Gil and Vicki,
Is there any reason to have two of the same choke tubes like IC, IC or LM, LM? I have a full complement of tubes, CY-IM. I see quite a few shooters who will have the same choke in both barrels and wondered whether that capability is worth the added cost of the extra choke tubes?
– Mike
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Mike,
We began shooting sporting clays in 1983. Back then, there was not any data available on how big a pattern was at a given distance through a given choke. Choke was defined as a percentage of the original payload in a 30 inch circle at 40 yards. Well, this didn’t do much for us trying to figure which choke would be best on a bouncing rabbit at 15, 25, or 30 yards. Through experimentation and what knowledge we could find from our shooting friends in England, we began our journey about choke and what it really does to the shot cloud at different distances.
That journey continues to this day. We have a DVD called “Choke Selection Made Simple” in which we featured a shot spread analysis that I did a few years back. If you’re interested in how we’ve come to the conclusions we are about to discuss with you, then get the DVD.
In order to discuss choke, we must first realize that a choke’s effectiveness has everything to do first, with the target, its trajectory (crossing or quartering) and its size (profile, edge on or belly on) and second, its distance.
When a target is presented edge-on, it is 3.65 square inches. If it’s belly-on, it’s 14.2 square inches. To break it, you must hit it with three pellets. There are two targets that can be broken with fewer than two pellets – the battue and the 60 mm. All others must be hit with three pellets. In the instance of an edge-on target at 35 yards and a belly-on target at 35 yards, the edge on target will need more choke than the belly on target, just because of size.
Here is where it gets a little crazy. Crossing targets need less choke than quartering targets. As the shot charge goes downrange, it gets longer and wider and resembles a cylinder – much like a roll of paper towels. A crossing target flies in a line perpendicular to the axis of the cloud, and as a result, during the time it takes the complete cloud to pass the target, it can move within the cloud, making it appear 1/3 to ½ again larger to the cloud. The larger the target, the farther apart the pellets can be and still hit and break the target. The quartering target on the other hand, flies parallel to the axis of the cloud and therefore does not move within the cloud. The profile is typically edge-on or dome-on, giving the shooter a smaller area to hit.
An example of these two scenarios would be a crossing chandelle with the belly-on profile and a quartering away shot with both targets being shot at 35 yards. The belly-on chandelle can be broken with a skeet choke consistently, but we would recommend a modified choke on the quartering target.
Here are a few things about chokes that will hopefully help you make some decisions you can have confidence in:
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