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Forums10
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Apr 29th, 2024
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,198 Likes: 1171
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,198 Likes: 1171 |
The way I approach deciding whether or not to open chokes on a gun is like this: I ask myself first, am I really ...... I mean am I REALLY planning on keeping this gun for a long, long time? If I am, then I remind myself that if I take a loss at sale time, then it was worth the loss to have a gun that better suited me for many years of shooting. If I am not absolutely sure I will keep it, I don't mess with the chokes.
I've never opened the chokes on but 3 guns. One I regret. Two I don't. The one I regret is a 32" barreled 12 ga. AH Fox. It was full and full, and it is now M X M. It was not original anyway, I reasoned, as it had been restocked and re-case-hardened. That gun should have stayed F X F. My 31 1/2" MX8 was originally a trap gun, high stocked and full choked. I changed the buttstock and opened the chokes to M X M. Excellent move for me. Ten years or so later I have never regretted it. The other is a 30" barreled BSS that I use to compete in S X S events and to hunt ducks. The right barrel was .018" and the left was full. I had the left opened up to the same as the right, .018". Great for steel shot and it will crush any bird you'll ever see in a S X S sporting course.
SRH
Last edited by Stan; 03/11/17 02:36 PM.
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,381 Likes: 1
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 9,381 Likes: 1 |
[quote=KY Jon]One reason I like doubles is that I can have two different chokes if I want them. But if I had to be limited to just one choke I could be happy with I/C or even Lt. Mod, but IM or full have less usefulness than more open chokes for my shooting needs. I think one proble with fixed chokes barrels are that too many of them are too tight for most people these days. That and pump guns are a tough sell these days because people who have never shot them think they are slow but I find I can pump faster than I can get back into target for a second or third shot. Not slow at all. My newest acquisition is 26" barrel with fiexed IC choke and I would not want it any other way. This allows me to shoot best ammo HeviShot w/o fear of damage to gun steel. Life is grand. 
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,618 Likes: 7
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,618 Likes: 7 |
I remember my Great Grand Pappy who lived on the banks of the South Forked Deer River saying "Boy with tight choked gun jest lettem git out a right smart ways fore you shoot".
He hunted with one gun and one choke from the 1890s until the 1960s.
Last edited by postoak; 03/11/17 10:46 PM.
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear.
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Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 547
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 547 |
modified....................
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743 |
That "Let'em Get Outta Ways" only works when you're in open terrain.
there are many, many situations where one simply does not have that option.
Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 565
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 565 |
If spreader loads are in the mix, then a full choked gun works for me. Non spreader (or spreader) load for waterfowl, spreader load for upland, particularly in a sixteen gauge. Spred'r hand loads are very easy to make, and components easy to acquire.
Last edited by dal; 03/12/17 10:28 AM.
Life is too short to have a 'hate on' for so many things or people. Isn't it?
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,148 Likes: 204
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,148 Likes: 204 |
I think I'll go back and read Ted's post where he blames spreader loads for the action of an idiot who pointed a shotgun at a dog and pulled the trigger. I must have missed something.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,776 Likes: 760
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,776 Likes: 760 |
I think I'll go back and read Ted's post where he blames spreader loads for the action of an idiot who pointed a shotgun at a dog and pulled the trigger. I must have missed something. I'm pretty certain if he had pointed the gun AT the dog, it wouldn't have ended as well. Go back and read it anyway. Spreader loads do spread. Best, Ted
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,198 Likes: 1171
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 13,198 Likes: 1171 |
There can be, and are, extreme flyer pellets from every type of lead shotgun load made. It being a spreader load is not a requirement, nor is it a guarantee, that there will be extreme flyers. Anyone who does no know this has never done extensive patterning, or has just forgotten it. To blame a spreader load for a hunting dog getting hit by a stray pellet is ignoring the real problem ..... the person behind the trigger.
Thinking that a load of hundreds of tiny pellets will react in anywhere near a predictable pattern is a recipe for misplaced confidence. One just does not take chances with the safety of man's best friend by shooting anywhere near close by.
SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,776 Likes: 760
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,776 Likes: 760 |
There are no promises, but, the day it happened, as I played the whole thing back in my very angry-at-the-moment mind, I was pretty sure it wouldn't have happened with a conventional round in the customer's gun. It was a longish shot on a grouse on an even longer point, going directly away.
I may be wrong. But, I don't think I am.
What surprises me about the discussion, here, today, is you both missed the most important fact, or, at least didn't mention it.
I don't guide anymore.
Best,
Ted
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