Choke changing - everyone's favorite topic.

Rob!

Rob!

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Super GunNutz
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So I'm the guy who would start and finish a SC competition with the same chokes. Usually a skeet in the lower barrel and a mod in the upper and I'd select which fired first based on the presentation. I was told mod would break anything on the course and Skeet, likely 80% of the targets. Chokes would just get left as they are. Something changed.

I tend to be a bit of a techie and I was intrigued by the Briley 360 click. Super easy one-turn - no tool switching. I sprung for a full set and yes - there is a difference. I still don't switch often from my SK/MOD but there are times....

For those of you who have shot Silver Willow, Station 6 often has a couple of birds coming off the ridge. If the wind is from the North, they just stay on the ridge. Josh says about 60 yards, but I'd call it more like 80+. Similarly, station 9 usually has at least one 'way out there' crosser. Both of those stations were something of a demon for me. Yes, I could break those targets but not consistently and chicken chip kills. In both those cases (and others) the F or IM has made a big difference in quantity and quality of breaks.

I'm coming to accept that choke selection - if you don't get silly about it - does make a difference.

All of this with my F3. Sadly, Briley does not offer the 360 click in Optima to fit my 687 EELL Sporting. :(
 
I never change chokes during a round either, I usually run LM in both barrels, and it works on our field. When he had some longer targets , I ran M in both barrels. But you now have me interested in checking out the Briley system.
 
Once upon a time I was the guy changing choke tubes at every station, then I quit blaming my losses on choke selection and shot everything with IC and Mod, like you Rob I would change barrels depending on the presentation. That works for the majority of targets out there but these days I still start out with the usual Ic and Mod then I'll change the IC to a Full for long targets and I'll change the Mod to Sk for close targets, I still shoot 90% of my targets with the IC and Mod though. Sk and Ic CAN break targets out a long ways but they certainly aren't ideal, it pays to tighten up. The other thing I do is change up to a AA Supersport load or some handicap load, that helps quite a bit too.

Silverwillow 6 and 9 are challenging to say the least, 9 doesn't usually give me too many problems as a rule but 6 gets my number a lot of the time.

That 360 click looks like a neat system, I've grown so fond of my Muller tubes that it would be difficult to change though.
 
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bunny said:
I think chokes are overrated and distracting, so I shoot full choke all the time.
Click to expand...

They're only distracting if you let them be.
Full choke all the time wouldn't be my choice on a sporting clays range, trap maybe but not any of the other shotgun disciplines. I'd be happy enough shooting mod only if I had a fixed choke gun but the reality is that changing chokes on certain sporting stations is an advantage and the winners often only win by one target so if changing a tube gets you that one target then it's all worth it.
 
I shoot 5 of the 7 stations at my club with IC and two with mod, the two are in the middle so I switch back after and then have the right choke at the start of the next round (I shoot a pump).

Does it help? Maybe. If I miss it’s probably because I didn’t use enough lead. But psychologically, if you think it helps, then it probably does.
 
I shot a round of ATA wobble trap on the weekend with Briley 28 gauge inserts in a 26" barreled , cylinder bored hammer double.
The load was 3/4oz 8.5's, basically a skeet load .
It was pretty danged windy too, the results surprised everyone , including me ! LOL.
If I was shooting 28 gauge barrels with a modified or full choke it would have been interesting .
Cat
 
Usually I start SK and LM and the only time I change chokes is if I think I don't have enough for a presentation. Time spent changing chokes is time taken away from watching the target, learning the line, determining break and hold points and developing my shooting plan. Even the new Briley system is more time than I'd care to spend.
 
In my sporting o/u lives a Muller U1 and a U2 . In my semi auto rain gun lives a LM . very rarely do I ever change chokes on a sporting clays course .
 
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