Choke selection for duck hunting

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

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Hi,

From your experience, what is a good choke for jump shooting, pass shooting in the marsh? I'm using 3'' BB shot.

I have IC, M, F chokes.
 
Personally, for all waterfowl I use IC or close to it.

BB's as noted are very big for ducks, but perfect for big geese! ........ 3's and 4's are the ticket to nail those ducks !


Lucky
 
Is BB too big in terms of it'll destroy the meat, or there isn't enough pellet count so the duck could fly thru the pattern?
 
I like 2 3/4 inch shells with #3 shot.

Mod for pass shooting and jump shooting and IC for decoyed birds.
 
mosinmaster said:
Is BB too big in terms of it'll destroy the meat, or there isn't enough pellet count so the duck could fly thru the pattern?
Click to expand...

BBs will blow right through a duck, if you hit it. You are sacrificing pattern density for no benefit; even #3s will often go all the way through at decoy range.
 
depends on the situation and weather or not I'm hunting with a dog. Might get flamed for this but this is my logic:

Modified: if I'm hunting without dog and there is not to much weeds around for cripples to get lost in (like big water) and birds are decoying well
Modified: if I'm hunting with a dog and there is vegetation that cripples can get lost in while birds are decoying well

Patternmaster long range (full to extra full patterns): This is my go to if I'm not confident I can retrieve cripples with ease. I find with this choke it's usually a clean hit or clean miss. I do not own a dog yet so I usually use this set up.

I also will not take a shot I do not believe I can make or where there's a risk of a bird falling in heavy cover regardless of having a dog or not and no skybusting.
 
MD said:
I like 2 3/4 inch shells with #3 shot.

Mod for pass shooting and jump shooting and IC for decoyed birds.
Click to expand...

There's your recipe for success. I would only add that I prefer shells with at least 1550 fps. I'll sacrifice 1/16th oz. of shot for more velocity, but it seems to be a good trade-off.
 
Rule of thumb - IC is good over decoys where your average shot is 25-30 yards or less. Modified for everything else. Can't really go wrong with modiifed.

You should pattern your shotgun - big piece of cardboard set at 30 yds and see how it patyterns your load using IC and mod chokes. You might find IC is fine. Sometimes the larger shot sizes pattern differently.
 
Also, when you jump shoot, the duck flies away. Would you rather have 1550 FPS 1 1/8 load for speed or 1400 FPS at 1 1/4 for more payload to increase probability of hitting the bird?
 
I use Federal 1oz of steel #4 with IC choke early on...oddly, it just works in my gun..patterns better than the heavier 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 loads.. but when the shots are longer I use the heavier loads and a modified choke. In general, I tend to favour more shot over higher velocity.
 
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