can any body shed some light on this,

I have a benelli M2 and i was looking around at chokes,
from what i can make out, in the benelli book the chokes are listed as,

full
improved modified
modified
improved cylinder
skeet

in the list above i would guess that improved modified is 3/4 and modified is half.

i did enquire with comp-n-choke and thier reply was that 5/8ths was improved modified and 3/4 is 'light full'

which is which is improved modified 5/8th or 3/4?

thanks

The ONLY way to tell how a choke will shoot is to try it on paper --- anything else is just someone else's opinion.....and don't forget, when you change shot size, hardness and velocity you may very well change the efective choke.

I really don't understand you question. But maybe this will help... I always looked at it by inches of constriction...

extra full --- 0.040" constricted
full --- 0.035" constricted
light full --- 0.030" constricted
improved modified --- 0.025" constricted
modified --- 0.020" constricted
light modified --- 0.015" constricted
improved cylinder --- 0.010" constricted
skeet --- 0.005" constricted
cylinder --- 0.000" constricted

I guess all of that said your IM would be 5/8?

Typically Benelli chokes run on the tight side. However as DB Bill said ALWAYS pattern the load and choke ! My M1 90 with Mod choke and BB steel shot gives an Extra Extra Full pattern !! So now it's head shots for geese ! Works very well .

quote:

Posted 23 July 2008 08:21 Hide Post
The ONLY way to tell how a choke will shoot is to try it on paper --- anything else is just someone else's opinion.....and don't forget, when you change shot size, hardness and velocity you may very well change the efective choke.

AMEN! I have seen full choke gun throw a pattern that could cover the side of a garage at 30 yards and IC chokes that could haul down ducks at 50. The only thing I would add to the above is that anything less than putting it on paper is someone else's ignorant of the facts opinion.

Generally speaking, a full choke will mostly produce a tighter pattern, and is most likely of anything to produce what you expect. Skeet chokes in my experience are just a little behind the fulls in shooting what you'd expect. Anything more than skeet or less than full and all bets are off. It takes surprisingly little difference between loads to produce stunningly different patterns. It is not at all difficult to make an IC gun put 90% of it's pellets into a 30 inch circle at 40 yards.

Alex, save yourself a pile of grief. Screw in the Improved Cylinder choke, it should be around 10thou (1/4 choke to us).

Throw the rest away. Or at least put them where you won't be tempted to fiddle with them.

I coudnt agree more w/brian.I have owned several benneli and beretta shotguns and hands down had best luck w/ IC.I shoot light game loads 7/8,s ounce of shot usually 7 1/2 and have killed upland birds effectively at distances you wouldnt believe.w/regards

quote:

Originally posted by gophershooter:
I coudnt agree more w/brian.I have owned several benneli and beretta shotguns and hands down had best luck w/ IC.I shoot light game loads 7/8,s ounce of shot usually 7 1/2 and have killed upland birds effectively at distances you wouldnt believe.w/regards

That's great, but if you are hunting seaducks or big, hearty coastal puddle ducks in my neck of the woods, you'd become quite frustrated with an open choke, or anything under size 2 shot, when birds are leery, or just buzzing the blocks at 40 yards. When shooting in conditions like that, I tote a full-choked shotty I have patterned, and know what it can, and can't do. One of the things that combo will do, as long as I do my part, is dump birds dead right into the drink. My take, anyway.

Often, when we have a newbie/lousy shot with us but decoying birds, we'll make sure he's shooting an open choke. Better chance of knocking them down with a larger pattern!

Cheers,

KG

KG;I am sure you are correct w/your observations.I rarely shoot a water fowl but coudnt agree w/you more. w/regards

quote:

Originally posted by gophershooter:
KG;I am sure you are correct w/your observations.I rarely shoot a water fowl but coudnt agree w/you more. w/regards

Cheers, gs.

To the original poster: was your question for general knowledge, or are you setting up to hunt birds? If the latter, give us details on type of critters and style, and you'll find a lot of helpful suggestions offered here.

KG

Alex,

For vitually everything I do here in the UK I shoot Imp Mod in the top barrel, (which I fire First) and Imp cyl in the bottom barrel. In a 12b I tend to shoot 28g of 6.5's early in the season for the partridges moving to 30g of 5's when the weather gets colder. in the 20b I shoot 28g of 5's all season.

The only time I shoot anything tighter is in clay comps when there is a fast edge on target that I want to be a bit more precise on.

Here in the UK as I understand from my smith, full is 40 thou constriction and quarter is 10 thou, etc. Imp Mod has always been three quarter to me, the only time I have seen eights of choke referred to is when I was shooting olympic trap and there the guys were just verging on paranoia!!

Rgds,
FB

thanks guys,

brian, in my last auto i stuck in the 3/4 (improved modified) and dis regarded all the rest, it seemed to shoot pretty well with that.

i will try the same with this one and see how i get on.

FB, with my 28ga i shoot imp mod and mod, with 21g 6's, that combo kils very well.

with the auto i mainly use 50g 4's with a dabble of 32g 5's for pigeon.

a mate of mine put me in the direction of 5/8 choke, he rated that as his be all and kill all choke for his auto.

My standard chokes in O/U are IM and IC. I use them for almost every situation except for the extremes like quail hunting over dogs, or woodcock, or bluebird waterfowling days where the geese or ducks often just give the decoys a "look" on the outside edges.

It depends on what you're hunting, but for most bird shooters in most situations, you won't be far wrong with the previously recommended IC choke. I hunt with it occassionally, but I am not really fond of the ubiquitous American choice of the modified choke for my uses, it's neither fish nor fowl IMO. When in doubt, go more open and restrict your shots to a bit closer range.

Esoteric discussions about chokes solve nothing. (There, I always start a discussion with an insult to somebody!) I'm in total agreement with DB Bill. The alternative to actually seeing where the shot goes is experience in shooting at varying ranges. I also defer to Kamo Gari's observations about a full choke at long range. I don't have his experience in shooting large birds over decoys that he has but I do know that only a full choke suited me in shooting Canadas flying down our (NY)Hudson river. Either I missed - totally - or the goose collapsed and hit the water -hard. {Sometimes I could almost swear that they had been going so fast that they bounced on the water)

It always has fascinated me that anyone should pay close attention to such refinements as "Improved Modified". OK, OK, I'm an old man complaining about "progress" - but I still say that seeing with one's own eyes where the shot patterned on paper (I go back to when I used old sheets my mother gave me for that purpose) - or trying out the shotgun on flying birds (and I mean the real kind) Just my thoughts.

KG:

"Gerald Peter" is who was "geralds375" in another life -until the computer shut me out as a nonmember about a week ago. (Ironically, on reregistering, the same computer wouldn't let me use my former name on the ground that it already was taken! Ah, the mysteries of progress!)

Anyway, wanted to let you know that an "enemy' Yankee fan still thinks that the Mudville Nine has a chance yet. Casey is coming to bat!

Regards

Gerry

You can talk all you want about choke but there should be two rules.

1. Measure your shotgun bore and measure your choke bore. No matter what they are marked they sometimes vary from the marking. Japanese 12ga measures .725. US std 12 ga measures .729. You can see how mixing chokes can change the pattern.

2. Pattern the gun. Soft shot will usually shoot larger patterns than hard shot.

There are a few missing above.... for quail and most of my upland hunting I use improved skeet and light modified.



CYL = Cylinder .000

LTSK = Light Skeet .003

SK = Skeet .005

IMK = Improved Skeet .007

IC = Improved Cylinder .010

LM = Light Modified .015

M = Modified .020

IM = Improved Modified .025

LF = Light Full .030

F = Full .035

XF = Extra Full .040

Alex, you have received some good information here. Now, look at what loads you will be shooting and get some loads on paper. A pattern board will tell you how your chosen load reacts to different choke constrictions. You may be able to shoot a more open choke with the same result. In my SBE, I leave the IC choke in as I shoot heavishot. Hope this helps.

yes, alot of help,

thanks guys,