[Jack R]

anyone have an opionion on which is better? Personally I don't know,of the seven shotguns here only one is tubed(870 express)the rest were bought or traded for with no regard to choke type. I have a shooting buddy who hate's tubed gun's (won't own one) his claim is that no tube can pattern like a factory fixed choke. I have never taken the time to pattern any of mine,only use them for imformal shooting off my own Trius trap and they do fine if I do my part. Jack

[HSMITH]

I have had quite a few of both.

I agree with your friend that on average the older guns with fixed chokes are going to throw a little better pattern than a gun with a choke tube of the same constriction installed. Better meaning more even and more round.

Do choke tubes throw bad patterns? No not by any stretch if a quality choke tube is used.

I also would like to point out that the most beautiful pattern in the world SUCKS when it does not fit the task at hand. Choke tube guns are more versatile by a MILE.

I have weeded out all but one fixed choke barrel here..............

[Dave McCracken]

Like so much of shotgunning, there's myriads of exceptions and qualifications.

However...

Choke tubed shotguns are mo' versatile.

Fixed chokes will give better patterns with a given load and constriction, most of the time.

Tube guns can be tweaked to do well for a specific mission, regardless of what that is.

Example...

I've got two barrels that go on my TB now. First is the barrel on it when I bought it, possibly not original to the shotgun. It's a 30" Full choke with 38 POC.

Thanks to HSmith, I've a Full tube of 39 POC and proven roundness for the second barrel, a 30" Remchoked barrel.

All else equal, the fixed barrel should print better patterns with MOST loads than the tubed one.

But change the mission, the tubed barrel can be altered temporarily to give a better pattern at a given distance. This is my target gun, and I have started to shoot skeet. That Extra Full is not the best choice for a rookie skeetsman. But pop in the Skeet tube, and the hits start up nicely.

On a dedicated shotgun, a fixed choke makes sense. On a GP shooter, tubes make more sense.

[PJR]

no tube can pattern like a factory fixed choke.The current selection of shotguns around here is evenly split between tubed and fixed. I disagree that "no tube can pattern like a factory fixed choke" because I patterned a fixed choke gun before having Briley Thinwalls installed. There was no difference between the fixed chokes and the Brileys in the same constriction and the gun became vastly more versatile.

Variations between fixed and tube guns undoubtedly exist however I don't think they are as significant as the differences caused by shot hardness, speed and size.

Quality of manufacture matters. A fixed choke gun with short forcing cones, a tight bore and short chokes will most often not pattern as well as a gun with longer forcing cones, backbored barrels and gently tapering chokes.

There are too many variable factors in shotgun patterns to make an absolute statement one way or the other. Each gun is an entity unto itself.

Paul

[BigG]

I think you need to consider price, too. No offense, but Briley probably charges more than a new shotgun costs to work on a cheap pump. This would not be cost effective for a guy with a $150 pump, imho.

Then again, not so long ago, you had to buy extra bbls to get the versatility of a tubed gun now. I remember a Browning Superposed set came with bbls, forends, etc. Quite an impressive package back in the day.

[45auto]

On a dedicated gun, like a trap/skeet gun, I'd just assume there were no tubes.
I think the major manufacturers of good quality guns do a pretty decent job of chokes. Choke tubes require a little more care than fixed chokes and if you don't need them- why bother! One less decision to make or "object" to blame. :)

On the flip side, if you want a skeet/sporting/hunting, whatever gun, I think it's hard to beat a tubed gun. I've never worried about the patterns of high quality choke tubes.
And, if you miss, you can always say you have the wrong choke tube in. ;)