doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com CHOKE ?

I've noted the choke restriction/constriction? on a 12 ga is .005 each step..005-IC,.010 IC,etc.Does this hold true w/all gauges?One source said .004 for 16ga.I know this seems a bit esoteric,but I'm soon retiring and comtemplating amateur gunsmithing.Want to be sure of my facts.Another reason-I have a 12ga Jamart(mfgd Belgium) marked 18.3/18.4 on both bbls.Thought this meant 1-18.3 and 1-18.4.Not so.Found identical gun each bbl marked 18.2(dbl mod).Am looking for other gauge guns euro-made and need to figure choke.

Choke is "constriction," as in an internal converging cone (IMO, so that the shot can make an orderly journey as it passes through, dropping shot column pressure for some additional velocity).

Smaller gauges require less constriction for the same choke effect; the area of the bore as compared to the area of the constriction throat is the issue.

Metric bore and choke are given in milimeters. A bore of 18.4 mm X 0.03939 in/mm = 0.725" bore. A choke of 18.3 mm is 0.721"; 0.004" constriction = skeet or so.

Hope that helps. Post back if unclear.

Thanks,Rocketman.So-15ga CONSTRICTION (cleared that up)really would be 0.004.20ga prob..003,etc.Makes sense ,more so the smaller the gauge.i.e..005 contstriction in a 67ga at each step would produce a full choke about the diameter of a pencil!Talk about tight!I imagine .410 would be .001 or thereabouts.Now I've got to get out my handy-dandy calculator and convert to metric.I'll probably break more at skeet now that I know my old 12ga is skeet/skeet.Also know why the 16 NID w/mod blew more feathers off the birds last Nov.

Here, IMO, is a good choke chart.

http://www.glencovesportsshop.com/choke.htm

And, if truth be known, more than a few knowledgeable shooters say we make too much of chokes and generally would do better without them.

That's been my experience: a lifetime of jibber-jabbering about chokes, reading about chokes, obsessing about chokes.

Cylinder would have pretty well covered it.

King, I respect your years of experience shooting, and your gentlemanly way of posting. However, there are others' lifetimes of shooting experience who do not jive with yours. Fifty two years of wingshooting have left me firmly in the court of believing in the merits of choke.

I have come to the conclusion that most, not all but most, people who espouse cylinder for everything can't shoot well enough to use the tighter chokes, so they try to make up for it by using none and taking only close shots.

Fire away!

SRH

At least when it comes to upland hunting, more people are undoubtedly overchoked rather than underchoked. Too often we think of more open choke as being a crutch for poor shooting. While it does give the shooter a greater margin for error, what it also does is keep from shooting up game at close range. As the late Mr. Brister expressed it: "Full choke is a demanding mistress, improved cylinder a forgiving friend." And far more upland game is shot at IC range vs full choke range.

Stan, another way of looking at your point about cylinder: Hunters who need tight chokes often lack the field skills, or their dogs are so poorly trained, that they can't get close shots and have to compensate with tighter chokes. That's the other side of the same coin. Fire back!

Present day chokes generally have less constriction for a given "Choke" than did older guns. There was never an "Official" requirement for a given amount of constriction to mark a bbl with any choke marking.

However in the old card & felt/fiber wad days generally constrictions were on the order of;
Full = .040"
Imp Mod/3/4 choke = .030"
Mod/� choke = .020"
� choke = .010"
Imp Cyl = .005"
Cyl = 0.000-.003"

It is thus noted this .005" increment applied only to the Imp Cyl, the majoor chokes going up in increments of 010" per choke. This is all for the 12ga of course. In metrics the full was about 1MM, with others in proportion.
Other gauges would, from a knowledgable maker, have a similar constriction proportinal to the bore as explained by R'Man.

It shouldn't be a contentious issue. Cylinder pretty well covers it---for me. Choke was never mentioned in the fishing village of some great gunners where I grew up. "Hard-shooting" was foremost in their lexicon. I knew nothing of choke until I moved to cities and began shooting shotgun and rifle competitively on provincial and national teams.

One size doesn't fit all, of course. A qualifying word of my post was "generally." I have only two guns cylinder, both right barrels, both original: 1889 Parker 16 gauge hammer 0 frame and 1915 field grade L.C. Smith 20 gauge. The rest are IC/M, changed from M/F or F/F. There are no full chokes. I try to keep shots within 40 yards. (All were this season.)

I grew up in a culture of subsistence living where to lose a bird was poor management. I'd be a tyrant if king: no duck or goose hunting without a dog. That's part of my notion of cylinder, luring birds within range, not stretching it. Gunning on my property or within a kilometre for ducks and geese is so good I don't need more---generally.

king: i tend to agree, for most shooting one does not need choke, as modern ammo seems to keep patterns tight and uniform at ranges under 30 yards or so. after that, modified is necessary, particularly at the trap range...then maybe for turkey head shots, you need full choke? joe needs to weigh in here.