Mandel Chokes

[Alan Maughan]

Guys,

Are any of you using these chokes or have any opinions?

UK made but to be honest Im worried that they are so cheap as when its to good to be true I find it often is.

Mandel Chokes

 

[Mick.J]

No good to you Alan, as you need to have your barrels bored & threaded.

I am not using them so cannot comment on them factually. Would i buy them? No!

 

[dustsmoker]

Not a good looking choke in engineering terms,never heard of them before you mentioned them.

Unless you are very unlucky most manufactured chokes for shotgun will be concentric to the barrels and therefore shoot a reasonable pattern.

 

[Skeet UK]

If you want chokes, you can't really do better than Muller chokes, pm Nicky T on here or click the JustChoking link.

Obviously, not for your current gun. For that you would have to get teagued or briley'd.

 

[Westward]

I've seen a couple of ads for these chokes and they look alright but I've never knowingly seen one or heard anything. When all's said & done a choke is a tube with either a tapered or part tapered inner profile. Muller coats them in ceramic to make cleaning easy, which is nice, but all that really matters is the accuracy and consistency of the machining. The difference in terms of broken targets between the posh branded aftermarket chokes and the not so posh or the originals is probably around one tenth of one percent or probably less.

You can apply much the same thinking to brand of choke as brand of shell. i.e. The practical performance difference, if any, is irrelevant to ordinary folk.

 

[dustsmoker]

Looking at the webpage there are a supplier of chokes no mention of UK made. Ported ones are just slotted with a slot drill.Take a look at briley chokes to see how it should be done.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Obviously, not for your current gun. For that you would have to get teagued or briley'd.

Sorry guys I should have mentioned my new baby

Zoli Kronos 30" M/C sporter, it sits nicely in the cabinet next to my 32" trap gun

I friend has these chokes so I took a close look at them at the shoot today with a vernier, I would be very reluctant to buy them now and too good to be true is certainly the case. Constrictions were miles out, full choke was .50" below bore size which is even past ex full, what was 1/2 choke was actually .028" which is pretty much 3/4 and cylinder choke was actually +.008" so everything was miles out.

My mates shooting seems to have gone downhill over the last 3-4 weeks since he bought these chokes, I cant help wonder if they are to blame?

 

[RobertBeard]

If I wanted chokes I have to say that I'd buy from a recognised name like Teague or Briley or my own gun manufacturer's chokes.

I've never heard of Mandel but there again I hadn't heard of Muller until they were mentioned above but I'm just a newbie to this.

You usually get what you pay for and you have been fortunate to find someone that has them and been able to prove that they are not up to much before parting with your money.

Sounds like you could do him a favour and tell him to return them as not of merchantable quality and get a refund if they are out to the extent that you say.

 

[Skeet UK]

Sorry guys I should have mentioned my new baby

Zoli Kronos 30" M/C sporter, it sits nicely in the cabinet next to my 32" trap gun

I friend has these chokes so I took a close look at them at the shoot today with a vernier, I would be very reluctant to buy them now and too good to be true is certainly the case. Constrictions were miles out, full choke was .50" below bore size which is even past ex full, what was 1/2 choke was actually .028" which is pretty much 3/4 and cylinder choke was actually +.008" so everything was miles out.

My mates shooting seems to have gone downhill over the last 3-4 weeks since he bought these chokes, I cant help wonder if they are to blame?

Ahh..very nice!

Yeah...well..its all personal choice. You know my view on Mullers and it isn't just my view. Nothing wrong with Briley etc, so have a nose about, but if you don't want an additional 70g + stuck on the end of the gun and you want chokes that don't get dirty, go for the Mullers from Nicky T...the other benefits will be come apparent to you

That is of course if they do Zoli threads...not sure.

 

[Westward]

Presumably you are aware that choke constrictions are relative to the individual gun's bore size and that there is no longer a "standard" bore. Just wondering since all your measurements above seem to be wrong by 8 thou!

Incidentally, Zolis are have become quite well thought of in the US and the standard Zoli chokes are considered to be excellent performers.

Adding toys to our guns like aftermarket chokes should only be thought of as entertainment - which it certainly is - but always remember; you can't buy targets and don't let anyone's hype convince you otherwise.

 

[Les53]

Never heard of the things myself.

 

[EdSolomons]

Use the ones the gun comes with, they will be as good as anything else out there.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Presumably you are aware that choke constrictions are relative to the individual gun's bore size and that there is no longer a "standard" bore. Just wondering since all your measurements above seem to be wrong by 8 thou!

Incidentally, Zolis are have become quite well thought of in the US and the standard Zoli chokes are considered to be excellent performers.

Adding toys to our guns like aftermarket chokes should only be thought of as entertainment - which it certainly is - but always remember; you can't buy targets and don't let anyone's hype convince you otherwise.

Yes I am but looking more closely you will see that the .008" is in different ways the 1/2 is tighter the clyinder is more open so that kind of puts the kybosh on the bore diameter theory.

 

[Skeet UK]

Yes I am but looking more closely you will see that the .008" is in different ways the 1/2 is tighter the clyinder is more open so that kind of puts the kybosh on the bore diameter theory.

I thought you said the CYL was .008 thou tighter than the bore? So +8 thou not -8 thou?

Looks like they have been cut, presuming a bore 8 thou less than in your mates gun.

 

[Alan Maughan]

Use the ones the gun comes with, they will be as good as anything else out there.

I hope not Ed as some of them dont measure up very well at all.

My gun has different size barrels, bottom 18.60, top 18.50 - now the cylinder choke I got with the gun is actually 18.35 this means in the bottom barrel it is actually a .010" constriction which is 1/4 and in the top barrel it is .006" which is skeet.

I then have 2 chokes marked as I/C = Improved Cylinder. These actually measure 18.10 which makes them 1/2 choke in the bottom and 3/8 in the top.

When I tried the gun on Saturday I used what I thought was CYL and I/C and I was amazed at the breaks (some dust balls) I was getting out to 30yds, I went home feeling really great that having more open chokes had really helped me to shoot my best score so far! The fact was I was really using 1/4 & 1/2!!!!

Now in truth that made me feel even happier as it meant I was getting onto them but the fact is I really do want to have a true cylinder choke and also a couple of true skeets.

 

[Alan Maughan]

I thought you said the CYL was .008 thou tighter than the bore? So +8 thou not -8 thou?

Looks like they have been cut, presuming a bore 8 thou less than in your mates gun.

Sorry, just to make this clear, his half choke was 8 thou tighter making it nearly 3/4 and his cylinder was 8 thou bigger than his true cylinder bore. That makes the machining tollerances up to 16 thou wrong which is crazy, I could get closer than that with a half round file!

 

[Skeet UK]

Sorry, just to make this clear, his half choke was 8 thou tighter making it nearly 3/4 and his cylinder was 8 thou bigger than his true cylinder bore. That makes the machining tollerances up to 16 thou wrong which is crazy, I could get closer than that with a half round file!

Obviously the chokes are not made for a the usual bore of a given make...so that clears that up. Surprised about the original ZOLI ones.

Look what I found!

Seriously...IF you are the type of person to buy chokes and you are looking to do so...these are something you should seriously consider.

I have a pair of U1's for skeet and a pair of U2's for sporting. I shot my personal best sporting score of 72 ex 84 with a U1 and U2.

If you go look at the Muller thread where I posted the constrictions, at the top of page 1, a guy called Epic asked about them for a Zoli and has had some from Nicky T, perhaps ask him what he thinks of them...PM him?

 

[Kentskeet]

It would be good to get some ACTUAL facts on how these chokes perform before you put this guy out of business! Not everyone has a fortune to spend on chokes, a set of Brileys can be more than the price of some people's guns they're using.

 

[tiptop]

Presumably you are aware that choke constrictions are relative to the individual gun's bore size and that there is no longer a "standard" bore. Just wondering since all your measurements above seem to be wrong by 8 thou!

Incidentally, Zolis are have become quite well thought of in the US and the standard Zoli chokes are considered to be excellent performers.

Adding toys to our guns like aftermarket chokes should only be thought of as entertainment - which it certainly is - but always remember; you can't buy targets and don't let anyone's hype convince you otherwise.

Westward, I do't know how many times people need to be told about chokes and the actaul bore of a gun.

I seem to have mentioned this in several threads just lately.