Calling All Fanatics: If you had the money for the chokes and the shells.....

[3" 870 Shell Shucker]

Would you like to decide on a favorite choke maker and choke design, and then pattern every exit diameter from say .655 to .670 in .001 increments?

It would take 100% of the guess work out of it all.  I think it would be a lot of fun.  You could dial in the exact sweet spot for your barrel.

Of course, you'd need to travel to the choke maker's location and agree to purchase a 3 Choke set of your choosing after all the patterns were shot.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth their time and effort.

Say your best patterns were with a .662 choke.  Buy a .659 and a .665 to round out the set of 3.  Then you'd also be able to adapt to any new shells in the future.

[Skeeterbait]

It is not unusual for back to back shots thru the same choke to vary several pellets, therefore chokes only a thousandth different will be hard to discern a difference in.  I really think comparing in increments of 5 thousandths is good enough. You can also narrow the range of where to start by reading the experiences of others on OG.  I think you are at risk of selling your gun short if you preselect a brand of choke.  I went thru 4 brands of choke over time until I found the one I wanted to stick with.  For me it was a no brainer when I hit the right brand of choke.  First pattern out of it woke my 835 up.  I thought "now this is why I bought an 835."

[gobblingghost]

I would just send it to a choke maker and pay them. I sent mine to Sumtoy and William played with it and got it to the best that gun would shoot.

[3" 870 Shell Shucker]

I think you are at risk of selling your gun short if you preselect a brand of choke.

I think that some choke designs would be a good gamble.  They have proven themselves to be really good, and perhaps just need to be dialed in to pattern just right in an individual barrel.  I've had great luck with the same choke design and the same exit diameter in both an 870 and an INV+ BPS.  But I wonder what I would see if I tried exit diameters both a little tighter and a little more open, using the same choke design.  Surely there would be a sweet spot for each barrel.  Surely one or two of the exit diameters tried would yield a better 3 shot average, or 5 shot average than the others.

[R AJ]

One choke can work for one gun and not for another of same brand, bbl length, gauge, etc. I understand your question however.


If I had one say at a 665 that worked well I would much prefer something such as a 655 and 675 rather than trying to tweak to an exact science. That would allow for different size shot, distances, mfrgs changes in shell makeup and whether lead or HTL components.

In fact, I might want a 665, 675, 685 if the 665 was as tight as I wanted. To err on too tight is a very common occurrence,probably the most common, even to blown patterns.

[Skeeterbait]

I think you are at risk of selling your gun short if you preselect a brand of choke.

I think that some choke designs would be a good gamble. 

Well for instance, I have tried 4 name brand chokes that at one time or another have all received rave reviews for the 835.  I began with Kicks in .690, .680, and .670 and settled on the .670.  I then tried Jelly Head and did not get better results.  I then tried Pure Gold and switched for slightly better performance.  Then I tried Indian Creek and it was night and day difference.  Had I prepicked any of the other three which all had good reputation I would have missed the superior performance of the Indian Creek in my gun.  And that is not to say that my experience will be duplicated in every 835.  There are people out there getting great patterns out of the Pure Gold in their 835.  You can't just rely on others' experiences in your selection of a given manufacturer's choke.

[3" 870 Shell Shucker]

Had I prepicked any of the other three which all had good reputation I would have missed the superior performance of the Indian Creek in my gun.

Indian Creek chokes worked best for me as well in two different barrels.  But wouldn't it be interesting to see what a little more choke, or a little less choke would give, within that same design?  .665 is great, but I wonder if .667, or .663 would show any further improvement in some barrels with either Lead or HTL?

[SumToy]

That would be fun to do.  We have did it in the target world.  Now short 50 to 60 blowing the holes about .002 you can go from a ragged hole to a clean one.  Now it hard to say on the 75 to 90 feet stuff (turkey loads also).  I tell folks to go .003 or more to see don't think it is going to be a nuff to see.   

Now on the 20ga it don't take that much to change them.  I know they are VERY temperamental. 

Now with chokes it all about the lay out inside the choke.  More to the choke then just changing the exit size.  That is why you see one choke work in this size and different choke in another size.   Like with our stuff we have about 20 different ramps/tapers that feed the exit size.  Now distance, bore of barrel, speed of shell, wad and outside temps play big roll in the type ramp.

Like when the HV13 changed the wad few back.  Our(bad boy) go to choke dropped off more then  our normal choke drop off.  Now both the same exit size just the stuff in the tapper of the choke.  We got to playing around in the tapper and found the set up for that wad.  Only thing that we did was play with tapper not change exit size.