![]() If you are going out on the average driven day or walking-up, you do not need much choke in a 12-bore. There seems to be something in many sportsman’s psychology that erroneously suggests more choke good, less choke bad. Tight patterns may be a means to cleaner kills at longer range but they are an impediment at shorter distances because they demand more accuracy. Many 12- and 20-bore game guns are over-choked for their task. A slightly choked barrel is much more efficient than a true cylinder and inspires confidence, too. For general game-shooting, I like a bit of choke in the first barrel but not too much – it is the first few thou that makes the most obvious difference. I have discovered what works for me in different situations and now stick with it. My approach, and I happily admit to passing through the stage of confusion, is practical. Sportsmen develop strange prejudices concerning shotgun choke. The tools of the trade for measuring shotgun choke REVERSE CHOKE If your gun has multi-chokes, try different tubes. You might, for example, try to observe the terminal effects of switching between fibre and plastic wads (the former often throw more open patterns) or increasing pellet payload (which may be an alternative to increasing choke). Once you have tested with your usual ammunition, experiment with different cartridges. If there are holes a bird could fly through – a 5in circle test is sometimes applied – or if the pattern is obviously too tight, your shotgun and its chokes may be working against you. You hope to see an even pattern without too many clusters, gaps or excessive central concentration. You should take your gun to a pattern plate (or improvise one with paper or card sheets and a suitable frame and safe back-drop) and shoot it at different ranges – 20yd, 30yd and 40yd – using the cartridge you prefer. With that on record, let us move forward. The cause is far more likely to be the direction the barrels are pointing.Ĭhoke is one of those things, like gunfit, that should be visited occasionally and put out of mind once an informed decision has been reached concerning what best suits your needs. What is most important is that regular misses in the field are rarely down to choke. There is no need to become neurotic about shotgun choke, even though some people do. In an average cartridge there are approximately 300 pellets, so how wide the shot pattern or how restricted is a matter than will make all the difference to your shooting. Shotgun choke is the constriction at the muzzle end of the gun that tightens the pattern of pellets. Learn exactly what choke is, which should be used for which gun and which quarry, how to measure it and, perhaps most crucially of all, when to stop tinkering. The Field’s definitive guide to shotgun choke is the only one to follow. When it comes to shotgun choke you may risk obsession, but knowing what’s what can make all the difference to your shooting. ![]()
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