To choke or not to choke.....

[PhilS]

Hi folks,

I am after the help and opinions of all you far more experienced shooters than me on something.

I have been shooting regularly for a couple of months now and have bought a Browning B525 with 30" barrels.  I use 28g carts and usually shoot the Compact (with a little bit of Sporting) at my local ground until I get to be more consistent.  I hit the majority (just) but still miss some sitters.

My question is this - should I wait until I have put a lot more through the gun and got more experience or do I invest in some decent chokes now and start with the right gear?  Will they make any/much difference at my level?

Thanks in advance.

Phil.

 

[Jonny English]

I would spend the money on caryridges and clays, in my opinion different chokes aren't going to improve your scores greatly, practise will help you a lot more. You need to build up a memory bank of sight pictures, for this tou need practise. By all means buy them if you want too, but not at the expense of more pratice. If you watch Mick Darker at pine woods, he shoots the fitasc with a side by side at times and can beat anyone there on a his day.

Regards Martin

 

[Will Hewland]

It would be lovely if screw in accessories were the answer. i don't believe that they are. Chokes will make somewhere between 0% and 1% to your potential scores on a sheer technical level. Just possibly, if you are really chuffed with the ownership of them, you might find a small gain, but this will come from your confidence, not the shot pattern.

I would stick in 1/4 and 1/2 from your existing chokes and just shoot. I have done about 400 registered shoots and am nearing AA in scores average. My gun is fixed at half and half. I use one cartridge. This leaves my head free to just worry about the clay and where I point the gun, nothing else.

 

[Salopian]

I think you should invest in a complete set of chokes from the various manufacturers, Briley, Teague, Comp -n -Choke, Muller, Rhino, etc.,

Then change guns and do the same again.

Then try a gun with fixed chokes either 1/2 & 1/2, 1/4 & 1/2, and finally 3/4 & Full (3 different guns)

Once you have decided which gun and choke combination you prefer, then try various cartridges, brands, shot size, and wad types.

Why should you not make the mistakes we have all made????

Stick with what you have got, check the patterns thrown with each choke you have to make sure you don't have a damaged or duff one, perhaps get two 1/4's and two 1/2's  and get out there and shoot.

 

[ips]

Agree with salopian money better spent on shooting. I know less than nothing about sporting but from my dabble a few years ago with a multichoke for trap i found i could hit the same amount with full as i could with 1/4 only difference was quality of kills. IMO any attempt at trying to find that elusive holy grail that Will make you a champ overnight Will end in disappointment an empty wallet and a very big hole to dig out of. Many of us have ventured down this road some of us many times all of us that have Will advise against. If gun fits something like and your cartridges are reasonable quality then forget everything apart from seeing the target and shooting it. I dont know how much these choke things are but i bet it equates to a fair bit of shooting. So to sum up, save your cash and shoot more.

 

[Will Hewland]

Agree with salopian money better spent on shooting. I know less than nothing about sporting but from my dabble a few years ago with a multichoke for trap i found i could hit the same amount with full as i could with 1/4 only difference was quality of kills. IMO any attempt at trying to find that elusive holy grail that Will make you a champ overnight Will end in disappointment an empty wallet and a very big hole to dig out of. Many of us have ventured down this road some of us many times all of us that have Will advise against. If gun fits something like and your cartridges are reasonable quality then forget everything apart from seeing the target and shooting it. I dont know how much these choke things are but i bet it equates to a fair bit of shooting. So to sum up, save your cash and shoot more.

Firstly, I like the capital w on the 'Will' above. Very respectful . )

Good point about quality of kills with different choke. This is irrefutable and I believe the reason why people change and prefer. The question is, how many MORE kills do you get with the 'best' choke. Very very few IMO.

 

[tiptop]

Hi folks,

I am after the help and opinions of all you far more experienced shooters than me on something.

I have been shooting regularly for a couple of months now and have bought a Browning B525 with 30" barrels.  I use 28g carts and usually shoot the Compact (with a little bit of Sporting) at my local ground until I get to be more consistent.  I hit the majority (just) but still miss some sitters.

My question is this - should I wait until I have put a lot more through the gun and got more experience or do I invest in some decent chokes now and start with the right gear?  Will they make any/much difference at my level?

Thanks in advance.

Phil.

You have just about answered this yourself.

Put more through your gun and practice,9 out of 10 of the sitters you miss will be down to you not the choke or cartridge.

Some on here are sponsored by cartridge manufcturers, some sell chokes they may offer differing opinions,it's your choice,it's your cash save it and get a lesson or two.

I should stick with what you have and practice 

 

[sscottsmith1234]

Only recently have i started to change chokes, even now the only time i'll change away from my usual 3/4 and 1/2 is if one or both of the targets are end of barrel jobs that i wish to make sure of - even thats more of a mental thing. Stick with what you know untill the time comes that the extra one or two kills that the choke may find you is really going to matter. Spend your money on good tuition, cartridges and clays untill such time.

 

[ips]

Firstly, I like the capital w on the 'Will' above. Very respectful . ).

oops thats me mobile doing its own thing not me honest gov

 

[Andy]

Hi Phils, I too had the same thoughts in my first few months of clay pigeon shooting and did proceed down the road of changing chokes only to find out my hit rate was  still up and down like a yoyo.

I believe when we first start shooting a shoot gun our learning curve is very steep absorbing information at an incredible rate and we all seem to be able to act on this information almost instantly, unfortunately most if not all learning curves level off and we find ourselves not moving forward at the same rate which then leads to a degree of frustration.

In our mind we perceive this frustration as moving backwards (getting worse instead of better) I think what really is happening is we just can’t take any more information onboard and until we hone the skills we’ve been shown we think we are still moving backwards.

Out of the blue we find ourselves hitting more complicated clays with more consistency that only a few weeks ago were unbelievably hard to hit, I think we could say we have achieved a level of performance through repetition. Once we have achieved this performance level another learning curve starts which cycles over and over as we move towards being the best we can be.

And lastly if you have 1/4.....1/4 choke and you’re on the clay you will blast it in most rounds of sporting.   

 

[PhilS]

Guys

Thanks to ALL of you, I really appreciate the input, and the opinions seem consistent - advice that I will take and just keep doing what I am doing.

The gun has 1/4 & 1/2 in at the moment & I'm not going to change that.

I was at Pinewood today and through doing nothing different I have been hitting ones that 4 weeks ago used to make me swear  .

Unfortunately I couldn't get there until late so bad light kept me to 50, or I might have done another 100 or so as I seemed to be 'in the groove' as they say?

Martin - you'll have to introduce me to Mick Darker sometime.

I have just bought 1000 Eley Olympics and shall spend the next couple of months (or hopefully less  ) chucking them at some clays (using the gun of course) & see what happens!!

Let me now take the opportunity to wish you and yours a very happy, healthy & hopefully prosperous 2013   

Phil

 

[PhilS]

Stick with what you have got, check the patterns thrown with each choke you have to make sure you don't have a damaged or duff one, perhaps get two 1/4's and two 1/2's  and get out there and shoot.

Salopian,

Is checking the pattern something that my local ground should be able to help with or am I on my own (ie do it at home)

The gun comes with Invector+ chokes - are these no good?

 

[MX8man]

Salopian,

Is checking the pattern something that my local ground should be able to help with or am I on my own (ie do it at home)

The gun comes with Invector+ chokes - are these no good?

You need a pattern plate. Essentially just a steel plate with whitewash brushed onto it. You shoot at it and since the lead pellets deform on impact you can see the way the cartridge patterns with the selected choke. Different cartridges will pattern differently so the objective is to ensure that your cartridge of choice gives a nice consistent pattern at a given distance.

 

[Salopian]

Most good grounds will have a pattern plate for you to use.

Or if you have the use of a field or wood to shoot in you could do far more work at far less cost  by using old wallpaper rolls of paper, or even fertiliser bags opened up, ideally you will need to shoot at paper or a pattern plate a minimum of a metre square (bigger is better).

Use the cartridge of your choice and shoot at least 10 shots with each choke to have a good average comparison.

Get yourself a copy of an Eley shooters diary, there is some useful data in there.

A good days work will tell you everything you need to know about your gun and where it patterns relative to where you point it and any dodgy chokes or choke / cartridge combination  will be revealed.

 

[PhilS]

Thanks Salopian & MX8man, appreciated.

I am in 3/4 acre so might be able to do this at home.  Now where did she put that nice wallpaper? :lol:   :lol:

 

[VicW]

Phil,  Pinewood have got a pattern plate or did have.  It was on the way round to the lake.

There's nothing wrong with Invector + chokes. I doubt that there is anything wrong with the chokes supplied by any of the major gun makers, I have tried quite a few aftermarket chokes and shoot just as well with one of the flush chokes the gun came with !!

Vic.

 

[Angelfire]

Despite what you have stuck in the end of your gun, it is fact that unless you point the thing where the shot will intercept the clay and bust it - you will miss.

Phil*

 

[PhilS]

Phil,  Pinewood have got a pattern plate or did have.  It was on the way round to the lake.

There's nothing wrong with Invector + chokes. I doubt that there is anything wrong with the chokes supplied by any of the major gun makers, I have tried quite a few aftermarket chokes and shoot just as well with one of the flush chokes the gun came with !!

Vic.

Thanks Vic,  I'll ask Alan about the plate next time I'm there.

 

[PhilS]

Despite what you have stuck in the end of your gun, it is fact that unless you point the thing where the shot will intercept the clay and bust it - you will miss.

Phil*

Makes sense to me.