# DRAKEKILLER



## duckhuntinfool (Oct 24, 2006)

Im a decent shot with a modified choke which is all ive ever shot. But this year so far i have had a lot of wounded birds and alot of shots that shouldve been kills. I ve heard some good stuff about this drake killer choke where can i find it?


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

do a search on this site - it's been mentioned several times


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## Duece_Duster (Oct 18, 2006)

i dont have any experiance with the drake killer but i can tell you that a patternmaster choke tube would be a cure to all your problems, i live buy them, great for longer shots and your cripple count will be almost eliminated


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## duckhuntinfool (Oct 24, 2006)

alright thanks alot i will search a little and try to find the drakekiller and the patternmaster


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

call kevin at custom gun works with any drake killer questions 1-701-232-8525


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## edgarMN (Oct 16, 2006)

I just got my Drake Killer in the mail from Kevin @ Custom Gun Works in Fargo. I will be testing it out this weekend on hopefully Snow and/or Canadas and northern ducks. I may be overly optimistic but I am excited to try the choke out. Kevin was great to work with and he got the choke to me in a week.[/quote]


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Not trying to stir the pot, but I have a question. All these choke tubes that are designed for longer shots, don't you just blow the bird apart once you get them to finish with their feet down?? Gandergrinder, GB3, have you noticed that the birds are pretty beat up when they finish close and you have a long range tube in???


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## Flick (Aug 21, 2002)

Dan, I've been using it and it does pretty much blow birds up under 10 yds. But any choke at that distance is going to do some damage. I'm still playing with my leads with the choke so far. I've shot IC the last few years because it was locked in my gun. I've definetely noticed the difference going to a tighter choke, seems to me like I was leading birds too far before.
One nice thing about it is that when you hit a bird it's pretty much stone dead.


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## roostbuster (Oct 19, 2005)

Flick said:


> One nice thing about it is that when you hit a bird it's pretty much stone dead.


yeah that happens if you hit them with a modified choke too.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

really?


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## Ty (Mar 11, 2004)

I dont like aftermarket tubes in general. I sold my patternmaster and just use my benelli factory MOD and do excellent with it.

I was sure trashing birds with that patternmaster........... but I also was missing a lot with it as well.

I took it out and went 11 for 11 on snow geese one day. Then I knew it was time to sell.


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

I don't know what constriction the PM's are, but the DK's are "tight" in the context of steel. Don't confuse tight with long range, because that's not what tight should be all about. Yes, tight chokes should let you lethally stretch a little more, but only if you've made the other, right adjustments.

Choke is only about 30% of the equation. To optimize any choke, you also need to heavily factor load, primarily pellet size and weight of payload. Shot selection is obviously crucial too.

The ulitmate wounding scenario is long shots with a large pellet size, small payload and open choke. You may not beat up your kills very badly, but there are likely a lot more crippled birds than are apparent.

On the flip side, if you want total swiss cheese, take very close shots with smaller shot, heavy payloads and a very tight choke. You'll also likely clean-miss a lot of birds this way.

Adjust one factor or another, and there are many points between the extremes. Play with all of these a little and you can get very lethal at all but extreme ranges, produce reasonably-dense patterns at "long" ranges and substantially reduce cripples along the way. When waffeling between choices, I like to error on the side of swiss-cheese over cripples, even if I clean-miss some birds because of it. Cripples are the worst of all scenarios, and we produce a lot more crippled birds than the ones we see lock-up over the set and sail off a quarter-mile.

We tweaked the recipe again this year for our trip to CN, and shot only 1's and 2's in 1 3/8 oz out of a DK for the whole week. This proved a very good recipe for artic geese, and they hit very hard and well to 50 yards. The days of BBB's (past years) and BB's (last year) for artic geese are history for us. Now, if I can just find shells with #1-1/2 shot size... :wink:


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

djleye,
I notice lots of birds shot in the head. My assumption is that by shooting 1200fps lead loads all summer on skeet, trap and sporting clays my brain calculates leads for slower loads. With steel loads that move faster at short range I'm shooting ahead of most birds and getting more pellets in the head and neck which is exactly what I want.

IMO if you haven't actually patterned your shotgun you really have no idea how deadly the load you are shooting is. It doesn't matter what kind of choke you shoot. I did a bunch of pattern work this summer and I have been consistently killing mallards at 50-65 yards with my drakekiller.

Most people would say that I shouldn't be shooting them that far but with the load I shoot and my drake killer they just crumple if I do my part. However, I have found that I can't kill big honkers that far out. About the max I will shoot them is 50 yards. I can hit them farther but they just don't come down with steel. I need to move up to a better non-tox if I want to shoot them farther than 50 yards and I don't think this is necessary if hunting over decoys.

Like Dan B. said in an earlier post. Choke is one of a number of variables that you need to tweak to get a load that shoots well.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

> Most people would say that I shouldn't be shooting them that far but with the load I shoot and my drake killer they just crumple if I do my part. However, I have found that I can't kill big honkers that far out. About the max I will shoot them is 50 yards


Same here!!!!
I absolutley love my DK!!! I have said it before and will say it again! The only choke tub that you will find in my gun is a DRAKEKILLER!!


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## duckhuntinfool (Oct 24, 2006)

where did u guys buy ur drake killer and how much did it $$$


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

> I just got my Drake Killer in the mail from Kevin @ Custom Gun Works in Fargo.





> call kevin at custom gun works with any drake killer questions 1-701-232-8525


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

But Jed, My question to you is........You guys don't normally shoot birds that far out. We always have this discusiion when we hunt with you you guns. If you always want the birds to finish feet down, and you guys do that pretty damn consistently, why do you need a drakekiller tube. Isn't it overkill when they are "in your face"???? I know that when we hunt with you guys, the birds are consistently "shot up" pretty bad. Is that a factor of your drake killer choke tubes and patterns being too tight or is it a factor of when we hunt with you there are just more guns-a-blazin????


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

Dan,
I think the birds tend to get shot up when there are so many guys shooting at the same birds. You know my stance on hunting with big groups and one of the reasons is because there are so many guys shooting at singles and pairs etc.

There are occasionally birds that are shot up but I would say it doesn't happen all that often. One out of 15 maybe. You know the group of guys that I mainly hunt with and the atmosphere is way way different when there are only 4 or 5 of us. No one feels pressured to get their shooting in, which is for some reason the case with bigger groups. We take turns shooting, or only two guys shoot at a flock etc. Decoyer and I were out one night and we took turns shooting one greenhead out of each flock and only shooting ducks that were coming in with their feet down. Stuff like that.

Do I need a drake killer most of the time? Probably not but it sure is handy when I need it. I know it sounds crazy but I actually try to shoot birds in the head. I concentrate on the head when I shoot. I figure a honkers head isn't much smaller than a clay target and I can break those consistently out to 35 yards so I should be able to shoot a goose in the head at under 25 even if my pattern is the size of a dinner plate.

You tend to hit targets where you concentrate the hardest on them with your eyes. If you can train yourself to really concentrate on the head of a bird I guarantee your average will go way up. You have a built in lead automatically.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Makes Sense Jed. I agree with the larger groups when hunting. I also like to take turns shooting but my group usually is in too much of a hurry to get 'er dun!!! I guess that is the price we pay for being too damn busy at times, myself included!!!!


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## ztrain (Jul 26, 2006)

The nice thing about my patternmaster choke is not crippling decoying birds on the second and third shots when birds are showing their back side after shots are fired. Also the pattern feels so consistant I have a better feeling of miss or hit just before I pull the trigger. I have saved a few shells or cripples by not shooting with a stronger feeling of no chance.


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## Komrowski (Apr 20, 2007)

Im wondering because they say on there web site that the faster loads are not what they recomend? But what dose that mean, shooting 1300 fps or is it 1400 fps or do you shoot the 1550? With dencity there is a trade off with killing power, as in upstate NY the geese are heavy featherd and am wondering what speed they recomend for the BB, and what dencity they are getting?

PK


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## justund223 (Aug 28, 2006)

i brought my gun into kevin for a DK on friday and when he says he doesn't recomend the higher speed shells 1550 or greater, is his personal belief and after testing several loads out of several guns, he has perfected getting a consistent pattern out of your gun. getting 100% of your pattern inside a 30ich circle at 30 yards is what you will get. This is his philosphy and if you have tested your gun with the choke you like and can get that kind of pattern out of your gun then you don't need his choke, but with him having done all the testing for you, i believe you save money becasue you don't need to go buy 6 boxes of shells and spend a several hour patterning your gun.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

> If you always want the birds to finish feet down, and you guys do that pretty damn consistently, why do you need a drakekiller tube. Isn't it overkill


Like Kim Jong Ill in Team America said.... Exzachary.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

I hunt with lots of guys that swear up and down by the patternmasters and other after markets. What ive noticed,...they miss ALOT of birds at moderate ranges, 30-40 yards.....and they either blow the crap out of close ones, or clean miss, there doesnt seem to be any in-between at close range. Somewhat wasteful in my opinion.
Now at 40+ yards, their kill rate increases somewhat over mine, but not substantially as I will rarely shoot beyond 45 or so (i shoot a benelli with a modified and kent deuces).

I think if your gonna be pass shooting, or hunting pressured birds, or are hunting less than ideal conditions, these chokes may be the correct choice. But for 75% of decoy situations, with a majority of shots taken under 40 yards, a modified (if it patterns well) will do a better job IMO.


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## Hardsell (Jan 29, 2007)

My group shoots the PM and WWs. They're both great chokes. The most important thing is being able to hit your target. I think these types of chokes really define how skilled a shooter really is. Guys who can really shoot are able to consistently hit their targets, no matter what choke and load they are using. 
Shooters of moderate skill standout as they miss more. They thought they were decent shots and then they go and buy an aftermarket choke. After shooting it they miss some midrange shots because the pattern is so tight. They then sell the choke saying it doesn't work well. 
Practice, practice, practice. 
In the hands of skilled shooters, these chokes will work great. They won't make you a better shot.


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

I like shooting tight chokes because it makes you a better shot. I like pattern masters they pattern nicely out of my gun (SX3). I shoot a lot almost every day through out the Fall, Spring, and Summer. (To dark to early in the winter) When I switch to my open chokes such as Mod and IC I feel like I cant miss. I credit that to shooting tight chokes. I use extra full out of my 20 O/U when I hunt doves early in the season by duck season its like shooting beach balls

good luck and good huntin.


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## GB GooseHunter (Feb 19, 2007)

How long does it take to get the choke once u order it?


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## justund223 (Aug 28, 2006)

takes about a week


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