doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opening Chokes

I have a gun currently .018R .030L, a 12b and want to get it opened up for a grouse/quail gun. It's obviously got too much choke for that. What should I make the chokes? Thx for your opinion.

Especially with a 12, where you're likely to shoot slightly heavier loads than you would with a smaller bore, I don't think you need much choke at all in a 12 for grouse and quail. I'd say a maximum of .005 in the R barrel. The L, I think, is less important for grouse (where you don't get a lot of 2nd shots) than it is for quail. But I'd suggest .015 (light mod) as a maximum. Maybe as little as .010. I have a 20ga grouse gun that's choked .000/.007. I do shoot a lot more woodcock than grouse, but so far I'm quite pleased with those very open chokes.

Buzz,
I don't do grouse, but for quail with a 12g, when I did use a 12g, I liked .005 or cylinder in the first barrel and .040 in the left worked well for me. I have a 26" #1 frame Parker with this arrangement (.005R/.040L) from the factory.

I also did very well with another 12g gun with cylR/.005L chokes.

Keep it as-is and use these or Fiocchi's:
http://www.gamaliel.com/nobelsporttarget..._shotshells.asp
JR

If you have not read it, this article about chokes by Terry Wieland is very interesting. It suggests that Mod is effective over a wider range than IC, and therefore may be a better choice unless you know all your shots will be within 25 yards.
choke article

I have not used a LMod choke in the field but use it for sporting clays and am regularly impressed with its effective range (solid breaks at 35 yards).

Been down that road myself brother, and wish I'd not. My 28" Parker VH on a 1 1/2 frame was like Chuck's - .005 and .040. Had to pay Briley 3 times what the original 'choke work' cost to correct the left barrel POI which was a foot low and left at 16 yards after opening the choke to .020
You've got a perfect big country pheasant gun; leave it be and get yourself a lighter 16 or 20 with Sk1/Sk2 chokes. Your right arm, both legs, and dog, will thank you

.005 right barrel and .015 left. This would be skeet in/ skeet out back in the day and would be all you need for anything but duck or goose hunting. It would also cover just about any clay target game. Paul

Guys. I'm on my way to Eyster's now. At a minimum I'm going to have the bores lightly cleaned up as there is some light freckling...hopefully just lapped and not honed. I thought we might get some varied opinions. I want to leave some choke in case I go after some Huns, sharpies and pheasant sometime. I was thinking .008r and .020L?? With modern shot cups I think .030 is almost obsolete??

In that case, leave them tighter and plan to use spreaders for grouse and woodcock.

I'd open the right barrel to around 10 points, and leave the tight barrel just as it is. You then have a very useful 12Ga for many hunting situations just as the gun sits. When hunting ruffed grouse, put a spreader in your tight barrel and fire it first if the leaves are still on the tree. The little quail shooting I've done was in relatively open ground where a second shot was quite possible. But with ruffed grouse, more often than not, you'll only get one shot - the second shot, if you get it, will usually be a "Hail Mary".