doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Open choke, useful?

I was thinking about the usefullness of a cylinder choke gun, one that had the chokes cut off. Awhile ago someone posted here that they had a gun with the choke cut off and that "it was useless". I don't know what they were going to use it for, perhaps trap or waterfowl, but other than that I would think it hardly useless. If my figuren isn't to far off- cylinder might be a good choke to have? Considering at 40yards a modified choke patterns 45-55% and cylinder (nochoke)patterns 25-35%.(Browning chart). A nochoke gun, at 30yards, patterns close to the same as modified at 40 and 30 is a more common range on alot of game birds. Heck if your younger than me and have a light gun, 20yards might be where your shootin em?

Best to you all,

Kurt

I have a Lefever choked cylinder/full. It is a great gun for open country with the full choke second shot. It also excells at sporting clays, esp. when you've got the cylinder bore and the bird is coming towards you. I have found cylinder bore quite useful.

Depends on what you hunt, and how. I use a gun choked Cyl/Mod. The Cyl barrel is very effective on ruffed grouse and pheasant in dense cover - but I seldom take shots much beyond 35 yards.

Cylinder is a great choke to have over a pointing dog..that first shot usually is a quick one..

Kurt, totally agree, hardly useless. Unless you are going for long range shots over 40yds. As Jack says, it does depend on what you hun, and how.

It should be added, citing Gough Thomas that a more open bore allows for far greater aiming errors at 25 yds. or so -a common game-shooting range-.

JC

The classic English field gun is typically choked cylinder or something close and full or something close. Tracks with my own impression that most shots or either close or far - darned few modified anything out there. I use my Cyl/F Osborne on everything from quail to pheasants.

My favorite dove gun is an old ml'er SxS and of course it has cyl. bores.

I agree. Cylinder and Full is a very versatile combination. More useful and certainly more versatile in many situations than the more common Mod. and Full or IC and Mod.

If you hunt chukars and huns out west at any point from mid-November on, I would leave a cylinder choked gun home. Even over pointers, those birds are sometimes getting up at 35-40 yds.
I have thought about putting tubes in my gun so I can switch to mod/full for late season open country shooting.

Having said all that, cyl/mod or cyl/full would be great for many situations around the country, over pointed birds and during the early to mid season especially.

I suppose it all depends on where and what you intend to be shooting/shooting at, but down here in the deep South (with our thick cover) and assuming you are actually serious about bagging game, true cylinder bore is the most effective "choke" one can use; and furhter, anything tighter than improved cylinder is about as useless as tits on a boar hog! The only exceptions to my personal "southern rule" are head shots on turkey, squirrels out of the tallest river bottom poplars and pines, selected clays shooting, and pass-shooting wildfowl and dove to some degree. For many years I thought modified the best all-around choke; but one season found myself armed only with an A-5 equipped with the 24" clylinder-bore slug barrel. After I adjusted to the new "sight picture" of the factory mounted open sights, I was amazed at the work a cylinder bore would accomplish. Afterwards, I bought a cheap Spanish double (Erbi) with factory 18" cylinder bore barrels. That gun was so effective on upland game it was almost inhumane. Its short barrels were so quick that anything inside 15 yeards was dead a millisecond after it flushed; and furhter, was equally effective (from the standpoint of being adequatedly choked) out to 35+ yards (the shooter obviously had more time a longer targets). As all game bagfged was consumed, there was the added advantage that seldom was game mangled to the point that is was inedible. I found the A-5 cylinder barrel quite effective on dove out to a little better than 40 years (with my #9 shot handloads), and on decoying ducks. I also found that a cylinder choke seemed to more evenly pattern large shot. So my experience with a cylinder choke is that, far from being useless, it is most effective; and would be more than suitable for a vast array of shooting situations. With a double gun, as someone has already suggested, I have found true cylinder and full to be most effective on dove; as it's very impressive to roll that first incomer, or close passing shot, with the open bore; then really smack the next bird with the full choke at 45 plus yards. I challenge you to conduct your own "field test", but don't ever believe true cylinder is useless.