jebs vs sumtoy vs carlsons xr chokes

[matthewm513]

Looking for a choke this year i'm going to be using a 20ga remington 870 25in or 26in barrel using 3in winchester longbeard xr 5 shot 1 1/4oz I'm trying to figure out if I should get the sumtoy .562 , jebs headhunter .555 or the carlsons choke meant for LB xr
I'm also wondering what diameter would be best because the jebs comes in different ones
I'm also open to other suggestions on what chokes i should get just these are the most popular ones i've found
Thank you

[Gmed]

You are going to get a bunch of different answers to your question, but I can speak for both the Jebs in .565 or .570 as well as the Sumtoy .562. They perform crazy good with TSS and acceptable to 35 or so yards with LongBeard XR #6. They will do close to 40 with Magblend. The LongBeard choke is also acceptable with any of the aforementioned loadings. Each gun is a little different though and you may have to try a few to see how they do, but here is a good place to start....

[sswv]

I use a Carlson's .565 for the LB's and it does a great job in the 870. I also have the Remington Turkey Super Full and it also does a great job.  In my patterning the LB's in the 870 20ga anything tighter than .565 didn't give that even hunting pattern. Now, with that being said....I use the LB #6 because I could never get the #5's to shoot anywhere near as good as the 6's with any choke.

jus my 2cents

[ahfox16]

If you are looking at longbeards only, try out the Remington Superfull Turkey before you plop down a bunch of money on the others.   I shoot the exact same gun and averaged 137 hits in 10" circle using number 6 Longbeards.  That was better then what I got using a bunch of different expensive choke tubes, to include Jebs and Indian Creek.

[matthewm513]

If you are looking at longbeards only, try out the Remington Superfull Turkey before you plop down a bunch of money on the others.   I shoot the exact same gun and averaged 137 hits in 10" circle using number 6 Longbeards.  That was better then what I got using a bunch of different expensive choke tubes, to include Jebs and Indian Creek.

Ok so get the SF first then if i need to go to the other ones correct and i've also been seeing everyone say the 6's are better is there really that much difference between the 5 and 6's with patterns

[matthewm513]

I use a Carlson's .565 for the LB's and it does a great job in the 870. I also have the Remington Turkey Super Full and it also does a great job.  In my patterning the LB's in the 870 20ga anything tighter than .565 didn't give that even hunting pattern. Now, with that being said....I use the LB #6 because I could never get the #5's to shoot anywhere near as good as the 6's with any choke.

jus my 2cents

Ok i gotcha i always thought the .555 would produce the best pattern because it's a tighter choke

[matthewm513]

You are going to get a bunch of different answers to your question, but I can speak for both the Jebs in .565 or .570 as well as the Sumtoy .562. They perform crazy good with TSS and acceptable to 35 or so yards with LongBeard XR #6. They will do close to 40 with Magblend. The LongBeard choke is also acceptable with any of the aforementioned loadings. Each gun is a little different though and you may have to try a few to see how they do, but here is a good place to start....

I was under the impression the smaller the choke the better? but i seem to be wrong because i always thought smaller choke smaller pattern which is a tighter pattern at longer ranges

[dawei]

I was under the impression the smaller the choke the better? but I seem to be wrong because I always thought smaller choke smaller pattern which is a tighter pattern at longer ranges.

Each gun, choke, and load is an entity all unto itself. I use a circa 2000 Mossberg® Mdl 500C with a 26" barrel and a Wrights .555" SWARM™ choke with Wnchester® Longbeard® Pb #6; it is THE BEST patterning Pb load I have ever found. My SWARM™ choke beats all of my other chokes diameter .570", .575", .582", .584", and .590" with Pb, and Hevi• Shot®. I have not experimented with TSS.


So for me, the tightest choke is the best...

[ahfox16]

I use a Carlson's .565 for the LB's and it does a great job in the 870. I also have the Remington Turkey Super Full and it also does a great job.  In my patterning the LB's in the 870 20ga anything tighter than .565 didn't give that even hunting pattern. Now, with that being said....I use the LB #6 because I could never get the #5's to shoot anywhere near as good as the 6's with any choke.

jus my 2cents

Ok i gotcha i always thought the .555 would produce the best pattern because it's a tighter choke

Did not work that way for me at all.  To me the 6's patterned much better then the 5's.  Yes, the 5's hit harder, but if if you are looking at tight patterns the 6's when hands down.  Unfortunately the 6's are normally harder to find for some reason.  Seems like Walmart and other places tend to only stock the 5's.  Regarding chokes, Longbeards are just different with the resin encapsulation of the shot.  I think to tight of a choke just shatters the resin when it gets compressed too much.

[randywallace]

I was under the impression the smaller the choke the better? but i seem to be wrong because i always thought smaller choke smaller pattern which is a tighter pattern at longer ranges

Regardless of shell (longbeard, tss or whatever), a choke can over-restrict the load and blow the pattern. 

There is a sweet spot somewhere between cylinder bore and extra full, but that spot is different depending on the shell/choke combo you use and your goal.  As you move down the continuum with more constriction, your pattern will tighten to an extent and could become tighter than you really wish for a hunting load.  Constrict the load even more and you will eventually have a blown load that spreads it all out almost as bad as if you were using  no constriction at all.

For example, in a 20 banger you might get see the following:

.600 wide open from little constriction - lots of pellets outside the 20 inch ring at 40
.595 more of your pellets in the 20 ring, but still wide
.585 even more pellets in the 20 ring
.575 almost all pellets in the 20 ring
.565 all pellets in the 20 ring with a good balance between the 10 ring and 20 ring
.562 most pellets in the 10 ring with a little around the 20 ring - possibly tighter than you want to hunt with
.555 blown pattern with pellets outside the 20 ring and no defined core
.550  very blown pattern with many pellets scattered outside the 20 ring

This is simply an example. 

For any 20 gauge, the even balance between the 10 and 20 rings might be anywhere between .595 or .555, maybe even higher or lower.  A load/choke combo that works in your 870 may not shoot worth a dang in my 870 or Mossberg - or, both our guns may shoot about the same.  About the best you can do is work from a combo that others have found to shoot decent and go up and down on the constriction with other chokes to see where your gun throws them.  From what I have shot and what I see from others, you can usually find a good hunting pattern in the .555 to .575 range on most any 20 gauge.  Plenty of good shooters with Sumtoys 562-5, but when I was shooting a Remington gun William encouraged me to try an even more open choke with TSS.

Get a handful of chokes and burn some powder 

[matthewm513]

Did not work that way for me at all.  To me the 6's patterned much better then the 5's.  Yes, the 5's hit harder, but if if you are looking at tight patterns the 6's when hands down.  Unfortunately the 6's are normally harder to find for some reason.  Seems like Walmart and other places tend to only stock the 5's.  Regarding chokes, Longbeards are just different with the resin encapsulation of the shot.  I think to tight of a choke just shatters the resin when it gets compressed too much.
[/quote]
Ok i gotcha yeah i picked up the 5's because to be honest i was desperate and only ones i could find but i'm thinking about getting a .562

[matthewm513]

I was under the impression the smaller the choke the better? but i seem to be wrong because i always thought smaller choke smaller pattern which is a tighter pattern at longer ranges

Regardless of shell (longbeard, tss or whatever), a choke can over-restrict the load and blow the pattern. 

There is a sweet spot somewhere between cylinder bore and extra full, but that spot is different depending on the shell/choke combo you use and your goal.  As you move down the continuum with more constriction, your pattern will tighten to an extent and could become tighter than you really wish for a hunting load.  Constrict the load even more and you will eventually have a blown load that spreads it all out almost as bad as if you were using  no constriction at all.

For example, in a 20 banger you might get see the following:

.600 wide open from little constriction - lots of pellets outside the 20 inch ring at 40
.595 more of your pellets in the 20 ring, but still wide
.585 even more pellets in the 20 ring
.575 almost all pellets in the 20 ring
.565 all pellets in the 20 ring with a good balance between the 10 ring and 20 ring
.562 most pellets in the 10 ring with a little around the 20 ring - possibly tighter than you want to hunt with
.555 blown pattern with pellets outside the 20 ring and no defined core
.550  very blown pattern with many pellets scattered outside the 20 ring

This is simply an example. 

For any 20 gauge, the even balance between the 10 and 20 rings might be anywhere between .595 or .555, maybe even higher or lower.  A load/choke combo that works in your 870 may not shoot worth a dang in my 870 or Mossberg - or, both our guns may shoot about the same.  About the best you can do is work from a combo that others have found to shoot decent and go up and down on the constriction with other chokes to see where your gun throws them.  From what I have shot and what I see from others, you can usually find a good hunting pattern in the .555 to .575 range on most any 20 gauge.  Plenty of good shooters with Sumtoys 562-5, but when I was shooting a Remington gun William encouraged me to try an even more open choke with TSS.

Get a handful of chokes and burn some powder 

ok thank you i was now thinking about getting the headhunter .560 or the sumtoy .562