Extended Choke Tubes for Geese

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dak0ta

dak0ta

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Hi,

I'm planning to do some goose hunting and shots will be about 30-50 yards. I've read that some of the extended long range tubes like Patternmaster, Kick's High Flyer, Carlson's will improve patterns and shorten the shot-string at these distances.

Are these generally going to be better than the factory Modified choke out of my Benelli Nova? People say to pattern, but is the shortening of the shot string something that these chokes will do and have better effect downrange on heavy Canadas and Snow geese?

I normally shoot 3" #BB at 1550 fps, but given the extended range of the geese, I'm considering stepping up and trying a box of 3.5" #BB to get some extra pellets down range. Just wondering if a 3.5" shell paired with an extended choke will help.

Thanks!
 
By their very nature 3.5 inchers will have a longer shotstring than the 3". That being said in my 10 years of goose/duck hunting I have found steel doesn't like to be compressed, and the larger the shot size the more it doesn't like it. I shoot an 11-87 super mag 3.5" BB or BBB Black Cloud or Blind Side and I have found I get better more even patterns with IC than modified at 40 yds. My Modified patterns had numerous "holes" where the IC was much more evenly distributed. Granted these are the standard Remchokes I have never tried extended chokes but I don't see that an extra inch or 2 would make as much of a difference as they would have you believe. They are in the business to make money. Your gun may be different, but I would definitely pattern your shell of choice with your standard IC before you drop 75$ for an extended choke that doesn't work. We usually limit out here in upstate NY and 99% of our shots are inside of 40 yds.
 
My belief is that the more shot you try to push out of a fixed bore size the longer the shot string has to be. A tighter choke will string shot longer than an open choke. Winchester had high speed pictures many years ago of shot exiting full and cylinder bore barrels showing just that.
I have found, but won't insist that it is uniformly true, that steel patterns better from a more open choke for a given shot size. I also have found that each tube will show a preference for one load over another.
 
The only way you are going to know is pattern your gun and I would start with my factory chokes .

I have only used Kick's and Trulock . I get my tightest patterns with Kick's . One good thing I will say about Trulock is , if you are not satisfied with the choke tube you get , you can get your money back or exchange them within 60 days I think . I have not used either with steel shot , only with buckshot and lead BB . Keep in mind that you cannot use a shell with a flitecontrol wad with a ported choke tube .
 
I don't think the geese ever got close enough to see the difference.
I saw no difference between extended and flush tubes where the constriction versus bore size was the same. With shot sizes larger than about #4 I found I got better long range patterns with Imp. Mod. than Full. With BB it was a tie between IM and Mod., and with larger shot Mod could be slightly better, depending on the shell components.
I shot extended tubes out of two barrel guns where most of the constriction lay beyond the barrels.
Steel/tungsten alloy patterns exactly like lead in my experience, there are just fewer flyers.
 
I can tell you this- I got a Carlson's turkey choke for my Mossberg 930, and the Mossberg factory turkey choke that came with the barrel threw better patterns at 25, 35, and 50 yards than the Carlson's.
 
Doing some hunting this weekend, so will just use the factory modified choke and see how it goes.
 
The standard length vs extended probably won't show much difference in pattern. What does give you a difference is stepping up from a OEM choke to a good aftermarket choke. In testing Remington, Benelli, Beretta, and Browning, none of them had decent chokes from the factory. A set of Briley chokes significantly improved the patterns.

I'm personally a fan of extended chokes because they're easier to remove/swap out and because when shooting at a range if you rest the barrel on something, the worst you can do is screw up a choke rather than hurting your gun's barrel.

Pattern your gun with different loads and chokes. It's the only way to know for sure.
 
I was specifically looking at a wad stopping choke for really tight patterns at 40 yards with BB steel, 00 buckshot, and turkey loads. Was thinking of picking up the Patternmaster Classic Tube Ported.

Thoughts? My Benelli Nova uses the Mobil pattern chokes. Are they made of junk steel and tolerances?

And for just regular constriction style chokes, who makes the best product? Carlson's, Trulock, Briley, Mueller?
 
Having shot enough patterns to get past one off variances that throw off averages, I found zero difference in performance between RemChokes, Invectors, Brileys, Trulocks, Carlsons, Colonials, Accuchokes, and Mobils as long as the choke constriction versus bore diameter was the same. You definitely cannot go just by what is marked on the tubes.
I did not do any patterning below #5 shot size, and very little with constrictions tighter than extra full relative to hunting loads. For target loads I was merely checking for evenness of patterns since no targets are shot at extreme range and you can easily change things by changing the constriction. I was unable to discern any benefit to anti spin chokes or barrels. The same was true of the so called wad stopper chokes. A little bit of work with "turkey" chokes indicated that again the constriction versus bore diameter was the main factor. Changing shells could produce very large differences.
 
dak0ta said:
I was specifically looking at a wad stopping choke for really tight patterns at 40 yards with BB steel, 00 buckshot, and turkey loads. Was thinking of picking up the Patternmaster Classic Tube Ported.

Thoughts? My Benelli Nova uses the Mobil pattern chokes. Are they made of junk steel and tolerances?

And for just regular constriction style chokes, who makes the best product? Carlson's, Trulock, Briley, Mueller?
Click to expand...

You seem to equate steel and lead shot as the same thing THEY ARE NOT!!!! Buck shot and turkey loads are lead and unless you are breaking the law waterfoul loads are steel shot. They cannot be treated the same way. I guess you are bent on choking steel shot no matter what anyone says. good luck, happy hunting
 
Wad stopping chokes, specifically, the Wad Wizard and Patternmaster, don't rely on constriction, and are rated for both steel and lead shot. I am not saying they are the same thing, they are not, one has elemental Fe and the other Pb. Rather what is advertised IN theory is that they are supposed to throw tight patterns based on the length of the choke extending past the muzzle rather than constriction, and thus are also advertised as being multipurpose for multiple types of game where a tight pattern of large shot at extended distances i.e. geese, deer, or a turkey's head are warranted.

I am not bent on choking steel (well I'm using my factory MOD Mobil with BB), I'm just wading through all the marketing bs and trying to see if $100 on a choke is worth it, which it doesn't seem to be.
 
Last edited:
dak0ta said:
Wad stopping chokes, specifically, the Wad Wizard and Patternmaster, don't rely on constriction, and are rated for both steel and lead shot. I am not saying they are the same thing, they are not, one has elemental Fe and the other Pb. Rather what is advertised IN theory is that they are supposed to throw tight patterns based on the length of the choke extending past the muzzle rather than constriction, and thus are also advertised as being multipurpose for multiple types of game where a tight pattern of large shot at extended distances i.e. geese, deer, or a turkey's head are warranted.

I am not bent on choking steel (well I'm using my factory MOD Mobil with BB), I'm just wading through all the marketing bs and trying to see if $100 on a choke is worth it, which it doesn't seem to be.
Click to expand...
 
dak0ta I have heard of the wad stopping "chokes" and the concept seems solid. If I have an extra $$ I want to blow, I may get a Patternmaster code black goose actually you can find them on ebay for about 84 bucks
 
The Patternmaster seems like a niche choke for those extended shots 40+ with larger shot at 1550fps or less. Other options include the Wad Wizard Supreme (old Patternmaster patent), and the Carlsons Cremator (TST technology of 3 tapered rings that act to slow the wad). There's also Jeb's chokes, but they're really $$$$
 
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