Chokes for sporting clays?

[MD]

If you had an over under shotgun with a fixed full choke and fixed modified choke barrel, would that be adequate for most sporting clay situations?

Also, on another thread, guys were discussing the Russian TOZ 34 O/U shotgun and it comes in models with automatic or manual ejectors.

What is best?

 

[Claybuster]

Good chokes for trap but tighter than needed for most sporting clay presentations. I rarely shoot anything tighter than light modified for sporting.

As for the TOZ it's a POS but if you have to I'd get extractors. One less thing to break.

 

[rigby]

Agree with Claybuster,those are a little tight for most sporting clay targets
You might, depending on the layout get some presentations that a modified choke would be usefull for but it would only be for a few targets out of a round.

I usually use improved cylinder in both barrels but sometimes will use light modified for some longer shots

 

[Fassteel]

Chokes

Most folks here in Alberta use IC chokes for most presentations, and occasionally swith to skeet for close crossers. Even with todays guns a mod choke can give a very tight pattern, not bad for trap but way too tight for most sporting clays targets. That said one the best ever shooters George Digweed ( from England) did shoot most targets with tight chokes. If you swing gun the well and you are on target with the proper lead it don't matter what choke you are using the target will break. I shot a couple of sporting clays events with a SX1 with a 30 inch barrel and factory full choke and did all right, nice puffs of black smoke on those incomers, FS

 

[kevin.303]

i use a full choke, cuz thats all i got, but someone pointed something out to me a long time ago.chokes aren't the big deal everyone makes them out to be. chokes change the pattern size by inches, and misses are usually in feet

 

[TReX300]

Some of the best European SC shooters shoot guns that are choked M/F or IM/F. I shoot my fixed choked gun gun thats IM/F. It's better to be a little over choked than under choked. Beside that I think the differences between chokes is highly over rated. People seem to think that the difference between an IC and LM or M and IM to be big. If you put them on paper I'm going to say about 95% of the shooters couldnt tell the difference by looking. If you can't see a difference the target wont be able to tell either. IC,M and F will cover everything but if I was picking just two it would be M and F. You'll have a harder time breaking long range targets with an IC/M gun than you will breaking close targets with a M/F. Just shoot and dont worry about choke. Thats part of the reason I shoot a fixed choke gun.
Besides that the tighter chokes will impress the heck out of onlookers by the smokeball breaks you'll get with them.

Tim

 

[bat]

Chokes

Second what Tim said. Don't get caught up in the changing choke tube game. Put in a pair of IC and shoot away. Don't have choke tubes? Then fire away with whatever ya got. Those ink balls produced by M or F chokes are real confidence builders. If you're on,those close in clays will pose no problem. Just go ahead and SHOOT.