Chokes on a HD/Combat shotgun

[Shadow Man]

I've heard some banter about tightly chokeing (my apologies for any miss-spelled words) HD/Combat shotguns, mainly from LEO's and military sources. I understand that the purpose of a shotgun is to provide a wider impact area on the target with one shot than can be achieved with a rifle or pistol, and also to provide geater tolerances for an imperfect shot, yet the idea of using a tight choke on a shotgun intrigued me. The effect that a tightly choked load of No. 4 or even 00 shot can have would be extremely devestating, but I'll admit to having many "good" ideas, and not knowing the feasability of said ideas. So I'll bow to your superior wisdom. Any thoughts?

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Improved Cylinder Chokes are bigger than the bore and allow Slug use in smoothbore barrels. They are either added onto the barrel or built in. That is the one I use.

My Choke on the Remington 870 Magnum Patterns a Triple 000 load at size of a dinner plate with about 40 holes after 5 rounds fired at 7 yards.

There are two other chokes availible for the wife's gun, primarily medium choke and full for turkey etc.

We only use IC for Slug work. The triple 000 is a special experiment and only have a few boxes, not really expecting a zombie army to invade.

 

[rcmodel]

Imp Cyl chokes are not bigger then the bore size.
A normal Imp Cyl choke has .010" constriction.

A Cylinder bore has none.

Only a "Spreader" choke is bigger then the bore.

Nothing to do with chokes "allows" use with slugs.
You can shoot slugs through any Cyl, Imp Cyl, Mod, or Full choke.
One may give better accuracy then the others, but you have to test them to find out which is best on your gun.

the idea of using a tight choke on a shotgun intrigued me.

Current thinking is to get the tightest buckshot pattern possible, to prevent part of the shot charge missing the target entirely.

No matter how loose & wide the pattern is, it is still small enough to miss entirely if the gun isn't aimed exactly at the target.
SO if you have to aim anyway, you might as well hit harder with the full payload of shot.
It also decreases the risk of shot that missed hitting something important behind the target.

A tighter pattern also increases the effective range of the gun.

rc

 

[oneounceload]

Standard 12 gauge choke constrictions are:

Cylinder - .000
Skeet - .005
IC - .010
LM - .015
M - .020
IM - .025
F - .030

There are various tighter full chokes - and that would depend on the original bore or whether it is overbore

At typical room distances of 15-20, the pattern may be the size of your fist

 

[Shadow Man]

RC, that was exactly my thinking. I have never been one for skeet or trap, but a shotgun in my hands against a ground-based target is simply devestating. So, since I'm aiming at the target as it is, why miss with part of the pattern when I can constrict the pattern and ensure maximum damage?
So I guess my next question would be: How exactly do I go about doing this, and what choke size?

 

[Dave McCracken]

The advantage of a shotgun for defensive purposes is not spread making up for bad shooting.

It's the huge load of energy one can dump into targets in very short time intervals.

Most halfway proficient shotgunners can make good hits on 5 different targets at 15 yards in less than 5 seconds, some way less.

You can do that with your pet handgun, too. But not with the terminal ballistics of an oz or more of lead at 1200 FPS in a .73 caliber mass or larger.

Choke up if you wish. But do test pattern and loads to find the best combination.

Measure, not guess, the longest possible shot opp in your home. Add a yard for GPs and then test at that distance, and at 25 yards for when social conditioning breaks down again, like Katrina or the King Riots.

A bit of work, but you'll be glad you did.

 

[Shadow Man]

Thank you very much Dave. Test, test, and test again. Thats what I do as SOP anyway, but having it re-inforced is always nice.
Oh, and thank you for the correction. I guess I should have initially said "advantage" not "purpose." My apologies. Any reccomendation on shot size? I have to go out-of-state to get buckshot as it is (my current location is Pennsylvania where buckshot is extremely difficult to find in quantity, but I'll be moving to Florida in the fall for college, so hopefully it will be more plentiful there), so I really do not want to get something that will harm the choke, or not provide suitable performance down range.

 

[hags]

Call me a purist or whatever. I don't think any type of screw in choke has any place at all on a HD/combat shotgun.

IMO a fixed IC or Cyl Bore "choke" is best.

Keep it simple!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Shadow,no buck I know of will hurt ever a Full Choke, though too much constriction may scatter the pellets.

The 101 threads in the archives can help you.

The use environment can vary widely, but 00 is often a great choice.

The 2 3/4" loads will do the job. Maggie Numbs just hurt more at both ends and slow down repeat shots.

I've done some research with ultra lite 6 pellet 00 loads. While not testing them on felons has left me with suspect data, IMO they'd work at typical HD ranges and they are creampuffs to shoot.

However, they're not factory loads, so the old Estate RR 00 and the newer Fed loads stay in the 870s.

Hags, it's a mixed bag here. Two shotguns that can be used for HD are tube guns, one has a skeet choke in and the other an IC.

Also there's Number One, with a chokeless barrel and the 20 gauge YE I call Jessica has a slug barrel with a fixed IC.

All pattern loads of choice well at typical HD ranges.

Frankenstein's bunty 21" barrel does OK with a Skeet choke and Fed 4 buck, though I'd want Estate 00 outside.

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Hags, I respect your words and thoughts.

Keep in mind that I take time to remove the choke from the moss every time it gets cleaned. That choke is the first off, and last on after everything is carefully cleaned under a strong light.

I prefer guns not to have a seperate part that has to be installed or taken off (Too many parts that can break.. etc) that is just me. However, my Spouse has adopted her 20 gauge moss 500 with a removable choke as HER gun. No one else's so... I must keep my own mouth shut and make sure that her gun is clean and ready after a shoot.

I can put on a shorter slug barrel and not worry about it ever again.