quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
There is one main benefit to a full choke. It keeps the pattern denser at a greater distance from the gun. The biggest disadvantages to using a full choke are that it makes a smaller diameter pattern and it causes greater deformation of shot pellets. Deformed pellets lose velocity quicker and fly less straight than rounder pellets. Pellet deformation can be reduced by shooting very hard shot and by shooting lighter loads at lower than maximum velocities. Unfortunately, well formed, high-antimony shot costs more than low quality, low antimony pellets. As a result, the best shells for use in full choke guns tend to be more costly premium shells. Anyone shooting the cheapest, heaviest loads available through a full choke at distant birds is working against himself.

Many people mistakenly think that a full choke means the pellets will hit "harder". But the truth is that a pellet going out the muzzle at 1300 fps from a full choke will fly the same and hit with the same energy as a pellet going out the muzzle at 1300 fps from an unchoked gun. That is, all else being equal. If the pellet coming out the full choked gun is more deformed than the pellet from the unchoked gun, then it will loose its velocity and energy more quickly. Tighter chokes and heavier and faster loads cause greater pellet deformation.

Most people choose a choke based on the desired pattern diameter. But that is not the best approach. Instead, the choke should be chosen by the density of the pattern desired. For example, a 40" diameter pattern of #8 will be relatively dense, little distance will separate the individual pellets. But, a 40" pattern of #5 will have a greater distance between the pellets. If that distance is too great to insure good hits on the game, then a tighter choke should be used to increase the pattern density. The object should be to shoot a pattern dense enough to reliably put enough pellets of appropriate size into the bird or target at whatever distance it is being shot.

I will say that I have had some heated discussions with people who believe that the only way to kill a pheasant is to use a 3" magnum shell with 1-1/4 ounces of #4. I will state now, as I have often stated before, that is nonsense. Some insist that you must use that sort of load to shoot pheasants at 50, 60 yards and beyond. Okay, I will grant them that in such an extreme but, honestly, how many are shooting pheasants at 60+ yards and how many really should be? Aside from extremes, consider that the common load for generations of pheasant and grouse shooters in the UK was 1 oz, 1-1/16 oz, or 1-1/8 oz of British #6 shot, the equivalent of US #7. Times have changed. Today, many, perhaps most, British shooters have stepped up to shooting UK #5 shot, the equivalent of a US #6. And the British are shooting at driven birds, regularly flying fast and high.

My personal choice for pheasants is IC or MOD with 15/16 oz or 1 oz of #7-1/2 or #6 shot depending on terrain and the gun I am using. I very seldom lose a bird and when I do it's because I missed. I don't shoot 50 and 60 yard birds but I do shoot 40 yard birds without hesitation. I run into bird shooters who don't believe me. They insist that even their magnum loads of #4 and #5 will often cause the loss of a crippled bird so shooting standard loads of #7-1/2 and #6 is a joke. When I ask them what choke they use the answer is the same - Full. I try to explain to them that they need a full choke to keep their patterns dense enough with the big shot they are using. But the result is a small diameter pattern and they are often crippling birds hit with pellets outside the main pattern area. By using smaller shot and a more open choke they would be easier to keep the birds in the main part of the pattern and the pattern would still be tight enough to deliver multiple pellets to the bird. I also explain that they are fighting against themselves by shooting magnum loads of lead when they don't need to. It doesn't matter with steel because steel pellets won't deform, but lead pellets do, and they deform much more in magnum loads. Occasionally, I win one over but most continue to eat up the tripe the big ammo companies dish out. After all, how can one company have better shotgun ammo than another company unless they make it bigger, heavier, and faster than the competition?

If you are as good as Saeed and can always put the middle of a full choked pattern from a .410 on the birds then more power to you. The vast majority of us cannot.

Here is a link to a wonderful three-part article discussing the merits of choked bores and cylinder bores. It was written a long time ago by a very well known sportsman who shot thousands upon thousands of birds. The guns have changed but the birds are the same.

THE MERITS OF CHOKES AND CYLINDERS


There is more on the subject here:

7-1/2 AS A SHOT SIZE CHOICE FOR PHEASANT SHOOTING

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quote:

Originally posted by Norseman:
UK and USA style of pheasant hunting are very different between the two. UK are mostly pen raised with beaters behind driving them forward, meanwhile in the Western USA it is mostly wild with no beaters.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:

If I need to shoot steel for waterfowl, I'll go with a cheap 870 or a Nova.

quote:

Originally posted by Norseman:
There are only 4 release sites in Oregon and of those 4 release site of pen raised pheasant, there are only 500 pheasant release per site per year which are nearby large cities.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stop there pheasant hatchery and breeding program in the late 1970's just outside of Hermiston, Oregon. Beside the hunt clubs, most of the pheasants are very wild including the Hungarian partridge, French Red Leggs, Chukar and quail.
Oregon is a cheap ass state where the fish and wildlife is a freaking joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by DB Bill:
Steel shot can be hard on barrels (abrasion etc) and the cost to replace a set of barrels on something like a Browning Superposed or even a decent Beretta.

I don't recall where but I remember seeing some very high speed photography showing the what happens to a barrel as the shot passes thru it and you could see a barrel bulge just a hair as the shot passed down the barrel - no hard with standard lead shot but I would image steel shot which is very hard to lead might do and I guess most waterfowl hunters don't shoot all that many rounds each season.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Norseman,

let me tell you about bismuth shot someday...

Rich
just say no to steel