doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What chokes do you prefer? Do you care?

Well........I agree with you guys mostly. Unless the hunting guns just shoot terrible, I leave them alone. I've got some 21's and wouldn't dream of messing with the chokes. But Winchester regulated their guns pretty darn well. I see Doug and Stan's points and respect them too. I will tell you what I really hate is a hunting gun that's a feather blower. British, American, Italian or whatever......if I like the gun otherwise and want to kill birds with it, I will have it in Eyster's shop in a New York second for a 'tune up'.

You go ahead and take notes Larry. While you're sitting on a tree stump with pencil and paper in hand I'm going to put pheasants in my stew pot.

In my opinion there is no crime in opening chokes if done correctly. That said there is a real value in the market for leaving things as original. I doubt that bias will ever change.

I have not had the need to open chokes, but would if required.

In answer to the original question: I choose to shoot Skeet/Modified over a pointing dog. Often using spreader loads through that. I often shoot CYL/CYL with my hand me down hammer gun. For distant shoot (30-45 yards for me) I shoot IC/MOD, but that is rare.

Stan, show me a hunter who kills every pheasant cleanly and/or who never loses a crippled wild rooster, and I'll show you someone who hasn't hunted wild pheasants very much. What my records "prove" is that I lose far fewer cripples than were lost in Roster's steel shot lethality tests--and those guys were shooting preserve birds, not wild ones--and there is one heck of a difference in terms of tenacity. The Roster test showed a 12.2% wounding loss rate, which is about one for every 8 birds recovered. (Iowa DNR numbers, based on hunter interviews, is 1 lost for every 10 put on the ground.) The Roster test wounding loss rate dropped to 3% for birds hit inside 30 yards--which is pretty close to my own overall wounding loss rate of 4 to 5%. And it's one reason I prefer to shoot them close: less chance of losing them. I figure a good dog hunting with someone who's a reasonably good shot ought to recover around 20 for every one lost--and that's what my records show. I've had a couple that have been above a 1 to 25 recovery rate. And that's for every bird that's hit, not just my own--assuming my dog is the only one on the ground which it often is, or is the one that attempts the retrieve. I won't brag about my own shooting, but I will brag about my dogs. When I was shooting a lot of pheasants, they were way better than average both finding them in the first place and running down the ones that hit the ground with two good legs. Memory often fails; my hunting notes don't.

Well JRB, I take my notes AFTER the hunt, not sitting on a tree stump during the hunt. And if you're in South Dakota, I've shot a bunch of birds before you even have your boots on the ground. Iowa allows an 8 o'clock start, and I've had some limits before you Dakota boys even got started at 10 (or noon, earlier in the season).

I hate to burst your bubble but pheasant hunting starts 1/2 hour before sunrise in NORTH DAKOTA and our local game warden does carry an almanac for sunrise and sunset times. Better sharpen your Crayola.

Thanks, JRB . . . but saying you're from West Dakota doesn't give too much of a clue as to whether it's Northwest or Southwest. Last time I looked, South Dakota extended as far west as ND, and they kill more pheasants. Not that you Northerners don't have good hunting too . . . and not as many nonresidents.

Stan,
Just being picky here, lol..but by saying "I could care less about English Guns", it seems like you could care less, so you must care a wee tiny bit?
If , on the other hand you said "I couldn't care less about English Guns" its obvious that they are right on the bottom most rung of your crap ladder.
As for chokes , I would try to , & have , messed with loads for different spreads...and it worked, but I have had a couple opened up a tad
cheers
franc

Bunch of sensitive folks here. Ok, IMO if one hunts in the NE for Grouse/Woodcock, something like .005 and .015 work pretty well if one is hunting over pointing pups. Maybe a tad more tight hunting over flushers. For out west I used to have a Merkel 16 with 1/4 and 3/4 which near as I can figure out is a tight IC and improved modified. Seemed to work damn well over flushers for roosters out to 40 yards.

PS. Not that it truly matters, but I'm talking 16 gauge on the above.

.000 and .028 works for me in a 16 or 20 bore. Bobby