Pheasant Chokes

[SD Pheasant Slayer]

Just purchased a new Citori 525 Field. Shot several pheasants the last couple days of season. I've been using a modified choke for top barrel and full for bottom. Is this pretty standard? What do you all prefer/recommend?

[Vizsla Vince]

I'll probably get roasted for this, but... I go with an IC choke. It will hold a decent patttern for about 40? yds, & any further out, I won't shoot at it. It only takes about 7 or 8 pellets of #6 to drop a pheasant, & if it's all bunched together, you're ruining the meat.

I shall now lie down & await the beatings...

[Wagonmaster]

I agree that is pretty tight. IC and Mod would be a better combination. And you should put the more open choke in the bottom barrel and the tighter choke in the top barrel, and set the safety to shoot the bottom barrel first. That is how most manufacturers set their guns up. The reason is that the bottom barrel is more in line with the buttstock, and thus the recoil is more straight back. The recoil from the top barrel tends to lift the gun more because being set higher from the buttstock, the top barrel has a little more leverage. So the gun stays in place a little better on the first shot, if the first shot comes from the bottom barrel.

[IANative]

I set mine up Imp Mod over Light Mod for roosters. Light Mod over IC for bobs.

[gar-dog]

And you should put the more open choke in the bottom barrel and the tighter choke in the top barrel, and set the safety to shoot the bottom barrel first.

+1. Just what I was thinking when I read the post.

Frankly, late season wild birds, full and mod are the way. Early season or preserve birds I see nothing wrong with IC.

[SD Pheasant Slayer]

Thanks Wagonmaster! That was a very interesting fact about the bottom barrel being fired first. When I bought the gun the Full was on top and the modified on bottom and I couldn't figure out why that would be so I switched them. Thanks for all the help!

[ezzy333]

I would never use a full choke with the modern shells. I occasionally have gone Mod. but normally open or improved. A full choke would be OK for turkeys but can't think of any other situation where you would want it that tight.

Ezzy

[schultz's honor]

I usually start the season with IC and modified and as the season progresses and the birds become spookier I switch to modified and full.

[Chaingang]

Who cares what's stamped on the choke. If you really want to get serious about using the proper choke per load, pattern the darn thing. Just pattern your pet load with a few different chokes at distances you would normally shoot. Which ever choke gives you the best overall coverage for a pheasant sized bird, is the one you should be shooting. I always draw a 30 inch circle around the densest portion of the pattern to give me an accurate viewing.

I think most people will be surprised when they view the results.

[dudley]

i use a modified and improved cylinder in my over and under and it seems to work.

[gwgdog66]

I set mine up Imp Mod over Light Mod for roosters. Light Mod over IC for bobs.

Same here, in my 12 gauge #4 shot, and Mod over IC in my 20 gauge, #6 shot. That's what works best for me.

[Wagonmaster]

I smiled when I read ezzy's post. "Modern" to guys like him and me, means after about 1965, because that is when the plastic shotcup came into use and plastic hulls became common also. They improve patterns quite a bit over the older paper wads.

I do occasionally use Full on late season birds. But that is pretty rare. I use Light Full or Imp Mod as my tightest choke unless conditions are pretty unusual.

IC patterns are pretty good these days. They will do just about anything you could ask for if you are shooting at clays. But clays come apart, sometimes dramatically, because of the centrifugal force in a spinning clay. A target that is not spinning is harder to kill and a feathered up, late season rooster is even harder.

Over good dogs, I use IC/Mod for just about everything where the dogs are involved. But we also have days, particularly in the late season, when the wind blows and the birds get spooky, the shots are long even over dogs, and for those days I will tighten up a little. Light Mod./Light Full

[IANative]

I set mine up Imp Mod over Light Mod for roosters. Light Mod over IC for bobs.

Same here, in my 12 gauge #4 shot, and Mod over IC in my 20 gauge, #6 shot. That's what works best for me.

For phez, I shoot the Winchester Super Pheasant loads, 1 1/4 oz of copper-plated number 5's. Love that round.

[gwgdog66]

That's the brand I usually shoot too.

[nj gsp]

I bought a 525 Field last year in 16 gauge.

After patterning the gun (who was it who said you should pattern your gun? - you betcha you should!), I ended up using skeet and IC chokes all season with Winchester #6's (mostly).

I also have been putting a Winchester #6 in the skeet choked barrel and a Fiocchi Golden Pheasant #5 in the top barrel. Why? Well, two reasons:

First , the Fiocchi throws a slightly tighter pattern through the IC choke as the Winchester does with the Skeet tube.

Second, the heavier pellet retains more energy over longer distances, so it will hit just as hard as the #6's do, but for 10-15 yards or so farther away.

I also put the first shot in the under barrel, but that's mostly because I'm right handed, and I naturally tend to push the barrel selector to the right when carrying the gun. I don't want to have to remember to check my barrel selection when going in to flush a bird. I've tried, and I can't...