doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Choke in a Bird Gun

Stan - no offense taken, I posted it more to offer the "Classical View" than the gospel view on the subject. The Edwardian generation certainly had the courage of their convictions, but did not always provide empirical support for them. See, e.g., Robert Churchill's Game Shooting: The Definitive Book on the Churchill Method of Instinctive Wingshooting for Game and Sporting Clays - lots of shooting opinion offered as gospel in that book.

I'm not sure how far west "West" is, but I've found a very open right barrel quite useful on pheasants where I've hunted them. That's mostly been Iowa (in a lot of years when we were the #1 pheasant state in the nation), but also the Dakotas and KS. Don't think you'll find any better pheasant hunting if you go any farther west than that.

But indeed, there are variables. If you hunt in a very large group, which often happens on pheasants (especially in SD), shots can be longer. But if your group is small and your dog(s) reasonably proficient, shots are likely to be a lot closer. Some people suggest that shots tend to get longer as the season goes on, but I've had days hunting pheasants in the snow with more in my face flushes than I get on opening day.

As far as writers go, I tend to focus on those with experience. When it comes to how shotguns perform, I certainly put Brister in that category. When he says "I do know that at 25 yards a pure-cylinder barrel will throw one of the deadliest game-getting patterns you ever looked at," (p. 136, "Shotgunning: The Art and the Science") and "Full choke is a demanding mistress; improved cylinder a forgiving friend" (p. 126), I believe him because my experience shooting wild birds bears it out. If you find yourself shooting upland birds at 35 yards + most of the time, then you certainly need something tighter.

Experience can be a bit hard to qualify or quantify. Over a span of 20 years, when I was living in good pheasant country, my average was right around 65 roosters/season, counting wild birds only.

I'm still back at "conditions are such that I need a: (a)pretty tight, (b)middle of the road, or (c)really open, choke.

I pretty much hunt what I brung. My experience with a particular gun(choke)/load gives me a reference on what distance range I'm effective with it. After all, it's really all about how effective I am with a particular combination rather than how effective superhuman shooters like the famous Armadillo Mike might be with it.

Chuck as you will be hunting over first season English Pointers this season I would suggest an eight gauge choked 70thou and 70 thou. That is unless you have a four bore.

Some guns just hit the sweet spot and I can shoot them well (for me).

Am I going to pass shoot mourning dove or is it Bobs over pointing dogs? I field trial my dogs in NSTRA and the quarry is almost always pen-raised Bobs. My field trial gun is an 8lb Parker choked cylinder and mod. I usuallly shoot a cylinder/mod 5-3/4lb sixteen at wild Bobs. My favorite gun for pass shooting Mourning dove is a near nine pound 12 gauge Model 21 with 32" barrels and full chokes.

In my garage there is a Lincoln Town Car, a Chrysler Crossfire, nd a 4WD Ford Expedition. Which one is best?

Best,

Mike

[/quote] Hey Chicago: Leave the Blunderbuss for me at the Timbers and I will hunt some of the ten year old Aspen in the thick of things and I will leave my 12 bore DT Purdey and 20 bore ST Browning super in the truck. I'm glad there aren't very many Grouse in the Ottawa because there aren't very many hunters and you really have to know what you are doing to find the few which are there! It's just a little more sportin' that way!! [/quote]

The Timbers it is, right there in Lake Gogebic.

P.S. You should be able to hit a grouse with that DT you own.

The Timbers it is, right there in Lake Gogebic.

P.S. You should be able to hit a grouse with that DT you own. [/quote]Chicago: Yes, The Timbers on beautiful Lake Gogebic. The lake has Walleye, Jumbo Perch and smallies in it. Also, if I like the Blunderbuss and can't hit with the DT (its quarter and half choke now) I will just drive to the Ewen Hdwre store and buy a 12 bore drill and just ream her out to cylinder!

Another set of varibles I believe is the amount and the velocity of the shot.

I have an old 16 Ga. hammergun that I shoot low pressure cartridges through. Generally 7/8 oz of 7 1/2s for Doves and Quail at around 1150 FPS.

The constriction in the Right barrel is aprox. .005, the Left .020. It seems that I "Feather" fewer birds with the Left barrel - the exact opposite of what conventional wisdom tells me to expect.

In other guns with higher velocity and heavier shot loads it is the other way around.

AM,
I don't know whether to get a bigger gun or a smaller gun and track shoes. Possibly a door mounted M60 on a Huey? That would work in harmony with the GPS collar.

Aren't those pen raised birds mutants with no wings? 'you sure your dogs are pointing and not just pinnin em down with a paw so you can hit em?

As far as which car is best, it'd be the one your wife wants you to wash so she can go out with the girls.

Too many people, without a lot of experience quote writers, as if its gospel. Like Larry I give credo to those writers who I know have a lot of time in the field and tend to ignore the types who quote statistics. Here in NW Kansas, contrary to what people tell me, most of our shots on Pheasants are pretty close. We dont "gang hunt" and do hunt over pointing dogs. We have enough birds that we dont feel compelled to shoot at the wilders. How can anyone say with authority that the average anything is killed at x yards? What kind of a sample would you have to take to prove that? With close to a million Pheasant hunters in the field in any given year, it would require a sample of what, a half million? Gimme a break...Chuck, I am breaking my wifes big Gelding to shot for you, he is already a cross country champ hunter/jumper, so if you can stay on him, you will be able to see your pointer in the distance...

Last Dollar, when you're in good bird country, you can be more selective about the shots you take. I'm sure that the distance of the average shot taken at pheasants is a good bit longer than the average distance at which they're killed. Reminds of the range NCO in basic training, when one of my fellow trainees asked him the maximum effective range of our M-1's. "A whole lot farther than the maximum effective range of the soldier pulling the trigger!" he answered. Same deal with pheasants. There are often opportunities for long shots at roosters, and hunters are often prepared--in terms of choke and load--to take those shots. Unfortunately, most of them aren't prepared in terms of shooting ability. Walk a little more, wait for a closer one. Most pheasant hunters would do a lot better, in terms of shooting percentage, if they toted a 12ga choked skeet with something like 1 1/8 oz 7 1/2's, and never took any shots beyond 30 yards. But too many of them think that a heavy load of 4's, or maybe even Hevi-Shot, is all that's necessary to turn them into the scattergun legend they have always dreamed to be. Very few put in enough practice to be able to hit consistently at the maximum effective ranges of their chosen choke and load.