For those that have spent a lot of time at the pattern board ......... when is a 12 ga. choked excessive to the point of not patterning? Reason I question this is I saw a 12 ga. with a .729 bore dia. that has a .665 Turkey choke installed naturally with for lead shot only inscribed. That would be .64 of constriction. It would seem that would be excessive to say the least. I would think that if someone made the mistake of shooting steel in something like this it might take off the end of the barrel.
Too Much Choke?
- Thread starter Bill B.
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goosegunner
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Sounds about the same as my Marlin goosegun and we have a few older (blackpowder-cartridge) shotguns that are the same or thigter.
Ofcourse the number of shot that are deformed by the choke, and therefore is not a part of the useful pattern, is higher. But the center of the pattern is usually nice and evenly distributed, this gives uneatable game on short distances, but on moderate to long distances and difficoult targets it is about the best you can have. In this part of the world this kind of shotguns (loooong barrels and maximum choke) is usually used by hunters who expect to be shooting at birds on water (small relatively stationary target at long distances) where they can't use a rifle because of the background. The usual tactic is to use the heavyest load of the smallest shot you can find (usually 40-50 gram of #6 or#7) and wait for the birds to land among the decoys before you shoot or sneak up on swiming birds by boat or kayak.
As for steel shot your teory is almost correct: It will probably blow off the other end of the gun (the one closest to your face.) But why use steel when there are better alternatives?? (like bismuth)
pauli
Member
that's. .064 constriction, not .64 constriction.
.64" constriction on a .729" barrel gives you .089" remaining... which takes your bore from 12ga to #8.
.64" constriction on a .729" barrel gives you .089" remaining... which takes your bore from 12ga to #8.
Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
Bill, there's no absolute constriction that one can say is too much choke. Shotgunning still has a touch of the arcane. For most lead loads, over 40 POC is an overchoke.
Non-toxics play by different rules. Most steel patterns tight, Hevi shot through one .028" constriction choke here gives marvelously tight but usable patterns.
A .039" choke given me by HSmith, Bless him, is too tight for that load inside 40 yards. While rated for steel, I'd have to think about putting BBB shot through that much of a funnel.
Some folks with the hideously constricted turkey chokes get great results with a particular load and not very good results with everything else.
For now, I suggest avoiding the extremes and working from IC to Full, patterning until you figure out how your load of choice does with a given choke at a given range.
HTH....
Non-toxics play by different rules. Most steel patterns tight, Hevi shot through one .028" constriction choke here gives marvelously tight but usable patterns.
A .039" choke given me by HSmith, Bless him, is too tight for that load inside 40 yards. While rated for steel, I'd have to think about putting BBB shot through that much of a funnel.
Some folks with the hideously constricted turkey chokes get great results with a particular load and not very good results with everything else.
For now, I suggest avoiding the extremes and working from IC to Full, patterning until you figure out how your load of choice does with a given choke at a given range.
HTH....
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