old shotguns, polychokes, and steel shot - do they mix?

[TheCoachZed]

I've read in several cases on here that old shotguns are OK for waterfowling as long as their chokes can handle steel shot, and that this is one advantage of the polychoke.

What I want to know is, why the polychoke supposedly works with steel shot. Is it because it's easy to open up, therefore making it safe to shoot steel shot in at improved cylinder settings, or whatever,

OR

Is it because the polychokes are tough enough to shoot steel shot in regardless of what they are set at?

If it's the first option, wouldn't that make waterfowling kind of hard with an old polychoke gun, if you have to have the choke opened up significantly?

 

[dutchhunter]

the open choke works good for steel shot when decoying ducks and geese in close with a modafied choke .thy are very strong to DUTCH

 

[sheephunter]

I've read in several cases on here that old shotguns are OK for waterfowling as long as their chokes can handle steel shot, and that this is one advantage of the polychoke.

What I want to know is, why the polychoke supposedly works with steel shot. Is it because it's easy to open up, therefore making it safe to shoot steel shot in at improved cylinder settings, or whatever,

OR

Is it because the polychokes are tough enough to shoot steel shot in regardless of what they are set at?

If it's the first option, wouldn't that make waterfowling kind of hard with an old polychoke gun, if you have to have the choke opened up significantly?

Out of most shotguns, steel actually shoots tighter groups from an improved or modified choke than it does from full. Basically, forget everything you know about lead and chokes when shooting steel. You need to pattern a shotgun to know for sure how it patterns but regardless of what you are shooting, if it is an older gun, it may not be safe to use full choke with steel and really, modified or improved is likely best anyhow.

 

[TheCoachZed]

Thanks for the advice, guys.