This is a little delayed, but have shot some more. To answer some of the questions, I have the Sumtoy .660 choke. I am going to give you the pellet counts for each choke and have added some chokes since I last posted.
The first number is the pellet count in a 10 inch and the second is total within 20 inches. One other important factor is that each choke shot a little different either left to right or high and low. To make it a fair pattern test, I cut out a doughnut. The hole was 10 inches and the outer edge was 20 inches. I laid the doughnut over the best area of shot on the board and drew a 10 and 20 inch circle before counting. When I pick a choke I can sight in the gun to center the pattern. Personally, I like my gun shooting a little high. I never aim on the gobbler’s head, but instead the neck. At the end I will make some general observations.
Here are the 7 shot results:
217/325 Indian Creek with Heavy-18
I84/342 Sumtoy .660 Heavy -18
174/307 Carlson Longbeard Heavy-18
152/309 Carlson Heavyshot TSS Heavy-18
147/286 Sumtoy .660 Federal TSS
123/318 Roberts Heavy-18
Here are the 9 shot results:
418/648 Sumtoy with Heavy-18s
392/662 Carslon TSS with Heavy-18
374/653 Sumtoy with Federal TSS
242/572 Indian Creek .665 with Heavy-18
235/447 Carlson Longbeard Federal TSS
165/409 Carlson 409 Federal TSS
125/392 jebs .655 Heavy-18
When I finally finish testing I will post some pattern pics, but here are some take aways. First, I think finding a choke that works with your gun is more important than shell selection. For example, the Sumtoy shoots pretty much every shell well, and overall is the highest pellet count. On the other hand, the JEBs will not shoot anything through that gun. I didn’t even post the numbers for the 10 other shots through a JEBS. But, I had the .655 and the .660 JEBS and neither one created a pattern that was even suitable to hunt with for any game.
Next, and maybe more important than pellet count is uniformity. I will say the Carlson chokes all worked really well and may have had the most uniform patterns. I need to lay several targets out and compare still yet, but they were very impressive. I have several Benelli’s and Carlson Chokes have always been my go to, and this test seems to remind me of why. The Carlson TSS was the second highest count with 9 shot, and I will have to compare it to the Sumtoy. The biggest difference between these two is the Sumtoy seemed to shoot every shell brand and shot size extremely well. The Carlson didn’t shoot every brand and shot size as well, but it may have out shined on pattern uniformity.
Next, the Indian Creek had an extremely tight pattern when it work. Maybe the tightest pattern cluster but it must blow out a number of pellets. This choke would be the one most likely to kill a bird at 80 yards (now before anyone says anything, I am not going to shoot at a bird at 80 yards, nor should anyone). My point is the patter is so tight at 40 yards that in theory you may have a lot of pellets still in the 10 at that distance. The thing that I don’t like about it is the uniformity. It is a very narrow pattern. It is good top to bottom but is very narrow. Therefore, even at 40 yards it would be easy to miss. However, next year I would certainly try some more Indian Creek constriction options.
Finally, some chokes just don’t work as well as others in a gun. The Roberts was a good choke. If I didn’t have the others to test, I would feel comfortable hunting with it no doubt. It is a good uniform pattern with all shells, but the pellet count just does not come close to the Sumtoy, Indian Creek or Carlson. As state above my gun has an allergic reaction to a JEBS.
Going to shoot some more later today. Good luck to all.