What specific shotgun chokes should I choose for clay-target shooting and bird hunting?
There are five basic shotgun chokes: cylinder, improved-cylinder, modified, improved-modified and full. (There are several more that are made for specific applications, such as skeet and trap, but for simplicity’s sake let’s keep it at five.)
If a shotgun has a true cylinder choke, that means there is no constriction in the barrel whatsoever; the measurement of the barrel diameter is the same thickness from breech to muzzle. If a shotgun has an improved-cylinder choke, the constriction in the barrel is 0.010 inches. If a modified choke, 0.020 inches. If an improved-modified choke, 0.030 inches. A full choke, 0.040 inches.
Full choke will place 70 percent of the pellets from a shotshell inside a 30-inch circle at 40 yards. However, increasing the barrel constriction any further does not increase the pellet percentage, which is how the 0.040 choke restriction became known as “full choke.” That said, what choke should you use for various distances?
The ideal range for a shotgun with an improved-cylinder choke is 20 to 30 yards. Modified choke is 26 to 42 yards; full choke, 30 to 50 yards. Improved-modified choke distances would fall somewhere between modified and full.
In bird hunting, it obviously helps to know the distances you will likely be shooting before stepping into the field. If you don’t know, and especially if the birds you will be hunting are a species new to you, ask your guide or hunting buddies for their opinion as to which choke is best.
For clay-target games, an improved-cylinder choke is best for skeet, as it is for most sporting-clays courses. For trap from the 16-yard line (by which I mean the shooting station closest to the target house), improved-cylinder is again a good choice. As you move farther back on a trap field, increasing your gun’s choke to modified may be helpful.
There is no substitute for shooting experience which, in turn, produces confidence in your shotgunning skills and ability. So, during practice sessions with clay targets, try various chokes at various yardages to see what you and your shotgun like best.
Most shooters tend to use too much choke rather than too little. This is directly related to most folk’s tendency to overestimate range…and is particularly true when the targets are overhead.