The right choke?

Flambeau Dan

I shoot 16 yard trap,I have custom chokes made for my Beretta 682X, the mod Mics out at .700 and the full at .688. I saw a Remington 90T on Gun broker and it lists its chokes at full .715 Im mod. at .720 and mod at .725. My question is, am I choked to tight for 16 yard shooting? Are those typical Kolar Constrictions? I believe A typical bore on a 12 gauge is .740, is this correct? Thanks Dan

cussedemgun

greetings Dan;
the info. I have is from a copy of "Hunting" magazine, Feb.'96 issue
12 ggauge bore dia. .729- subtract the following for the choke dia.
improved cyl. .007
modified .011
full .022
hope this helps

"all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" Robert Fulghum


anyone who says "nobody needs a full auto" has never been in front of a brown bear charge

Flambeau Dan

Thanks for the info, I think I will open up a choke to around.715 and see how it patterns. Theres a team around here that all shoot Kolars but are tight lipped on there chokes and loads, I think I have the load down but was hoping to find out what there choking at, yhanks again for your help.

bobski

screw ins or the game of chasing choke restrictions was partially developed to offer shooters the option of being either slow or fast on a target. remember, restriction just effects the pattern on the target at a given distance. you must first ask yourself at what distance you tend to hit targets. are they right out the house or downrange a bit? depending where you hit em determines the right choke for you. when i shoot trap full or teach slow beginners, i always let em fly, then i or i tell them to pull the trigger. poof. if i have standard 1200 fps light loads, i hit em closer to the house to ensure the best power and pattern by using modified. so, what im saying is you may already have the perfect chokes and all you need to do is change or adapt your shooting habits to compensate. if all you want to do is learn someone elses chokes to be as good as them, youll fail, because they may be shooting targets differently than you and the logic of trying to match your gun to a different guns restrictions will fall apart. a cheaper route would be to shoot your gun today and see where they break the best and stick with it and ignore your buddies or other guns chokes. if your goal is to change the breaking point, then change chokes. hope this helps.

former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.

Flambeau Dan

I guess I would like to know from other shooters who have experimented with more open chokes to see if it improved there patterns and improved there scores, I like to break my birds as they crest but also adapt to current conditions, as for speed of shooting I would say I am a bit faster than the average shooter, however I did say I was shooting on the 16 yard line, with that said, I would like to increase the diameter of My pattern as much as possible for this type shooting. I was also trying to get info on what type of Constriction other Manufacturers were using as well as custom choke makers. I also shoot 11/8 ounce loads that shoot about 1150 fps, I would like to find a light 11/8 ounce load that shoots 1200 fps

bobski

no choke in the world can compensate for the amount of pellet count loss you have by shooting such light loads. a crest shot at 16yds with a mod choke pushes the limit of the choke. IM or full is better for the task with a full 1 1/8oz 1200/1205 fps load. shooting such light slow loads out to the crest isnt the chokes fault, its the loads fault. follow me? you can tighten the choke all you want, but there will only be 510 pellets or less out there when it gets to the target. you need a solid 650+/- to kill em at that range. i shoot 7/8oz or 24gram loads on the 16 yd with a winchester full fixed choke in my pigeon M-12 trap, but they are traveling at 1304 fps. i bang em out the house. if i wait too long, theyre history just past the crest. am i making sense to you? let me know.

former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.

bobski

error. i see you didnt put a space in the 1 '1/8'oz post you made. you lead me to believe your were shooting 11/16oz loads. ok now i see. let me redirect my post. give me a second.........

bobski

alright...here we go......you shoot 1 1/8oz loads at 1150 fps on the 16yd line. problem one. the speed of the shot reaching the target. problem two, hitting them on the crest with 1150 fps loads.
ok, your loads are playing catch up on the target and the load is too slow to give good patterns at crest. theyre petering out. much like a shell acts when all that ignites is the primer. youre stringing your shot. its not spreading out. you need some ummph to get it to pattern when it passes thru the restriction you have. fix the trap house trap straight away and stand on sta 3. put your full choke in. experiment 1 = shoot 1200 fps loads and watch the breaks. hit them at crest. see if it improves. experiment 2 = shoot your 1150 fps loads and watch the breaks. hit them at crest. see if it gets worse. experiment 3 & 4 = repeat the above with your mod choke. i dont believe your problem is choke. i predict its load. mod is good for up to crest. full is for crest and beyond. find where your targets break hardest and stick to it. your slow loads will serve you best right out the house in mod. thats my candid advice. no charge!

former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.

Flambeau Dan

Thanks Bobski, now I am confused, what constiction is Mod? Thats My QUESTION!!! I would like to know what constriction is considered Mod. Full, ECT. I do not have a problem with my loads, most factory 2 3/4 dram loads including Win AA's and Rem.STS are only shooting 1150 fps. I can shoot the same load on the 27 also. The crest I believe is about 35 yards on the 16 yard line, I am shooting 98% I just want to experiment and share the experiment with other trap shooters and possibly start racking up some 100 straights, are you with me?

bobski

i think i see it! [:p] i thought you couldnt figure out why you werent breaking targets and that you werent sure if you were choked too tight. gotcha. this is a common problem between american chokes and euro chokes. euro chokes always run tighter than american. say you buy a belgian browning skeet, it is actually i/c. in your case, a mod is a i/m. so, back to my other point, knowing this, you should be breaking them just fine at the crest. more choke the better. problem with 1150 loads is, its getting to the crest 50 fps late. sorry, science of flight is science of flight. so when the perfect pattern spreads into the perfect circle around the crest, the target isnt there. its ahead of it about 2 or 3 feet. so your pattern must catch up to the target, but to do that it must open up more, thus holes will begin to appear and pellet energy starts down the power curve. because, instead of breaking at 30 yds from your muzzle, its breaking at 33 or 34, and for every extra second you wait, it just gets worse. ive actually watched pellets bounce off a flying target (smokers). im sure you have too. so my last word.....youre fine. speed up your loads. good luck! try some olympic loads...24gram 1350's. it will amaze you.