Long Beards and XF choke

[NYlogbeards]

Here's my situation, I have a Xf choke on my setup for Win xx and I was wondering if a few of you have ever pattern the Win Long Beards with an XF choke and what your patterns results were (good or bad)... Now i know that there's the theory on a tighter choke would make patterns better for closer range but wouldn't a open choke be more effective at farther range?

[turkeykiller41]

I shoot a Carlsons 680 flush tube out of a single barrel with 3'' 1.75oz #6s average 180s in the 10 at 40.

[NYlogbeards]

I shoot a Carlsons 680 flush tube out of a single barrel with 3'' 1.75oz #6s average 180s in the 10 at 40.

That's not bad at all that will def give them dirt nap, and for flush that really good results IMO... Mine is extended I should see similar if not better results. Tnx Turkeykiller41

[Daniel703]

I have a carlsons .650 extended choke that is putting WLB 5s in the 180-190 range and WLB 6s in the 200-220 range. That's out of my Benelli nova. My brothers mossberg 835 with a .650 choke is terrible. Last he tried he got about 50 in a 10" with the WLB 5s.

[turkeykiller41]

I tried a RSF 665 in my single barrel and it was terrible it blew the pattern.

[NYlogbeards]

I have a carlsons .650 extended choke that is putting WLB 5s in the 180-190 range and WLB 6s in the 200-220 range. That's out of my Benelli nova. My brothers mossberg 835 with a .650 choke is terrible. Last he tried he got about 50 in a 10" with the WLB 5s.

Carlson's is a good choke, so idk if your brother uses Carlsons? but it seems as he's getting terrible results that could relate to many issues... what range did both you test at?

I tried a RSF 665 in my single barrel and it was terrible it blew the pattern.

so i imagine that this is a result of too tight of restriction?

[Daniel703]

My brother was using a Jebs. Some believe that mossberg having an overbored barrel added with the a really tight choke results in a "blown" pattern. That may or may not have been my brothers issue but he sold the gun anyway and bought a Stoeger m3500. We were both shooting at 40 yards. In the end some guys will say it patterns better in a more open choke out of THEIR gun and others will say it patterns best if its choked really tight out of THEIR gun. I don't believe there is a true secret formula for  the WLBs

[NYlogbeards]

My brother was using a Jebs. Some believe that mossberg having an overbored barrel added with the a really tight choke results in a "blown" pattern. That may or may not have been my brothers issue but he sold the gun anyway and bought a Stoeger m3500. We were both shooting at 40 yards. In the end some guys will say it patterns better in a more open choke out of THEIR gun and others will say it patterns best if its choked really tight out of THEIR gun. I don't believe there is a true secret formula for  the WLBs

I never heard such issue out of Mossberg, i own a 20ga Mossberg that im planning to also use Longbeards if they are available at my local shop and get ok patterns with a tighter choke with win xx... But i suppose i'm not familiar with the 12 ga Mossberg.

I am really confused on how Longbeards exactly work tho, does the shotlok break on ignition of gun powder or at exit of choke or even both? i seen Clark say its about the choke constriction and the tighter the choke the more open a pattern would be at a closer range so would sound reasonable a full or Xf would have better pattern for further range.

[Daniel703]

Yes I read the same post from Clark. He said it may open the patterns...here is exactly what he posted on this topic.

Here's what I found from shooting the early WLB shells with #6 shot. Before going into that however, I'd like to inject that not all shot charges of WLB shells "behave" the same. For example, the resin slug is much softer on the larger shot sizes, particularly on #4 shot. It can be easily crushed between your thumb and forefinger. The #5 shot slugs to a lesser extent and the #6 loads need pliers to crush the resin slug.

We all know that the resin slug is designed to fracture upon upset. Many times, we have no real way of knowing if or when that happens because we can't see inside the chamber or the forcing cone area where this would take place at that time. We have however seen evidence of the resin slug not fracturing or not fracturing fully at times. When that happens, the patterns are exceptionally tight at all ranges.

So, if the resin slug does not fracture at upset and we want that slug to fracture, the secondary source of fracturing can be the interior of the choke tube. One way to do that, is to use a choke tube that is somewhat tighter than we might ordinarily use. That pretty much goes against what we've been told over the years. "If you want a tighter pattern, shoot a tighter choke and if you want a more open pattern, shoot a more open choke."

In this case, you many need to shoot a tighter choke to get a more open pattern. Now, we also go back to the design of the choke and its "internal geometry". It's not all about the exit diameter.

There is another complicating factor. I referenced the "early" WLB shells and most of my work on this subject was done with them. I cut open shells with #4, #5, and #6 shot and found the differences in the resin slugs that I discussed. We shot a lot of those early WLB shells at still target shoots, then went to more current production and then last year, we shot the early production shells again on the shooting circuit and at the World Championship. They shot very tight patterns, as evidenced by the records that were broken.

Along the way, several of us cut open the "current production shells" and it appeared that the resin slug with the #6 shot was about as easily crushed in our fingers as were the #4 and #5 shot resin slugs. I suspect that the formula was changed at some point to make the resin fracture more easily and consistently.

That says a couple of things to me. The first is that this shell was designed to be a "long range" shell and that is how it performs. At ranges under 35-40 yards, it throws some very tight patterns. It also says that you may want to experiment with some tighter chokes to see if your particular gun will shoot more open patterns at closer ranges. Some will and some won't.

It comes down to each of us knowing our guns.

Thanks,
Clark

[NYlogbeards]

Thanks Daniel, this explains to me that i'd prefer to use a xF choke, would make most sense to get the most out of it for longer range.

[Daniel703]

No problem. I'm not sure how your set up will do but more than likely you are going to have very dense patterns and longer ranges with the WLB shells. Go pattern some and let us know how your gun did. Good luck!

[Ozark]

Longbeards through extra full choke.  mobilechoke bore = .723  trulock choke .670

LB 5's  http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,62700.0.html
LB 4's  http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,62697.0.html