waterfowl chokes

[Balla1982]

 

I shoot an extended mod. Carlsons waterfowl choke and it is absolutely lights out from my nova with a 28" barrel.

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I have a nova with a 24" barrel. D you think buying a longer barrel will improve my distance or just buy a good choke for extended range?

[firstflight111]

I shoot an extended mod. Carlsons waterfowl choke and it is absolutely lights out from my nova with a 28" barrel.

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I have a nova with a 24" barrel. D you think buying a longer barrel will improve my distance or just buy a good choke for extended range?

Yep it sure will i have a 28in barrel on my gun and a non ported extended carlsons lt mod choke .i hunt 70 plus days a year for waterfowl . i mostly have it for when kids are shooting duck and i am the clean up guy for the cripples .

[quackaddict]

That 24"bbl will kill ducks all day long out to 40 yards(which is about as far as anyone can cleanly kill a duck regularly) with some time spent on the patterning board. I'd be willing to bet money that you can find a shell or two that will throw a good pattern with your factory MOD or IC.

[Michigander]

I shot the factory IC choke in my Nova, 870, and Browning Gold for several years. Once I really started patterning loads on paper, I compared the factory tubes with a couple of different models of extended IC and Mod. chokes. I was suprised how in almost every case the extended tubes gave a much more even pattern. My go to was my Gold with a Primos extended IC for ducks and an Imp. Mod. for geese.

Don't waterfowl hunt near as much as I used to, having a family now and all, but my 4 buddies and I used to shoot around 700 ducks and geese a year here in MI. It was crazy how much of a difference it made when I started reloading my own high speed steel. SPEED KILLS!!!

[the Ward]

Been thinking of trying a briley light mod this year.I usually use a trulock black cloud full for most of my hunting,patterns good even with standard steel loads.I actually usually shoot kent faststeel 3" 4s most of the time through it.Heard alot of good things about the light mod,i think it would be good for the woodys early in the year.For them i usually use the stock imp.cyl. or mod choke.The imp.cyl. is a little open and the mod is a little tight for this so a light mod should fall between both and give me what im looking for.Might also try a sumtoy waterfowl choke in light mod too.The stock crio chokes patterns real well,i just like extended chokes for steel for the fact that there is a better chance of  getting  it out if it should swell.

[turkeysforever]

I like the Hevishot MidRange waterfowl choke

[surehuntsalot]

factory modified

[the Ward]

Got a Fowl Play Lm  and a Air Traffic Control Lm choke from William at Sumtoy and I am very impressed so far with them.They actually patterned a little tighter than I thought they would for a light mod but the patterns were very even out to about 45yds(didn't try patterning any farther that day)Absolutely hammered the mallards and geese a couple weeks ago using kent 3-11/8-4s and the FP lite mod out of my benelli vinci.My Son is shooting the Air Traffic Control out of his beretta a300 with BC 1-1 1/4-4s.....ward

[kwild835]

I shot the same shell out of my Maxus, I just saved a lil money and shot the factory mod.  It threw a nice evenly spread pattern in the 30" circle on the patterning board.  My brother shot same shell and gun thru a Kicks Full and it was a little bit tighter of a pattern.  The numbers were close on both, the kicks pattern had a denser core. 
The best thing you can do is try every choke you can afford, test them out, and see what fits your hunting style best.  I found the factory mod to be a killer from close up swamp work to some 40ish yard shots on divers at the coast.

[the Ward]

Factory mod chokes are usually a pretty good choice. I have used stock i.c and mod chokes with good success in the past.I have gravitated to extended chokes in the benelli for a couple of reasons. The main reason is my stock chokes seemed like they would loosen up on me in very cold weather.It would only happen in very cold weather after a flurry of shooting,then sitting then a flurry of shooting again.It may be just my particular gun,but I think what was happening was the rapid heating and cooling cycles with the  thin wall barrel was causing it to loosen up.Had not encountered that happening with my brownings or remingtons.So I went to using xtended chokes so its easy to check occasionally to make sure it stays tight. To the O.p., I would try the barrel you have and see how you do. I hunted waterfowl with a bps upland with a 22" barrel for several years and did ok with it.Was murder on decoying birds and in the flooded timber.But on big water, longer range crossing shots were tough with it for sure.

[Crueeldude13]

I've found it also depends on the terrain I'm hunting, field of view, weather conditions etc.
Often if view is constricted like timber or bottomlands modified, more open view or windy I may go with full.
Small farm ponds where they are right on me, imp cyl.
Carlson waterfowl chokes all the way.

[skybroom]

For short range (20 yds) I think any IC factory tube is fine.  My Benelli IC tube starts to get mediocre patterns at 35 yds.  I do not shoot long passing shots but occasionally take that longer 3rd shot so a better pattern at 40ish yards is important to me.

I tried a Trulock IC extended tube and have no complaints.  It is deadly at close shots and much better than factory at 40 yds. 

[Marc]

Steel is fickle stuff compared to lead, and it patterns far tighter.  Larger pellets often pattern tighter than smaller (which is opposite for lead), and sometimes tightening a choke actually degrades the pattern.  And different manufactured ammo will shoot differently out of the same gun.

That being said...  I believe the LM (light modified) choke is one of the best all around chokes...  A bit tight at 20-25 yards, but a great choke for 30-35 yards, and adequate to 45 yards...

A modified choke at 20 yard birds turns them to hamburger, but is obviously a better choice if most of your shots are further.  An I.C. is great to 30 or 35 yards, but to me is a bit thin past that...  (This is from my experience shooting Briley extended chokes in an M-2 and AnglePort extended chokes in a Beretta Urika-2).

Most shots at 20 yards are easier shots, and I can deal with a choke that is a bit too tight if they really do come in.  25-35 yards is more typical for me, but that LM gives me just a bit more density for that second or third shot.

[ilbucksndux]

I shoot a SX2 with a Kicks High Flyer MOD and for me it works well in every situation I hunt. I shoot Winchester Xpert 3" #3's a ducks .

[nothingbutlongbeards]

I think that I am going to use the HeviShot Extended Range tube in my new Super Vinci