Let's Start A Discussion On Choke Tubes, Guns And Loads

[vt35mag]

(2) 12ga Mossberg 535's
22in Non Ported Barrels (one honed & polished, one factory)
Pure Gold .670 Chokes
Hevi 13 3in 2oz #6 & #7's
Patterns 3-1/2in shells well, but very little improvement over the 3in
VERY even 10 & 20 inch patterns
Honed & Polished barrel patterns 12-15% denser than the factory.

20ga Mossberg 500C
20in Non Ported Barrel
Indian Creek BDS .555 Choke
Hevi 13 3in 1-1/4oz #7's
Solid 40-45yd hunting pattern
Impressed by how efficient the 20ga can be at 40yds

12ga Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag
24in Ported Barrel (polished)
Stardot .676 Choke
Hevi 13 3-1/2in #6 & #7
Amazed by the pattern density and evenness of both the 10 and 20 inch patterns. 
Simply devastates birds @ 40+ yards

[Hawk76]

Two remington 1100s
One only shoots 2 3/4 and loves trulock .655 with Winchester XX 1 5/8 #5
The other has a wadlock barrel 26" with carlsons .665 nonported tube.  Shoots 267 in 10 at forty with 3" hevi 7s.  Magblends shot very well, but with less pellet count.  Would use them if 7s weren't so great.
Will be loading tss9s for it next year.  Should be noted this barrel shoots very even patterns regardless of load.

[coyotetrpr]

In my 2 835's with federal flight control 3.5/2.25/5's the x-factor 695 that came with my turkey thug and a mad max 695 throw nice and full 40 yard pattern. My buddy shoots this same shell in his 935 with a jelly head and gets good results as well. Now for the specifics.

The 20 inch barrel shoots the best with the x-factor.
The 24 inch barrel shoots the best with the mad max.
The 20 inch barrel with the x-factor will out shoot the 24 inch barrel and jelly head.
More testing needs to be done between mad max and x-factor.

[tnturkeykiller]

I was hoping to get some Rhino choke shooters since that is one of the chokes I have no experience on.  I know there are some guys that have good luck with Rhino chokes.  I think I remember some guys on here that swore by their Rhino .660 in their Rem barrel shotguns but I don't remeber the specifics of barrel lengths and laods used.  I also remember some talking about the Rhino .695 in their Moss 835's with very good results.  I also don't have any experience yet with the Hevi-Shot chokes made by Carlson's.  But that is gonna change since I now have both these chokes for my Rem 870 and 835.  I ahve heard some good reports on these chokes.  Maybe some of these guys will chime in with their results.  I know I like to hear all these results from different barrel lengths in a particular gun.  We can formulate a good analysis of what chokes seem to work in different barrel lengths and diffferent guns with specific loads that seem to give good results if enough people will chime in here.

I shoot Rhinos on every thing 12s and 20s for many years nothing magic about a Rhino unless you shoot Nitro the ones i have really perform better with the 12s than they do with the 20s i have a 565 Rhino that shoots the Nitros real well about 200 in ten @ forty

[Charliebtsj]

Buddy has sbe2 rhino 660 and nitro 457 26 inch barrel gets great results

I shoot sbe2 24 in with IC 665 and really knock them in the dirt with  nitro mega weight4567 as well as a great 20 inch pattern with hevi 3.5 in #6

The hevi 3.5 magblends give more in the 10 than the hevi 6s but the 20 is not as good

Ps in my 60's use a Nikon BTR scope.  Call it the old mans edge!

Nitro 4567 250 in ten at 40

Mag blends 220 in 10 inch

Hevi 6s 190 in the ten with another 160 in the 10-20 ring

[SCDieselDawg]

You guys are starting to bring up some intersting points here when you start talking about good turkey killing pattterns or not so much interested in the 10" number for high counts but more on the overall 20" pattern.  That is very true.  And it's like I always said the more shot you put in the 10" will be that much less shot you have to make as good of an overall evenly 20" pattern. 

You guys are bringing some very good data here.  I hope we keep getting more folks to chime in.  I would also like to hear from those Rem Jelly head .660 and .665 choke shooters that seems to be great chokes in a lot of Rem barrels.  I know there are a lot you guys here who haven't spoke up. 

Thanks again gentlemen.

Id like to compare the .665 JH to the .660 as well as the .662 Hevi-choke. Just gotta wait till I can find a used one some where.

[davisd9]

Personally I do not pay much attention to anything other than the 10" of my pattern.  I am shooting 40 yards and if I cannot do it with 10-12" of wiggle room then should I be shooting to begin with, just my opinion.

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

Personally I do not pay much attention to anything other than the 10" of my pattern.  I am shooting 40 yards and if I cannot do it with 10-12" of wiggle room then should I be shooting to begin with, just my opinion.

David,

I myself am more of a 10" guy myself for I truly believe those shot are the working bees or ants of the pattern.  But you got to remember that we all get older with time and some can't see their bead as good as they once did but still refuse to get a scope or dot sight on their guns.  And then there is the days when the wind is blowing say and your hunting a field and you may need to have more wiggle room than a bunch of shot just in a 10" circle and more shot spread out in a 20" pattern.  So I do see why folks would want a good overall 20" pattern for some of these reasons. 

[allaboutshooting]

I've been following this thread as I can and think it's a really great idea that allows everyone to share their experiences with different guns/chokes/shells/barrel lenghts.

I've had to limit my time on line for the last couple of weeks but hope to be back soon and able to participate more.

My congratulations to everyone for the information furnished and the spirit in which it's been given.

Thanks,
Clark

[ohiostrutter]

remington 870 sps turkey shure shot shooting a 665 jellyhead getting high 180s with magblends and hevi 7s both 3 inch shells im more of a really even 20 inch pattern than i am a cram as many pellets in a 10 inch circle i like having a little wiggel room in my setups gonna do some upgrades this summer and try a few chokes also the wingmaster hd choke wasnt bad either averaged low 170s with same shells also need to menttion this out of a dirty barrel gonna polish it before next year im interested in what u guys are getting out of a 20 ga 870 gonna build one for next year

[ILHUNTER]

Remington 870 express, with a truglo SSx .643 choke.  Shooting 3" magnum blends 217 pellets in 10" at 40 yrds

[JHoyle]

Browning gold 3 1/2 24" barrell. Rhino .670, 288 in 10" 40yds hevi 2 1/4 7s

Same gun sumtoy .670 312 in 10" hevi 2 1/4 7s

Rhino produced very even hunting pattern in the 20

Browning silver 20 barrel cut down to 26" by william at sumtoy and sumtoy .562 140-150 fed 3in 7s

[mikejd]

Winchester 1300 22" barrel
IC 660 @ 40 yds 260 in the 10"
hevi 13 #6's 2oz
freshly deep cleaned barrel

Very similar results with my truglo Banser. I choose to hunt the banser due to the fact that I prefer a single bead sight and the banser is slightly more centered.

Winchester 1300 short 18" barrel
same IC 660 puts 209 in the 10"
same 6's
only difference is this was not a deep cleaned barrel. I know after a good deep clean I will get that number up substantially.

Side note
before i started using hevi 13
I always shot winchester HV's lead  # 4's
I have always hunted my truglo banser with the 22" barrel
and the # 4's and used to get about 55 in a 10 at 40 yds as soon as I deep cleaned I jumped to 98 in a 10"
so  I feel it is extremely important to do the deep clean. worth the 15 minutes spent.