What is the best choke for pigeons?

[Stamford]

Mmmm OK But thats not the choice I have Without paying for a new Chokes, all I have is Imp Cyl, Full or Skeet ? Ive been using Imp and Full but I dont know where the Skeet lies between the two ?? Skeet looks like 1/2 or even 3/4, does anyone know ?

[Greenhunter]

Mmmm OK But thats not the choice I have Without paying for a new Chokes, all I have is Imp Cyl, Full or Skeet ? Ive been using Imp and Full but I dont know where the Skeet lies between the two ?? Skeet looks like 1/2 or even 3/4, does anyone know ?

Don't know where skeet comes in, never seen/used one, but if it looks more open than the full choke use it till you can get a 1/2 or even another 1/4.(IMO)

[Ozzy Fudd]

use a benelli s/a for hunting, normally use full open choke but i managed to bag a big fat woody at 65 yards a few weeks ago using 1/2 choke and 32 grm 6's, and once hit a crow sitting in a tree at 80 yards with full choke and a no 4 shot....

[Big_Sam]

Skeet is very open.

[mcw65]

Chokes run in order off Cyl | Skeet | 1/4 | 3/8 | 1/2 | 5/8 | 3/4 | 7/8 | Full | XFull

[vole]

I use as open as possible and might even check if the rfd will put a trumpet type choke in my next gun.

[stu nesling]

just got a rough gun,sxs. choked 1/2+full. i find it a bit tight to say the least!.

it either kills stone dead or misses cleanly,which is not a bad thing really.

but i have 1/4+1/2 in the multichoke beretta and that does for nearly everything.

[tungsten]

I also have a beretta 682 gold with multi chokes and tended to use 1/4 and 1/2 and No.6's, but found over decoys this combination were hiting them too hard. As I was roughing up my berreta i decided to buy a second hand gun which has cylinder and 1/4 and am thinking of trying 32 gram 6 1/2's or even 7's.

[Beardo]

has anyone tried using a skeet choke (ie negative choking) for pigeon shooting?

[caeser]

has anyone tried using a skeet choke (ie negative choking) for pigeon shooting?

My personal opinion, it might be wrong but, I think there's too much talk about chokes and the effects/and whats best etc. I left two skeet chokes in my pigeon shooting gun for about 6 months, kept forgetting until I got to the fields. Kill rate never changed, ( I missed them all, no seriously though) , I reckon I average about 2 out of 3 over decoys, and that never changed. Even long range birds were dropping no probs. It was enough evidence for me.

Edited December 9, 2008 by caeser

[Beardo]

ignore the bit about negative choking (see the Beretta Choke thread!)

 

i think i'm going to give it a go, see if i can tell any difference

[garyb]

I used Skeet and 1/4 Nick when I had a MC gun just fine on the blues, clays, everything

 

I then brought a fixed choke 1/4 - 1/2 gun and I'm glad the whole choke debate is no more

 

Choke gives you inches, but you miss in feet

Edited December 9, 2008 by garyb

[Beardo]

haha true!

[caeser]

Choke gives you inches, but you miss in feet

 

Absolutely correct.

[George1990]

Going to try more open chokes then. I always thought that fixed choke game guns were tight to ensure a kill, but I think I'll whack some open ones in mine and see if can actually hit the monkeys. (not actually monkeys by the way... )

[Zapp]

I bought an old hammergun a while ago which is choked cyl-1/4 (roughly) and it has been a revelation.

 

Not so much because I am hitting any more, simply because I am not winging any more than I used to. I would not have considered cyl against pigeons (or most clays) beforehand, but it has rammed home to me that in reality, unless you are such a good shot that the inches of difference a tighter choke gives you, and I am not ashamed to say that I am not, choke is just another thing to **** around with.

 

I use my club brand 30g fibre 6's (or 21g 7.5's for clays) with it and notice NO DIFFERENCE in my performance when compared to my AL391 with "appropriate" chokes and carts.

 

I have just got hold of another hammergun and an old boxlock, both of which are very open-choked. I'm not going to bother finding out what they are because it simply doesnt matter.

 

I have seen the light

 

ZB

[duckdog]

I sold my semi and brought a SbS a few months back and it is choked full+full. I've never really have any problems hitting pigeons out to around 40-50 yards with it.

 

32g 6

[Ninj]

I've had my better days with my 25" (ish) barreled Franchi auto choked at IC (largely due to not being able to find a tighter choke for love nor money!!) but as sceptical as I was at first, Im getting on well with it.

 

Incidentally, and rather annoyingly! I shot my best round of clays with it aswell when my Beretta was away being fixed, touch annoying as it was around an eighth of the price. Ive come close but still never beaten that round in 6 months of trying

 

I watched one of our better club shots demolish a very long range crosser once. Many said it was unshootable after tightening up all day (disgruntled me included), he was powdering it with SK/SK.

 

For decoying, you can cleanly kill pigeons with 30 or 32g of #6 well into your pattern with a fairly open choke.

Edited December 13, 2008 by Ninj

[Catamong]

Yes, 1/4 choke, (Improved Cylinder), is fine for decoying with a 30 gram load of No 6 shot, I pulled down some real corkers a couple of days ago, they thought they were out of danger.......

 

Cat.

[Harnser]

An old adage is ,the better the shot you are the tighter the choke you should use . Me , Improved cyclinder for every thing .

Harnser .

[Tommo]

Best choke to use is both hands around neck - keep going till the pigeon says submitt!!

 

Imp / 1/4 ha ha lol. (full if i'm out with the old A5)

 

T

[Welsh Stinger]

Don't worry about what gun , what cartridge , what choke to use . You should always use the gun that YOU feel most comfortable with , the cartridges YOU feel most confident with and same goes for the choke . If you use a Bikal and the guy next to you uses a Holland & Holland it doesn't mean that he is a better shot and his gun will shoot further than yours , it just means he has more money than you ( and come to think about it he is probably a better shot too ) LOL

Edited December 22, 2008 by Welsh Stinger

[tazkb]

I must be a good shot then my o/u is choked 3/4 and full with the 30" trap barrels and skeet and skeet with the 26" err skeet barrels. In the M2 i'm more than happy using either 1/2 or 3/4 if the birds are proving difficult to get close to then i will use full choke quite happily, shooting clays i can do just as good with full as i can with 1/4 although i have a 3/8th teague extended which is a cracker and throws excellent patterns, so good i might invest in a 7/8th and xtra full to complete the set

[bullet boy]

I always use improved cylinder-works well too!

[MerseaDavid]

On my Berretta o/u I have got 1/4 and 1/2 and I have found this works perfectly for decoying and long range birds.

 

But I do Have a Remington 1100, 5 shot auto that is a little bit more than full choke and I use this when I know birds are going to be long or I am roost shooting.