What is your go to choke for hunting?

Anything and everything related to hunting can be posted here.

Moderator: ripjack13

What is your go to choke for hunting?

Poll ended at Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:08 pm

Extra Full
0
No votes
Full
0
No votes
Imp. Modified
1
9%
Modified
7
64%
Light Modified/Skeet II
0
No votes
Improved Cylinder
3
27%
Skeet
0
No votes
Cylinder Bore
0
No votes
 
Total votes : 11


.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:08 pm
Now I know this depends on what you are hunting. But I have noticed a trend that folks in different parts of the country tend to have different ideas about what the ideal choke is for hunting. So give me your opinions, and at the end I'll tell you what I think and why.
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:12 pm
I tend to use nickel plated shot so I tend to go for either IMP or MOD at the tightest. Any tighter and I find I "bung them up" as my uncle used today. As in "Dammit, you bunged that one all up"
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:29 pm
That's interesting Raven. Do find that the plated shot patterns that much tighter our do you think out just holds its pattern longer? Do you buy them our do you roll your own?
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:53 am
Colonel26 wrote:That's interesting Raven. Do find that the plated shot patterns that much tighter our do you think out just holds its pattern longer? Do you buy them our do you roll your own?



They do pattern more tightly. The reason for this is that nickel plating is harder than lead. the harder the shot, the less deformed pellets you will get. the less deformed pellets you get, the fewer flyers you get.

I was getting Fiocchi's and now I get a bag of shot from BPI and load 'em myself.
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 375
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:33 pm
Location: Nova Scotia,Canada
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:58 am
For my type of upland hunting the modified choke is hard to beat.

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:37 pm
Well fellers, I'll give you my two cents now. If we still had quail I'd have said either cyl. bore or skeet for one of them, but since we don't have quail anymore I chose imp. cyl for my first choice. It may well be the best of all chokes for upland in my opinion.

Second was modified. I like it for rabbit hunting when long shots are to be expected. I think that modified and imp. cyl would cover just about everything that I need to do.

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:32 pm
I usually use modified when rabbit hunting however have been known to have good luck with improved. I use full when hunting squirrel anything less does not seem to be effective.

.410
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:20 pm
PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:16 am
I found this a little too late to vote but I do use a Full choke quite often. My shotgunning is for pheasants 99% of the time and I have never replaced my old dog that died a few years ago so the shots aren't usually close. Actually, past 25 yards I have a hard time telling much difference between Full and Mod. I have two fixed choke barrels for my Ithaca 37 and would sell either one as I don't need to have two to keep track of.
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:18 pm
1977cutcher wrote:I usually use modified when rabbit hunting however have been known to have good luck with improved. I use full when hunting squirrel anything less does not seem to be effective.



Squirrels are tough little SOBs. They have a pretty thick hide on them.
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 429
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:34 pm
ravengunsmith wrote:
1977cutcher wrote:I usually use modified when rabbit hunting however have been known to have good luck with improved. I use full when hunting squirrel anything less does not seem to be effective.



Squirrels are tough little SOBs. They have a pretty thick hide on them.

Yes! I used to use a modified choke for everything. As time went on there where a few times that the squirrel would fall out of the tree and the get up and run up another tree. Rather than risking wounding the squirrel I changed to a full choke and started using heavy game loads. Have not had trouble since. Allot of folks around here will use a scoped 22; but I was started off with a shot gun and just never changed.

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:35 pm
This year I used a 12 gauge Ithaca with an imp cyl a lot for rabbit hunting. With 4 shot I got some decent range out of it. That said though my wife likes it better when I use a modified as she says it tears up less meat, or at least puts more of it in one place.
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:19 pm
Colonel26 wrote:This year I used a 12 gauge Ithaca with an imp cyl a lot for rabbit hunting. With 4 shot I got some decent range out of it. That said though my wife likes it better when I use a modified as she says it tears up less meat, or at least puts more of it in one place.


Is your wife related to my uncle, Col? :) God Bless him, he was always on me about smashing them up.
Of course when you bite into some shot, I guess you have a notion to bark a little.
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:58 pm
I figure if she is good enough to cook them for me, I'll try to shoot them like she likes. It does make a difference. Although when I'm hunting rough cover with quick shots I do still use the imp cyl or cyl bore.

Was your uncle from TN?
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:18 am
Colonel26 wrote:I figure if she is good enough to cook them for me, I'll try to shoot them like she likes. It does make a difference. Although when I'm hunting rough cover with quick shots I do still use the imp cyl or cyl bore.

Was your uncle from TN?


That is another reason why I went to 28 gauge. Those rabbits don't get quite so tore up.

Actually he was born in Upstate NY.. His family moved out of Germany right after WWI. He married my Mom's oldest sister. He had the heart of a mountain man, though. Ran a still during the depression :shock:
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:42 pm
There was a lot of that during the depression around here too.

One of these days I'm going to get me one of those Ithaca 28 gauges for rabbit and quail hunting.

.270 WIN
Posts: 375
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:33 pm
Location: Nova Scotia,Canada
PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:41 am
Colonel26 wrote:One of these days I'm going to get me one of those Ithaca 28 gauges for rabbit and quail hunting.


As soon as you get your hands on one of the 28 gauge Ithaca Model 37 shotguns the rest of your shotguns are going to be seeing the inside of a dark gun case a lot when it comes to being used for rabbit and quail. :) The is just something magical about this gun and gauge for myself for use in the uplands. :)

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:06 am
I'm sure that's right 28. But it looks like it will be a while now. We just bought another house this past week so there is going to be zero gun fund for a while. Oh well, it's in the country and I'll have room for a lot more hunting dogs. Maybe in a season or two!

.22LR
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:56 pm
PostPosted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:51 pm
IC

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:18 pm
Dan!! It's good to see you over here! Welcome aboard! I'm with you, if I'm limited to one its an imp. cyl. It takes care of about 95% of my hunting.

.22LR
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:56 pm
PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:05 am
I'd say about 99%.
User avatar
Vendor
Posts: 967
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:06 am
Location: Mobile, AL
PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:31 am
uplanddan wrote:I'd say about 99%.



any friend of the Col's is a friend of mine.
--Jim

.270 WIN
Posts: 452
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:07 pm
PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:40 pm
Dan you're probably right, I was being conservative.

.270 WIN
Posts: 494
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:10 pm
Location: Midstate, Pa.
PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 5:18 am
I like modified myself for general upland game hunting, my second pick would be improved cylinder.

Return to Hunting

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests