Author Topic: Full chokes-----Anyone still use them????? (Read 6584 times)

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **on:** June 14, 2010, 11:47:06 AM »

I know most turkey hunters use full chokes...but how about other upland hunting.

???When I was a kid, most of the shotguns in the country were bored full choke, or if a double mod. and full...one of my dad's friends had the first mod. choked Ithaca model 37 in the country...he lived down east and hunted a lot of ringnecks...As time moved on all the writers told us you need a mod. or imp. cyl. for most shotgunning...I did have an ic before I left home, and it was deadly on bunnies....for the last years most of my upland gunning has been with IC, LM, M and once in a while IM....but this spring when I was visiting in Pa. after turkey hunting, a friend wanted the feral pigeons cleaned out of her barn....we shot several afternoons and evenings...at first I used a little 870 12 ga. special field with an ic choke in it...if feathered several birds each trip and scratched down a couple...then the last evening I just had my 870 field with my turkey choke in it..that full choke hammer those piegons...and half a dozen starlings also...truely I was impressed....then I got to thinking, two of the gunwriters of yesteryear that I really respected were Elmer Keith and Major Charles Askins.(his son was Col. Askins.) Any when I read their specks for a fine up land gun, both liked a 16 bore double and they wanted both barrels bored full....Set me to thinking if the full choke still has a place in the uplands...How do you guys feel...I am thinking this fall I will use my model 31 for some upland shooting...it is 28" full......

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2010, 11:54:51 AM »

depends on the hunt , quail at 15 yards no , dove at 40 maybe . geese pass shooting will work. The guys you mentioned hunted out west where birds seldom get up close like back east .
Some of the competive shooters shoot full choke . A guy name Digweed a champ said he liked full .

spruce · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2010, 02:19:15 PM »

Should work fine for,say, pheasant in open fields. Ruffed grouse in the thickets would be another story.

If you'll be hunting thick cover where anticipated shots would be relatively short range you might try some of the "spreader" loads made by the Poly-wad company.

Also, back in Major Askins' and Elmer Keith's day there were no plastic shot cups so I think patterns tended to be not as tight.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #3 on:** June 16, 2010, 04:18:41 AM »

I used to use Full Choke...But I have not used a Full Choke in over 15 years. Its become a specialized choke, in my opinion...

Maritime Storm · « **Reply #4 on:** June 17, 2010, 01:57:07 AM »

As mentioned, their are limited uses for a shotgun where a Full Choke is needed, hunting Turkey, Crows, shooting Trap would be about it. Since steel doesn't really pattern any tighter through a Full Choke then a Modified, most Waterfowl hunter rarely use it anymore. That having been said, one can reduce the density of your patterns through a Full Choke by handloading(spreader loads(which open up the pattern), lighter shot charges(which have the same size pattern but with less choke in it)).

Airsporter · « **Reply #5 on:** June 24, 2010, 11:29:58 AM »

Was hunting Woodcock with a buddy. His first time. He was using an old 12ga sxs bored mod/full. Bird goes up at 10yds. He fires and bird erupts in a puff of feathers. We found one bloody wing!

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** June 24, 2010, 01:08:44 PM »

Never did really. To me it's the most useless of all chokes for wing shooting other than in a few very specialized applications such as really high flying water fowl or pass shooting doves at ranges where ya really should just walk closer to the flight path.

I've used it on trap and some money games we used to play where distances to the clay bird that needed to be broken were just shy of absolutely ridiculous. One such was trap shooting from 37 yards behind the trap house meaning by the time you saw the target it was around 45 yards out and closing in on 60 by the time the shot catches it.

For most of the bird hunting I've done IC is the most used choke and a double whether SxS or O/U with skeet and IC is by all time favorite. I've not hunted pheasant but I could see how wild flushing birds might require more choke than I prefer but a modified or improved modified is about as tight as I go.

Swampman · « **Reply #7 on:** June 24, 2010, 01:15:36 PM »

I use them with good effect.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #8 on:** June 24, 2010, 01:32:15 PM »

Quote from: Graybeard on June 24, 2010, 01:08:44 PM

Never did really. To me it's the most useless of all chokes for wing shooting other than in a few very specialized applications such as really high flying water fowl or pass shooting doves at ranges where ya really should just walk closer to the flight path.

......

I pretty much agree..since they've outlawed lead for waterfowl, I realy have no use for full choke.

Maybe to hunt turkeys...Maybe.

Justin10mm · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2010, 08:09:17 AM »

Heard stores of my grandpa killing jackrabbits at ridiculous ranges with our old Winchester single shot 16 gauge that has a 30 inch full choke barrel.

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2010, 08:50:44 AM »

Quote from: Justin10mm on June 30, 2010, 08:09:17 AM

Heard stores of my grandpa killing jackrabbits at ridiculous ranges with our old Winchester single shot 16 gauge that has a 30 inch full choke barrel.

What size shot was he using??

james · « **Reply #11 on:** June 30, 2010, 09:48:58 AM »

Back when I phesant hunted (20 years ago) some days I would walk sun-up to sun-down and I started carrying a 6 lb. Remington 1100 upland field in 20 ga. The 21 inch barrel with full choke worked good for me. I would aim for the head and neck when they got up close. I was able to head shoot a few and seeing a head do loops separate from the body was thrilling. It still had a 35 to 40 yd max range but I used dogs so I had to be on the dog's heels when one flushed.

Justin10mm · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2010, 01:23:46 PM »

Quote from: Rock Home Isle on June 30, 2010, 08:50:44 AM

Quote from: Justin10mm on June 30, 2010, 08:09:17 AM
Heard stores of my grandpa killing jackrabbits at ridiculous ranges with our old Winchester single shot 16 gauge that has a 30 inch full choke barrel.

What size shot was he using??

Don't know for sure, probably #4 or #6.

lucky guy · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2010, 12:24:29 PM »

Absolutely, both hunting and clay shooting. We use longer and longer shots as tiebreakers in our tuesday afternoon shotgun shoot and bbq. Nothing like an old model 12 with a full choke on those shots. I still use them for pass shooting doves and did for waterfowl too until steel shot restrictions came in. I mostly hunt upland over pointing dogs so don't use full chokes then, but they're still handy with a flusher that hunts a little farther out. You figure the dog's 35 or 40 yds out, the bird is another 8-10 yds out before the shot, you're well into full choke range.

Wyo. Coyote Hunter · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2010, 02:00:32 PM »

Lucky, I guess you and I are seeing the same things...much has been said about close range shotgun shooting, and if one shoots over pointers, that could be very true...but I am finding the full choke useful and quite deadly on birds..and of course trap....

gstewart44 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 09, 2010, 05:46:55 AM »

stopped using full chokes a while back. I had one in my pump 12 g for an open filed dove shoot. after about 1 1/2 hrs of doves I was walking back along the hedges/fenceline when a nice rabbitt presented himself. I chambered a round, swung down, and proceeded to literally cut the rabbitt in half with a load of #7.5 shot. Wasn't much left to try and clean.

I stick to modified for my field hunting now. Don't use the full anymore. For turkeys I have an XXfull choke.

coyotejoe · « **Reply #16 on:** September 05, 2010, 06:35:45 AM »

I had a .410 for a couple of years as a kid but my first 12 gauge was an old exposed hammer double bored cylinder and cylinder. I couldn't miss a pheasant with that gun. I traded it in on a '97 Winchester, 30" full choke, and I couldn't hit a pheasant with that gun. I feel that if a bird is so far out that a full choke is actually needed I'll probably miss it anyway plus I'll miss a lot of closer birds I could have nailed with the larger pattern of that old double.
Getting back to the original post about pigeons, I don't know what shot size you were using but pigeons don't require large shot. I shot some recently with #6 shot in my 20 gauge, IC&M, and of five birds hit every one had to be finished off on the ground. Next time out I used #8 shot and again hit five birds and every one fell dead. On cleaning them (yes I do eat pigeons) I found those hit with 6's took only one or two pellets, often just a broken wing, while those shot with 8's were hit with 5 or 6 pellets. We really can't discuss choke without also considering the load.
I feel that full choke is a "miss or mangle" choke. Perfect for head shooting turkeys with carefully aimed shots but not my choice for birds on the wing. While some really great shooters can pull off long shots with a full choke, most of us mere mortals will do better with improved cylinder and just let the long shots go.

JBlk · « **Reply #17 on:** September 11, 2010, 06:19:01 AM »

I use full chokes on all of my shotguns.When you start hunting with something its hard to change and I have alot of confidence in that choke.I am sure that its alot eaiser to hit something with a open choke but it wouldn't give me the same satisfaction.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 03, 2010, 03:58:46 PM »

My 'new' SxS 20, 1965, has M &F. Mod is the right barrel for the 1st shot unless the target is on out there, in which case I have a little time to think on it. I wont change it, just learn to use whats there.

surehuntsalot · « **Reply #19 on:** December 10, 2010, 02:23:02 AM »

very rarely use anything else,but a full choke

Huntsman1 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 10, 2010, 05:51:03 PM »

Only on my Winchester model 37 16 gauge ss. Its works great on sharptails;)
My Mossberg 500 in .410 has a full choke too but i reserve that shotgun for wabbits.

b44mag · « **Reply #21 on:** February 13, 2011, 07:50:14 AM »

i use a LW 1100 20ga. 2 3/4 fixed mod VR 27 1/2in. works good for all my small game when i turkey hunt its a h&r 20 ga. compact with a xxfull turkey tube suvivor stocks and a slip on limbsaver works great
i feed the 1100 with 4 treerats 6 rabbits 7 1/2 pheasents
the h&r gets 3in. 5 or 6 copper plated turkey loads i love this lil gun for turkey
but for small game the 1100 cant be beat as far as im concerned

b44mag

Modoc · « **Reply #22 on:** February 27, 2011, 03:03:18 PM »

I guess that I am an odd one too, but the Beretta O/U has a mod/full tube set along with my Remmington O/U. Just what I use for upland. Now the Browning Gold 3-1/2, well it has a Mod. in there almost permanently. I do have other chokes for the Rem. and Browning, but rarely use them.

mechanic · « **Reply #23 on:** February 27, 2011, 03:28:40 PM »

I have a 20 ga. pump in IC choke that I've had since 1971. It covers just about all my shotgunning needs. I have since aquired a full choke NEF single for turkey, and I'm not totally convinced on that one yet.

Ben

M'issippi Bruce · « **Reply #24 on:** April 02, 2011, 07:15:59 PM »

since I couldn't find a 2nd barrel for my Sweet 16 at a reasonable price, I broke down and sent my barrel to Briley for screw-in chokes. On the pheasant hunts over the last 3 years, the light-full tube has seen the most use. It does seem that I get the most consistent patterns in the LF tube with #6 through #4 shot - 7 1/2 and 8 pattern better with the IC and Mod tubes.