my mind I feel I stand more change stopping it at a good range than I do by using the right barrel.

As for gun fit , we have never had deep enough pockets to have a gun fitted , in fact I have never had a new gun , if it feel right , we end up molding ourselves to the gun , rather than the other way round . 

[ditchman]

my 26" sxs is cylinder and 1/4.........most of my decoying is within 40yds...all the quick close stuff up to 25 yds the cylinder takes  it....and the rest is done with the 1/4....im still surprised at how far out a 28gm 6 or 7 will drop stuff...........

watching motties vids.........he is often in wide open spaces with not so many trees about...and he looks to decoy and shoot further away that me so his choice of choke suits him and his style of shooting

[Clodhopper]

For me, the less I have to think about the better. I use 1/4 choke with 1 ounce of 6’s. I try not to alter this combination as the old grey matter gets a work out and I start shooting badly. I use this for all my shooting since I  rarely get out after wildfowl any more.

[nagantino]

I get that alright, another field and the cylinder choke might not work so well. The field I was set up in is all shapes, like a jigsaw piece. I need to watch muzzle angle with a house and a road to be considered. The most difficult birds were those that committed then changed their minds but that's the challenge. Watching crossers fold was what made my day. 

[crow]

1/4 choke seems to work for me. maybe its the gun and the choke combo