Gun Dog Forum

What choke do you use for upland birds?
Does a poly choke lower the value of a gun?

I use mod early in the season and improved mod later in the season. I think most guys will say the use imp cyl and mod. Especially the O/U guys.

What is a poly choke?

A poly choke is mounted on the end of the gun and adjust to different choke patterns.

A buddy of mine has this old, old Sears Roebuck pump action that has an adjustable choke like that. Is the poly choke something you can add to any shotgun?

I like to use improved cylinder early in the season and modified as the birds get a little educated. Polychoke just says old gun.

As far as I know you can.

I got my dads ole model 12 and it has a poly choke on it. Wasn't sure what it does to the guns value. Not that I would ever sell it!

I use the choke best suited to the range at which most of the birds I am hunting tend to flush considering the size of the shot based on the size of the bird, e.g. 8's or 9's in skeet 1 or even no choke for quail and woodcock, 71/2 in IC for grouse, 5's in Mod for pheasant, etc.

If factory installed the Polychoke or even rarer Cutts Compensater does not effect the value much, if, as most, it was added, it does hurt the value. While both were effective prior to the advent of the removable chokes, they look like crap hanging on the end of the barrel like they do.

Neil

I generally shoot skeet/imp cyl in my o/u guns and either imp cyl or mod in my autos. I hunt either wild quail or game preserve birds so I generally don't have to worry muck about wild flushes.

Jim

improved cylinder...that is what my gun (Benelli M2 patterns best) A factory poly choke will not really lower a price of a gun per say, but they tend to have less market interest. An add on poly choke...you might as well keep the gun...you won't get much for it.

I always shoot IC/IC in my 12 gauge and I switch my 20 gauge from IC/SK for dog training to MOD/IC for hunting.

My new Christmas gift from my wife came with 3 chokes! Full, Mod, and IC. Guess I just need to shoot the Mod and IC to see what works best for me. Never had choices with the ole guns I have shot my whole life! Plus this is my first non-pump gun, might take some getting use to!

If you hunt over a pointing dog, cylinder. I shoot cyl-ic in my O-U. If I could only go with one choke, it would be IC.

They make the new poly chokes in a screw in version for guns with choke tubes. They work and aren't as ugly as the old ones.

OK, so here's one for everybody:

What matters more in getting a good pattern: Choke, or the weight and velocity of the load (ie - 1 oz load at 1200 fps vs. 1 3/8 oz load at 1485 fps)?

I'm sure the obvoius answer is a combination of both, but if you had to choose one or the other: Choke or Load characteristics?

gonehuntin' wrote:If you hunt over a pointing dog, cylinder. I shoot cyl-ic in my O-U. If I could only go with one choke, it would be IC.

They make the new poly chokes in a screw in version for guns with choke tubes. They work and aren't as ugly as the old ones.

Poly chokes ugly? I want you to know that there was a time I was proud to have a poly choke on my gun. It implyed I actually knew what I was doing! When I was a kid, I think every new Mossberg 500 had a poly choke on it. I've got an Ithica mod 37 that would look real good with one. Of course I hardly evey shoot it any more. When insititive liberals started calling it a potato, I quit using it!

Now forget that up above. Over pointing dogs I think the IC choke is best. In really open cover I could see a modified choke. My old 12ga SxS I had opened to IC/Mod. My 28 and 410 are Mod/Full. I like that with the small guages as I think you gey a better pattern longer with that much less shot. My 16ga SxS hasn't been done yet but it's gonna end up IC/Mod too.

AG74 wrote:OK, so here's one for everybody:

What matters more in getting a good pattern: Choke, or the weight and velocity of the load (ie - 1 oz load at 1200 fps vs. 1 3/8 oz load at 1485 fps)?

I'm sure the obvoius answer is a combination of both, but if you had to choose one or the other: Choke or Load characteristics?

Definitely, the choke.

gonehuntin' wrote:

AG74 wrote:OK, so here's one for everybody:

What matters more in getting a good pattern: Choke, or the weight and velocity of the load (ie - 1 oz load at 1200 fps vs. 1 3/8 oz load at 1485 fps)?

I'm sure the obvoius answer is a combination of both, but if you had to choose one or the other: Choke or Load characteristics?

Definitely, the choke.

Mac,
What range do you think most of your shots are taken at? And what's your primary quarry?

I think I have thoroughly confused myself with the myriad of choices of chokes, shot load, velocity, etc, etc... about 12 sheets of 3' x 3' paper at 40 yards would probably open my eyes quite a bit.... maybe I'll pattern the gun someday.

For now, though, I'm usually hunting Huns or chukar, and I think they usually flush 20-30 yards away from me, so they are probably well over 40 before I shoot. Imp Mod has been doing real well with 1 and 1/8 oz of 7.5 lead shot at 1200 fps in those conditions. Actually got three birds with two shots last Saturday!

If I am using my Wingmaster, I use IC. With my sxs, I use IC and MOD. On preserve birds, I use CYL and IC. Having said that, if I had to choose one choke for upland hunting, I will choose IC. BTW, I am one of the few who thinks the Poly Choke can be a good way to go, even though I don't have one. I don't even mind the looks of them and as "GH" said, the screw in type is less obtrusive looking than the original. Onother advantage of having one installed is that you can have your barrel cut to a custom length. JMO.

AG74 wrote:
Mac,
What range do you think most of your shots are taken at? And what's your primary quarry?

I think when pheasant hunting, 90% of my shots are at 30 yards or closer. Many at 15 and I ride them out. I tend to hunt heavy cover for pheasant which is why my shots are closer. Grouse, I'd say FEW are over 20 yards. Can't see em' after that.

It's my feeling that on pointed birds, most are shot a lot closer than we think.

Huns are tough to get close to. If I had 30-30 yard shots, and I were shooting my O-U, I'd be shooting M-IM. If I had my Beneli UL, and only one choke, it would be M. One of the guys I used to hunt with thought IC-IM was THE perfect combination and he was a heck of a lot better shot than I am.

Well I shot my first birds with the new gun on Monday with the IC choke in. It did well, but I think this next time out I will give the Mod a try. It was prob. me, but on my longer couple of shots I did not get a solid hit on the bird. Dog found one wounded bird and one became a track star I'm thinking. After shooting the same old pumps for 30 or more years it might take me some time, along with a lot of trial and error, to figure out this whole semi auto choice of chokes thing!