Turkey Chokes

[crazyfarmer]

im gonna see mine and ask also.. either that or spend 65bucks on a good choke for my remingtons LOL

[Country]

The proof is always in the pudding. Coose your shot and pattern the gun. I have a collection of super tight turkey chokes that can't match the full choke that came with the barrel. Keep in mind what a choke does. It's designed to seperate the plastic thingy (wadding) from the shot. Every gun/choke will pattern differently. I've seen two identicle 11-87s with the same barrels and same choke tubes pattern totally different. One would be tight and the other scattered. Go fiqure. Try and borrow a few chokes from someone and go see what it does in your gun. Back before I knew better, I use to think the choke compressed the shot but that's not the way they work.

[Doe Master]

Country is right the shot cup has to separate .What I failed to mention is both guns have been ported and forcing cone has been lenghtened out as far as the reamer my smith had .The difference between before and after was amazing . Everyone I know that chases the ground buzzards has had their guns done with good results .

[Adrian J Hare]

I have to reply here after reading some of these posts,

To get started on chokes, as stated most chokes need to be tested with different brands of shells to find the combo that works the best for your gun.

After testing turkey guns for 8-10 years , I've learned so much in this field.

Chokes all come in different sizes of constrition. They also come on extended and flush mount. The reason for the choke is to form the shot as it leaves the barrel so that the shot can leave the cup in a formed area with out creating a spray in the spin.

The longer the cup stays with the shot the better the pattern will be on your target.

The choke that Country has with straight rifling is to Stop the shot cup from spinning and create more of a lob towards the target. Port holes were applied to the extended chokes to allow gasses to excape from the Muzzel and keep the gun barrel down without pounding your shoulder. Some companies tried to play with these holes to grab the shot cup and remove it faster from the shot. In the end it did not work the way they thought.
Think about it for a moment, Whats going to creat a better pattern something that will hold the cup with the shot for a long period of time or a ball of single lead shot spinning out of control towards a target.

Creating The perfect Turkey Gun

The perfect turkey gun is a gun that can hold a pattern well out to an eithical killing range of the 40yard mark and have a dencity of shot in a 12 in circle around the turkeys vitals. This pattern should hold 80+% of the shot of your shell.

Most turkey hunters are going to kill there turkeys at the 30 yard range, this is the average shot of most turkey hunters.

You want a gun that will preform out to your max range. If you can build this sort of gun then you will be confident in taking the 40 yard shot and you know the same gun will work even better at 25-30 yards. Where you will have to be carefull is the close range shots of 15-20 yards because this pattern of shot will not have the time to open and will create a single projectile of fist size energy towards a target that could very well move out of the way at the right time.

Back to Chokes and what works and what does not. Well on the average most chokes will work but if your after the perfect gun , then cut some of the money exspence that most like have to do and spend it on a Aftermarket choke. Most of these chokes are in the $80-$100 range. Buy 4 cheap chokes and you got the same price in this issue.

These aftermarket chokes are worth the money because they got the quality of metals in the choke and they also have the work done on them to produce what your after. Porting , and neck tapper is an important issue in chokes. Most good chokes offer a long tapper allowing the shot to slowly form before heading out to the target. These type chokes need to be extended at the barrel because they need the room to allow this tappering.

This is not the end all, in a good gun. Most guns need work as in Trigger, Forcingcone, and barrel polishing. Polishing being some of the most important work to do on a good turkey gun. The Forcing cone and barrel should have a gleam in them that you have a hard time to see the opening of the barrel when you look down and out. This takes Hours to do, and most gunsmiths do not like to do it. If they do charge you, they will not do the job right unless they stand behind a word of " I can create the best"

Patterns in testing need to be looked at in a way of How well does the gun in question place the pattern dencity around the head/neck area of the target. Even and Dence is what you want to see in the 10-12 incles around the vitals of the bird. Most turkey loads are heading towards the Heavy shot field because of the speed and weight that is creating the bast patterns. What you have to watch is what kind of loads are getting the best patterns. In the USA one type shell is making headlines and most companies can not compete with them. Nitro company is the shell that has taken the glory, but something that Ontario has to understand is that we can not legally shot these shells while hunting. The loads are created as a Tri plex of 4-5-7 shot and when placed on a pattern will make it all most impossible to bet at 40 yards, but then again 7 shot is like shooting pepper so what gives. Rhino Choke company out of Florida teamed up with this company and has created a name for some of the best products out on the market today.

After all this talk and testing I put a change on some of the rave of these such companies as I built a 20 gauge that will out shoot most 12 gauges at 40 yards and did it with a Canadian Choke maker right here in Ontario.

Precision Arms turkey chokes out shot the rhino chokes and after patterning Hevi 13 #6 against Nitro company, I came up with a legal shot /choke and shell combo that will perform as good as any of the big names out there.

So in the end there is a lot more for most to know about Chokes-Shells-and Barrels to get the perfect Turkey gun. The only difference is you will never spend the $$$ as some of us did if you only take the proper advice...

[TPM]

Keep in mind what a choke does. It's designed to seperate the plastic thingy (wadding) from the shot

Back before I knew better, I use to think the choke compressed the shot but that's not the way they work

I have to respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree. While there are a few wad stripper chokes out there the primary purpose of the choke is to compress shot. Let's not forget that in the big picture shot cups are a relatively recent thing. The oldtimers probably remember the days when there was just the wad, shot and a card or crimp. Shot cups came along to prevent the lead shot from contacting the barrel wall. Contact with the wall would deform pellets and cause flyers thus creating less than perfect patterns. It's true that shot cups do cause a shell to pattern a bit tighter than they would with out. This is why a lot of older fixed choke guns shoot so tight with modern ammo.
Wad stripping chokes are relatively new on the market. They utilize a series of small dimples or straight rifling cuts to grab the wad and slow it down as it leaves the muzzle. They do work rather well when you want a more open pattern.

The choke that Country has with straight rifling is to Stop the shot cup from spinning and create more of a lob towards the target. Port holes were applied to the extended chokes to allow gasses to excape from the Muzzel and keep the gun barrel down without pounding your shoulder. Some companies tried to play with these holes to grab the shot cup and remove it faster from the shot. In the end it did not work the way they thought.
Think about it for a moment, Whats going to creat a better pattern something that will hold the cup with the shot for a long period of time or a ball of single lead shot spinning out of control towards a target.

I'm not sure I buy into the spinning theory. I've done a lot of research and experimenting myself and I've never seen evidence of a spinning shot cup. Truth be told that even with tight chokes the shot and the cup seperate within inches of leaving the muzzle. I have some wonderful high speed photographs that show this.

[Country]

I was quoteing an article I had read in a magazine from some renown shotgun expert. I'll try and find it to tell you who said it. He went on about how just a millimeter or whatever of difference in a choke could make all the difference in the pattern. The bottom line was still "try as many chokes out as you can and see what works best for your gun. By the way - I use the 4x6s.

[Johnny Suttles]

I have a moss 835 grand slam 22in barrel with a gobblen tunder choke in it,665 no. 0f choke. no. 5 winchester suprme 3.5 in. you can't be the pattern it shoots at 30-45 yards. web-site is www.gobben tunder.com I've tryed alot of chokes. you can call them an they will tell you what no. of choke you need for your type of gun. HOPE THIS HELPS........

[Johnny Suttles]

SORRY i GAVE THE WRONG WEB ADD. IT'S WWW.KICKS-IND .COM