Wackmaster
New member
I just talked with the Carlson guys and the DC choke for the Benelli is .665". Does that sound over choked?
NEW Shotgun Pattern Test Results - Detail & Pic' heavy...
- Thread starter GC
- Start date
GC
Well-known member
That's .070" and would be running on the outside edge in my experience. But hey, you never know, it may pattern great. There really is no way to tell until you try different constrictions and find the sweet spot for your particular bore. That is one of the reasons I like the true custom choke makers that will exchange chokes with you until you hit that sweet spot. Bubble wrap chokes from the sporting goods store will collect in a drawer somewhere when trying different ones to find that perfect pattern.
ironworker
New member
I have a Hevi-shot coyote choke for my Benelli Nova. It measures .660 so is that over choked ? Or is it designed for Hevi Shot ammo only ?
Prdtrgttr
New member
I too have been bit by the shotgun bug. I am going to pack my Browning BPS 12g 3" shotgun this winter. Here in Canada lead shot can be difficult to obtain. I had hoped to shoot lead BB's or T shot, but I can't get any. I have 4buck in 3" shells. I did some testing with the choke tubes Browning provided. My best results were with the Full choke(1notch). However, it doesn't look like I will be able to shoot much past 50yds...I also have a Cabelas Super Full Turkey choke tube, but had a few fellas not recommend using it with anything bigger than T's in the lead.
Pic one 50 yd shot, I shot twice hopefully in the pics you can see the circles and X's to show the different shots:
Pic 2 40yd shot. I shot a little high but it looks very lethal.
I also shot it at 25yds and the results were very encouraging and very lethal for coyotes.
Whatcha think?
Are many of you getting patterns past 50yds?
Pic one 50 yd shot, I shot twice hopefully in the pics you can see the circles and X's to show the different shots:
Pic 2 40yd shot. I shot a little high but it looks very lethal.
I also shot it at 25yds and the results were very encouraging and very lethal for coyotes.
Whatcha think?
Are many of you getting patterns past 50yds?
Redcloud
New member
Shot my 20ga Nova today w/3" Fed.Premium Ultra Shok,1oz.#2 @1350fps(per Fed.)I only shot two rounds,one w/OEM full which is .583/.584 and one w/a Jelly Head .570. The shot were a bit low so had to determin the approx. center.Anyway the full put 27 and the JH put 25 in a 10" circle from 35yds.I want to get a .575 choke and try this load again.I may also try an imp. mod which I have.Anyone have any comments on these results?
Wackmaster
New member
So I got in the spirt and tried my own test with my new shotgun. I was shooting a Benelli Vinci with a 24" brl and a Briley heavy full choke crio 2.I was wimpy and put a sand bag between my shoulder and gun and that might account for the patterns being a bit high on some of the targets.
Federal Heavyweight coyote 3" BB at 50yds.6 pellets in 9"circle,14 more in coyote.
Remington HD BB at 50yds. 10 in 9"circle,17 more in coyote
Federal #4 buck at 50 yds. 2 in 9" circle,6 more in coyote.
Remington T HD at 50 yds. 9 in 9" circle.10 more in coyote.
The 40yd patterns were very impressive but I did not have my camera that day.
Federal Heavyweight coyote 3" BB at 50yds.6 pellets in 9"circle,14 more in coyote.
Remington HD BB at 50yds. 10 in 9"circle,17 more in coyote
Federal #4 buck at 50 yds. 2 in 9" circle,6 more in coyote.
Remington T HD at 50 yds. 9 in 9" circle.10 more in coyote.
The 40yd patterns were very impressive but I did not have my camera that day.
Thought this would go good with this thread on shot size.
http://www.shotgunworld.com/amm.html
http://shotshell.drundel.com/pelletcount.htm
http://www.shotgunworld.com/amm.html
http://shotshell.drundel.com/pelletcount.htm
ontario_caller
New member
Got out this past week and shot a few proven loads with one proven choke and two new ones,sorry guys no pics this time around as i forgot my camera at home assuming it was in the truck as always,the wife took it out to take pics of my dogs and failed to mention it.All shots tested at 40 yds.
This time around i tested a 3.5 inch browning maxus with three puregold chokes a .670,.680,.696 all with 3.5 inch shells.
The first load tested was 3.5 inch winchester superx unplated 4 buck,the .670 shot a nice dense pattern just high of point of aim.
The .680 with that load shot the best pattern a little more opened but very evenly spread right to my point of aim.
The .696 shot to my point of aim but again opened up more than the .680 but nice and even and very do-able.
I can see the .696 being very usefull on very tight and thick stands were shots will be inside 30 yards,i would deffinetly screw this choke in,in situations such as this.
The other two loads tested were 3.5 inch dead coyote and 3.5 inch remington hd bb.
On parr with my previous testing the .670 and dead coyote shined with the most dense patterns but the .680 and .696 still threw promising patterns again shooting to point of aim but opening up as the choke constriction opened.Again i will not be ruleing out the .696 for use in more close range applications.
The three chokes and the remington hd bb were again on parr with my previous testing with the .670 throwing the tightest patterns at 40 yds with the .680 opening slightly and again the .696 opening up a little more,all had effective killing patterns at 40 yrds,it really depends at this point on what your looking for super dense and tight or slightly more forgiving.
After testing the three choke constrictions i would have to say if i was going to buy just one the .680 seems to be the best compromise of pattern density and size,honestly very very close to the results of the .670 just slightly more spread,nothing wrong in my eyes.
Now if i was a two choke kind of guy[WHICH I AM} i would skip the .680 all together and runn the already proven .670 for those open longer shot stands and switch out to the .696 for the tighter,thicker close in your face stands,which is the way i will be playing this season.
The dead coyote and remington hd bb pattern far superior to 4 buck in my testing,so much so that once i runn out of 4 buck i will no longer be using it,i have a box and a half left of dead coyote and a case lot of remington hd bb which should serve me well for the next couple of seasons.As a money saving option i am thinking about running my first shot with the good stuff and the two follow up shots usually finishing shots with the 4 buck till i runn out of it,which if it works out well may be just my ticket to reduce the cost of using the better shells,so who knows the 4 buck might just stay in the stable.
On a last note i also tested the winchester 3 inch b coyote load,it patterned very well in all three choke sizes but due to it being a little smaller pellet than i am really comfortable with and it being the most expensive shell of all i tested it wont be a contender for me.You guys down south that hunt considerably smaller dogs than what i normally run into up here might find this load very effective.For me if i had to pick just one shell it would be remington hd bb hands down,it consistently patterns very well and has proven its self to be very effective on over a dozen coyotes at this point.
Good luck this season to all.
Cliff
This time around i tested a 3.5 inch browning maxus with three puregold chokes a .670,.680,.696 all with 3.5 inch shells.
The first load tested was 3.5 inch winchester superx unplated 4 buck,the .670 shot a nice dense pattern just high of point of aim.
The .680 with that load shot the best pattern a little more opened but very evenly spread right to my point of aim.
The .696 shot to my point of aim but again opened up more than the .680 but nice and even and very do-able.
I can see the .696 being very usefull on very tight and thick stands were shots will be inside 30 yards,i would deffinetly screw this choke in,in situations such as this.
The other two loads tested were 3.5 inch dead coyote and 3.5 inch remington hd bb.
On parr with my previous testing the .670 and dead coyote shined with the most dense patterns but the .680 and .696 still threw promising patterns again shooting to point of aim but opening up as the choke constriction opened.Again i will not be ruleing out the .696 for use in more close range applications.
The three chokes and the remington hd bb were again on parr with my previous testing with the .670 throwing the tightest patterns at 40 yds with the .680 opening slightly and again the .696 opening up a little more,all had effective killing patterns at 40 yrds,it really depends at this point on what your looking for super dense and tight or slightly more forgiving.
After testing the three choke constrictions i would have to say if i was going to buy just one the .680 seems to be the best compromise of pattern density and size,honestly very very close to the results of the .670 just slightly more spread,nothing wrong in my eyes.
Now if i was a two choke kind of guy[WHICH I AM} i would skip the .680 all together and runn the already proven .670 for those open longer shot stands and switch out to the .696 for the tighter,thicker close in your face stands,which is the way i will be playing this season.
The dead coyote and remington hd bb pattern far superior to 4 buck in my testing,so much so that once i runn out of 4 buck i will no longer be using it,i have a box and a half left of dead coyote and a case lot of remington hd bb which should serve me well for the next couple of seasons.As a money saving option i am thinking about running my first shot with the good stuff and the two follow up shots usually finishing shots with the 4 buck till i runn out of it,which if it works out well may be just my ticket to reduce the cost of using the better shells,so who knows the 4 buck might just stay in the stable.
On a last note i also tested the winchester 3 inch b coyote load,it patterned very well in all three choke sizes but due to it being a little smaller pellet than i am really comfortable with and it being the most expensive shell of all i tested it wont be a contender for me.You guys down south that hunt considerably smaller dogs than what i normally run into up here might find this load very effective.For me if i had to pick just one shell it would be remington hd bb hands down,it consistently patterns very well and has proven its self to be very effective on over a dozen coyotes at this point.
Good luck this season to all.
Cliff
Tx Shooter
New member
Ontario Caller,
I'm a bit mystified by the results of your pattern testing. My tests in my browning maxus indicates that a .660 Rhino choke was too constricted for all larger pellet sizes from 000Buck to Dead Coyote (T-shot). I had Rhino (who swore that my choke tube would give excellent patterns out to 70-80 yards) reluctantly open up the choke....after they made me pay for shipping the choke tube to them and for them to return the choke tube to me. The new constriction is .695...on par with what Kicks Industries offers for #4 Buck and 00Buck line of choke tubes chokes.
I'll try to find time to go out and test the new choke tube with different loads, but IIRC, i've already run a couple of loads of 00 buckshot through it and it did not perform well.
I wonder if two chokes tubes of the same constriction but made by different manufacturers would yield different results from the same gun?
Tx Shooter
I'm a bit mystified by the results of your pattern testing. My tests in my browning maxus indicates that a .660 Rhino choke was too constricted for all larger pellet sizes from 000Buck to Dead Coyote (T-shot). I had Rhino (who swore that my choke tube would give excellent patterns out to 70-80 yards) reluctantly open up the choke....after they made me pay for shipping the choke tube to them and for them to return the choke tube to me. The new constriction is .695...on par with what Kicks Industries offers for #4 Buck and 00Buck line of choke tubes chokes.
I'll try to find time to go out and test the new choke tube with different loads, but IIRC, i've already run a couple of loads of 00 buckshot through it and it did not perform well.
I wonder if two chokes tubes of the same constriction but made by different manufacturers would yield different results from the same gun?
Tx Shooter
ontario_caller
New member
Tx Shooter,the .670 choke has done really well for me .660 is alot tighter especially in the browning bore.
I tried an indian creek .665 choke that works awsome from the maxus with turkey loads but very poorly with the coyote stuff.
You had poor results with the OO BUCK which i would think the .660 would be much to tight for,i have ony shot #4 buck through my chokes which is much smaller .24 caliber buck which is probubly the result of the better patterns,more open chokes with smaller and higher pellet counts.
The .696 from rino should probubly do the trick,my puregold .696 threw very nice patterns with every round i tried,a nice even spread with killing patterns out to 40 yards.
The more i ponder it i think that it may just become my go too choke constriction,it should provide a nice somewhat forgiving set up that should work well in reasonable shotgun ranges.
I hear ya that the rino .695 did not perform well for you with the OO buck but you should give it a try with smaller shot,it just might do very well.
As far as one constriction performing well from one choke manufacturer and not another,that is entirely possible as not all choke makers manufacture or design exactly the same.
This type of thing happens all the time,take for instance indian creek black diamond strike turkey chokes and turkey loads.
In my turkey testing i have a 1/2 dozen chokes in .665 but the indian creek .665 stands head and shoulders above the crowd shooting the same turkey loads as tested through the other chokes.This is just one example of the finikyness of shotguns and chokes,there seems to be very little common ground when it comes to what your gun likes,only starting points to make the search easier.
If you are going to try another choke manufacturer i would suggest puregold chokes,i have no connection or affiliation with puregold chokes i have just had very good results with all of there choke tubes from turkey,waterfowl and predators.
If your heart is set on shooting OO buck i would suggest .696 but if you are only buying one choke and shooting #4 buck and smaller and want to stretch the most in terms of distance out of the choke i would suggest a .680 or .670.
They make a super good quality choke at a reasonable price.
The .680 is not listed on there site so a phone call to them is requried to have a custom choke constriction cut which they will do for you with no issues.
Best of luck with the rhino or any other route you take.
My personal choke and load search is over for now as i a more than satisfied with the results i have achieved.
I wont be enjoying this maddness again untill i buy another new shotgun again which will be in the very distant future at this point.
Take care and good luck out there.
Cliff
I tried an indian creek .665 choke that works awsome from the maxus with turkey loads but very poorly with the coyote stuff.
You had poor results with the OO BUCK which i would think the .660 would be much to tight for,i have ony shot #4 buck through my chokes which is much smaller .24 caliber buck which is probubly the result of the better patterns,more open chokes with smaller and higher pellet counts.
The .696 from rino should probubly do the trick,my puregold .696 threw very nice patterns with every round i tried,a nice even spread with killing patterns out to 40 yards.
The more i ponder it i think that it may just become my go too choke constriction,it should provide a nice somewhat forgiving set up that should work well in reasonable shotgun ranges.
I hear ya that the rino .695 did not perform well for you with the OO buck but you should give it a try with smaller shot,it just might do very well.
As far as one constriction performing well from one choke manufacturer and not another,that is entirely possible as not all choke makers manufacture or design exactly the same.
This type of thing happens all the time,take for instance indian creek black diamond strike turkey chokes and turkey loads.
In my turkey testing i have a 1/2 dozen chokes in .665 but the indian creek .665 stands head and shoulders above the crowd shooting the same turkey loads as tested through the other chokes.This is just one example of the finikyness of shotguns and chokes,there seems to be very little common ground when it comes to what your gun likes,only starting points to make the search easier.
If you are going to try another choke manufacturer i would suggest puregold chokes,i have no connection or affiliation with puregold chokes i have just had very good results with all of there choke tubes from turkey,waterfowl and predators.
If your heart is set on shooting OO buck i would suggest .696 but if you are only buying one choke and shooting #4 buck and smaller and want to stretch the most in terms of distance out of the choke i would suggest a .680 or .670.
They make a super good quality choke at a reasonable price.
The .680 is not listed on there site so a phone call to them is requried to have a custom choke constriction cut which they will do for you with no issues.
Best of luck with the rhino or any other route you take.
My personal choke and load search is over for now as i a more than satisfied with the results i have achieved.
I wont be enjoying this maddness again untill i buy another new shotgun again which will be in the very distant future at this point.
Take care and good luck out there.
Cliff
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Tx Shooter
New member
Thanks Ontario Caller.
I actually have a correction to make.
The Initial constriction (opening) on the first Rhino choke was .670, not .660. In any event, it seems that you are having success with constrictions that proved overchoked in my gun.
With the recent rash of great weather we've been having here in Houston, Tx, i'll try to make time to go and revisit some different #4 Buckshot loads....i've just been too busy playing with my AR...makes me less inclined to shoot my other guns.
I actually have a correction to make.
The Initial constriction (opening) on the first Rhino choke was .670, not .660. In any event, it seems that you are having success with constrictions that proved overchoked in my gun.
With the recent rash of great weather we've been having here in Houston, Tx, i'll try to make time to go and revisit some different #4 Buckshot loads....i've just been too busy playing with my AR...makes me less inclined to shoot my other guns.
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TexasAg93
New member
I did a considerable amount of testing with my Win SX2 awhile back. I should have taken pictures.
I use an 8" circle as a "kill zone"
24" SX2 with Dead Coyote .660 choke:
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 30yds- 21 pellet avg. in 8", all pellets fell 20" circle. 5rds fired
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 40yds- 15 pellet avg. in 8", 25 pellet avg in 20" circle. 5rds fired.
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 50yds- 8 pellet avg. in 8", 15 pellet avg in 20" circle. 5rds fired.
My shotgun would not shoot point of aim so I had to install Truglo adjustable sights. This put me dead on target.
I found 3" Heavy Shot B on sale. I will try that next.
I will also be testing a new Benelli M4 in the near future. I have.655 and .665 chokes to test in it.
I use an 8" circle as a "kill zone"
24" SX2 with Dead Coyote .660 choke:
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 30yds- 21 pellet avg. in 8", all pellets fell 20" circle. 5rds fired
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 40yds- 15 pellet avg. in 8", 25 pellet avg in 20" circle. 5rds fired.
3" Remington #4 buckshot at 50yds- 8 pellet avg. in 8", 15 pellet avg in 20" circle. 5rds fired.
My shotgun would not shoot point of aim so I had to install Truglo adjustable sights. This put me dead on target.
I found 3" Heavy Shot B on sale. I will try that next.
I will also be testing a new Benelli M4 in the near future. I have.655 and .665 chokes to test in it.
Rich Cronk
New member
This pattern was shot with my Beretta Extrema2 with Kicks."Gobbling Thunder" .680 tube. I can't remember for sure if the load was with Hevy shot T's or #4 BUCK, but the shells were 3&1/2" big boomers anyways.
