What Choke for Skeet?

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Drue

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I am getting involved in skeet shooting and using an IC choke because it came with the gun. The experienced shooters at the gun club have advised me to use a more open choke and seem to be pretty evenly split between Cylinder and Skeet. What do the Highroad Shotgunners think?

What about the extended chokes? I see the value of the easy change without a choke key and this would seem to be a benefit in Sporting Clays where shooters often change chokes depending on the target presentation, but in skeet, all of the targets are close and the same choke is used throughout. Is there any ballistic advantage?

Thanks

Drue
 
Cylinder is .000, skeet is .005, IC is .010

A skeet choke will break everything out there on the skeet field, as will the IC. There is not that much difference to warrant another choke unless you really just want one. The difference in spread at 21 yards is slight. Have you patterned your IC choke to see what type of pattern it throws? Just because it is marked IC, does NOT mean it throws an IC pattern. Take your ammo and gun to the pattern steel and see. You might find out it will work just fine.

Choke has nothing to do with ballistics and everything to do with pattern
 
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Note: Skeet 2 is tighter than IC, it is also called light modified. The slight choke in the Skeet choke is supposed to improve shot uniformity in the pattern. You would have to test it against true cyl. bore on a pattern board to really know.
 
You might want to look at the ammo you are shooting. Someone that is shooting #9 shot with a AA wad is going have much better pattern density than someone shooting #7 1/2 shot Walmart ammo. You will improve 2 or 3 hits a round by simply having the proper ammo.
 
I use a modified choke & everybody I shoot with uses IC or C & I shoot as well as they do. I think it`s what you are use to, I have never shot anything but Full or modified...............
 
Note: Skeet 2 is tighter than IC, it is also called light modified. The slight choke in the Skeet choke is supposed to improve shot uniformity in the pattern. You would have to test it against true cyl. bore on a pattern board to really know.

Depends on who you talk to. Briley, (and a friend of mine who was the skeet champ of Puerto Rico years ago), disagree on SKII being the same as LM.

There are other skeet designations called Skeet In and Skeet Out. These are typically .003 and .007 respectively, and are also called by many SK1 and SK2, or as Briley calls them, LTSK and IMK:

http://www.briley.com/boresizesandconstrictions.aspx

chokeconstrictions.gif
 
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Could have also called it "dove choke" based on the results from dove shoots with my dad.
 
The advantage of the longer extended chokes are two-fold.

First is ease of change and identification, you're correct in assuming that's not a big deal in Skeet.

Next is geometry. The longer the constricted area, and the smoother the transition, the better the pattern. With many choke tubes, you simply don't have room for a smooth transition and a long flat section, so you get the transition only. That's why people swear by extended chokes, they do flat out perform better than most flush chokes. There are exceptions, where flush chokes can be long enough to give you ideal geometry, but even at that, they are hard to change and identify.

I shoot the Browning branded Briley tubes in my Citoris and Briley Spectrums in my Berettas. I've been very happy with them, and find them to pattern exceptionally well.

As far as constriction, yes a "Skeet" is ideal for the Skeet field, but IMHO, it's far from a requirement. I shoot tighter constrictions almost all the time. With a 12ga O/U I like IC/IC but will also shoot Mod/IC. With my 12ga Semi Autos I like a Mod choke, and have a Remington Model 11 with a fixed full choke that I can shoot as well as anything on the skeet field. With my sub gauges, I far prefer a tighter choke to a "Skeet", I shoot IM/Mod or Full/IM and love it. There's no question about it, if I hit the clay, it disappears, if I'm a little off, the clay gets to live.

In my experience Skeet shooters are some of the biggest gear nerds out there. Can't tell you how many times I've heard "I can't shoot right because ____________" it's always that the gun is a field gun, or the rib is too low or high, or the bead is the wrong color, the wind is wrong, the choke is wrong etc. It's all about having fun and improving your skills, nothing wrong with shooting an imperfect set-up as long as you're having fun. You should see the looks I get when I shoot my trap gun on the skeet field.
 
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