doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cylinder Choke - Your Thoughts

A member who I corresponded with over the years who disappeared a few years ago into another life---here or There---used cylinder on birds and clay and had state trophies to prove its efficacy. He was a free spirit, his posts always worth reading. There's also JOC's story of the old California gunner with beater gun who shot better than anyone. Jack measured the barrels---cylinder.

Just a short anecdote that stopped me worrying about choke. About 9 years ago I took delivery of what to me was a lovely O/U, it had interchangeable choke tube and I had put in the IC, IC tubes. I decided to take it to the West London shooting school to check I was OK with it. I am a very average shotgunner (I don�t get the chance to practice too much with two young kids) so I like lessons ! My instructor was a chap called Mickey Rouse. From memory he has been the UK heliz (ZZ�s)champ more than once,and has possibly been European and maybe world champ at the discipline. He can shoot a bit. We went through the usual stands and finished at the high pheasant tower (120 feet, 40yds). He showed me a couple !! Very high and seemed very small. I asked him whether 1/4 choke was enough to reach them. "Mike", he said, "Modern cartridges and IC, to tidy up the pattern will do all you need". He took the shotgun off me and proceeded to break 7 out of 10 of the following high tower clays FROM THE HIP !! This is not to say that George D doesn�t use extra full, he does, but that is extreme shooting and he can do it. I don�t shoot a shotgun at any bird over 45 yards so I have stopped thinking about choke best, Mike

A friend has a pair of McKay Brown OU's. He shoots typical driven birds in the UK (not the ultra-high ones featured at some shoots), and asked David for his advice on chokes. His guns are .010 in both barrels. Quarter choke, I think, is plenty good for normal driven birds. And for far more walked-up opportunities than most people would think.

In his book, Brister tells an interesting story from a dove hunt in Mexico. Another hunter, watching Brister stone birds with his pump, was having trouble hitting well. He remarked to Brister that the tight choke on the gun--it was marked "full"--must be the secret of Brister's success. So Brister loaned the guy the gun, and indeed his shooting improved significantly. Only thing was, Brister had bored out that long-shooting full choke barrel to IC!