# Chokes and steel shot



## okiefolder (Feb 27, 2009)

I have heard NOT to use anything above a modified choke with steel shot, but some guys say you can use full choke with steel. I have a sbe and dont want to mess up the barrel in it any help would be great. i am talking about factory chokes.


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

I agree no full chokes with steal shot if were talking factory chokes


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## TheDrake (Apr 20, 2009)

Yea,you defiantly dont want to running a full choke with any large steel pellets.


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## cut'em (Oct 23, 2004)

I run a super full choke in my 10 ga. and normally shoot heavy shot. Last season I decided to try some el cheapo steel and never even thought to switch out the choke. I probably went through two boxes before I realized it. No damage done to the gun and I was killing geese. My thoughts are a full choke causes the greastest restriction as the choke narrows down to create the tight pattern, Lead or other not as hard as steel shot can take this compression without springing back away from each other when the restriction is released. Kinda imagine rolling two steel balls toward each other, when the hit they will bounce away in opposite directions, now roll lead balls they may bounce away but not as far, they can abosrb the compression. When shooting steel through a full you may get what is called a blown pattern, due to the steel springing too far away from each other. Again I say yes you can shoot steel through your gun , but why? If it creates a worse pattern why would you want that?


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

I was using a Full in my SX3. I was shooting BB, 1 & 2. No harm done, this was also the best pattern. I was killing some Geese, but missing alot of shots. I switched to a Mod and the percentage of clean kills went way up. I shot my first Duck @ 50 yards with Mod and #1, 3" , Several Clean kill Geese between 35-50 yards with the Mod.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Ther are two issues you are dealing with, effective pattern and pressure. Lead has the ability to readily deform when compressed. This has the advantage that it relieves pressure as it passes through the choke but the disadvantage that deformed shot tends to spin off causing a wider less consistant pattern. However steel and some of the other hards shot do not compress as readily and therefore can cause barrel damage and high pressures if forced through too tight a choke. On the other hand the shot is not deformed, is more aerodynamic and tends to fly truer and provide smaller but more consistent patterns. Large shot size and tight chokes potentially cause the most problems. Initially the recommendation to switch to a larger choke with steel was to reconcile the difference in pattern and energy between it and lead. At that time 2s &4s was a common lead size for waterfowl with 1s -3s being recommended for steel. Now those sizes would probably still be OK in a standard full choke if one could accept the smaller pattern however soon BBs and larger became the accepted size for waterfowl and the "point of no return" so to speak was reached with steel in full chokes. Now... Large steel IS being shot through full chokes but those chokes have become specialized and employ a longer contact area alowing the shot to shift around a bit more as it passes through it resolving some of the pressure issues. This is evident in the fact that those specialty chokes are not available in a flush mounted choke but an extended one.

FYI cut'em... Heavi-shot is harder than steel shot so shooting it through a gun/choke for heavi-shot wouldn't hurt anything that heavi shot hasn't.

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/g ... aa116802a/


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I watched the Duck Commander TV series religiously. I found it interesting that Phil stated that he shoots 3 inch 3s Black cloud through a full choke. Man, do they fold em.


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## Vike_hunter (Jan 6, 2010)

PJ said:


> I watched the Duck Commander TV series religiously. I found it interesting that Phil stated that he shoots 3 inch 3s Black cloud through a full choke. Man, do they fold em.


I found that intereseting too. Got to talking with one of their camera men about it. He told me that (and I was considering this to a degree, but not a large enough degree) that most of their shots are VERY close range. That's why you see the birds fold like they do or see heads shot clean off.... I guess as a pot hole or river hunter in the midwest, we forget that in flooded timber, the birds get a lot closer before the shot is possible(or so I've been told). Just as interesting, all of them shoot full, accept for Jase. He's shooting an extra full. will be interesting to see how well the vinci worked out for them them.


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## Gone Fishin (Dec 11, 2008)

Try A Patternmaster choke. they are DEADLY


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## greenhead61 (Feb 15, 2007)

I shot a full choke for years and had good luck with it. But tried a patternmaster four years ago and havent went back.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

I shoot a Drakekiller full choke year round. From turkeys, duck, geese, and pheasants. Since I have bought that choke it is only removed from my gun to clean it, and then back on. I shoot steel BB's out of it and nothing bigger for geese and it crumples them at long range for sure.


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

too many variables not mentioned here. full choke? that used to be fairly standard, by measurement, decades ago. no longer. full choke for a 12 ga. was at one time .040" constriction. now days it can be as little as .025" no lie. i wish manufactures would stamp the constriction measurement on the choke or gun(fixed choke stuff), but very few do. .040" is too much for most sizes of steel, especially above size #2. internal bore measurements vary too. so measuring the choke and assuming that you gun is the standard .729" bore does not always give the answer. my "standard" bore guns have ranged from .724" to .736" that's a variation of a choke size and more. there is a lot of hype surrounding chokes. you really need to pattern your gun and see what it wants. sorry, no easy answer for long range choke. spending mucho dinero guarantees nothing. that said, i have killed a lot of birds with chokes between imp. cyl. and mod. using steel shot. steel does not need that much choke most of the time. another thing: gauge. a 10 ga. can run a lot more choke (i have owned 3) than a 12 ga. due to the larger bore. a 20 ga. is the opposite. it is very easy to "over choke" a 20 ga. when shooting steel. as mentioned above, steel's spring back properties are much to blame for this. any generalizations? for pass shooting ranges with a 12 ga. try .030"-.035" of constriction and see what the gun likes. you may even find it works better with only .025", especially with big shot sizes like BB or BBB. tight chokes also sacrifice outer portions of the pattern for core density. no free lunch it would seem.


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