doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cylinder chokes,are they any good?

I was kinda wondering "Who" was on the ladder holding the end of the tape to measure before they could fall.
I hadn't thought about the differences in those yards Larry, good point

I always take such claims with a pinch of salt - measuring where a bird fell is often no accurate indicator of where it was killed. I shot a hen pheasant in December overhead that fell dead around 120 yards behind me - it was a high bird but it was not 120 yards up!

Ducks a good way up on a windy day are apt to fall a long way from where they took lead.

Where you do get more accurate ideas of killing range is in the pigeon hide decoying birds that cross the periphery of your pattern or approach low from ahead. These birds do drop dead within a yard or two of where they are killed. Once in the swing, I have found I can kill pigeons as incomers and crossers at 45-50 yards with fair regularity using I.C and fibre wadded Game Bore Pure Gold No.6. Whilst using a tighter choked dickson round action this past summer, I found that teh same loads were killing well out to 55 yards. The trick is getting the lead right. A good pattern will hold up at 50 yards but you need to be right on your bird, thus incomers are killed better, the shot string is mostly heading for the target if you are on it.

Agree with comment by Small Bore that "incomers are killed better". On a recent pheasant hunt I knocked down three outgoing birds at "long" distances -- about as far away as I would shoot (about 40-45 yards, as best I can determine). All came down nicely, with 3 to 8+ USA #6 lead pellets in the aft regions, but, none were dead or needed a follow-up shot, thanks to dog. Incoming and crossing mallards are normally quite dead at these distances with #5 bismuth (USA #6 in years long past). Dog handler/guide kept remarking that those were longest hits he had seen. Load was 28 grams USA #6 from tight choked Sauer 16X67 that patterns rather evenly. Same gun with 24 gram loads of USA #7,5 does very well at 16 yard trap.

Hope to have time later this year to pattern cylinder barrel of 16X65 duck gun I used this past season and compare it with its tight-choked companion.

Niklas

Generally speaking British #5 shot ran about 220/oz or a near exact equivelent of US #6. I have absolutely no idea however if "Derby" shot of that day had their own scale or not.
I would really, Really, love to se a photograph of the pattern that Purdey threw at 112 yds with a 1 1/8oz load of that shot, & to also know how many sheets of a "Petit" pad it penertrated.
MeThinks perhaps some "Servant" was trying to get in "MeLord's" good Graces by exagerating his prowess.