doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Choke recommendations for western wild birds, M700

Most of my bird shooting here in NY is preserve pheasants and chukars. Would like to plan a trip to the middle of the country for wild birds and would like some choke recommendations for my 1955 Webley & Scott M700 12 gauge.

The gun is currently as from the factory (yes Darryl, it's the one I got from you) 0.729 bores and .042 chokes in each barrel.

Recommendations for how much to open them to make it a useful upland gun? I have plenty of others for waterfowl & cornfield geese.

The load matters also. B&P MB Classic 1 1/8 oz. 5s at 1330 with .010 right and .030 left provides very dense and even patterns in my Smith. I don't have the clean kill confidence to try more than 35 - 40 yd. shots though.
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What Drew said. He is spot on.

hunting over dogs? I like a full choke in my left barrel and cylinder in my right. Depends some on which western birds and how you hunt them. I have Springers and when the birds co-operate I kill plenty inside of 20 yards. Late season, windy days or birds that have plenty of pressure and I sure do like the tight pattern a full choke offers. That said my favorite bird gun is cyl and .014" but it fits me well and I love it.

You have to define "western birds" more thoroughly if you wish considered advise.

They could be anything from Doves to Greater Canadas, Spruce Grouse to Hungarian Partridge, Sharptail Grouse to Pheasants.

And then there is the question of when and how. For example, pheasants shot in a SD cornfield drive are best shot with choke combinations that differ greatly from pheasants walked-up by man and dog in a MT coulee.

Similar scenarios can be made for all the other species and where and how they are hunted as the "middle of the country" is a little vague.

BTW, have you much experience in shooting in high winds and often freezing temperatures? Your experience with such should also be considered, if you are going to open the chokes on a singular gun for a one time hunt somewhere around here.

As an aside, Daryl usually comes with 6 or 7 guns when he comes up to Sidney to hunt pheasants.

To add to what Bob said: If you're coming to the Midwest in the cold part of the season, when the temperature may hover one side or the other of zero, you need to make sure that the trigger spacing on your Scott (assume it's a double trigger gun) allows enough room for fingers inside an insulated glove.

The whole choke thing is so subjective that a thread like this could go on and on.
The only real way to tell is to pattern what ever gun you plan on taking and pattern it with different shot sizes and shot weights.
And as stated a few posts back, what are you specifically hunting for?

If you have just one gun to take, my choice would be one with 28" barrels, cyl and full. Gauge is your choice.

If you are chasing Kansas ditch parrots, the proper load is #5s and tight chokes. If they flush close, give them a tic or 2. RST Lite roll crimped 1 1/16 oz, but I don't see it on the website @ RST. If you can stand the pressure, Kent's Upland with the Diamond shot works extremely well. I have not found a better type shot.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

If you are coming to Kansas or Nebraska for pheasant and quail or early season Prairie Chicken/Sharp Tail Grouse improved cylinder and modified will serve you well.

We hunt "Ditch Parrots" in both middle NE and Western KS--I use a 12 gauge M12 30" full choke solid rib field gun made in 1937, and RST 1& 1/4 ounce No 6 chilled exclusively- we hunt with flushing dogs in early Nov- lotsa wind and spooky birds, so for my shooting style, I like that combination. Love to see a big ol' rooster pheasant crumple up like a cheap cardboard suitcase in a hailstorm- feathers flying, and as in the great song about the Sunflower State- "Dust In The Wind"__Ka-Boom