Looking to get a aftermarket choke tube for my Benelli M2 this year for the waterfowl season. Lots of them out there. What are the opinions of the best one for waterfowl? I like that Carlson tubes are made in the USA. Other thoughts?

Carlsons are good, so are Briley. I really doubt you would see a big diff on a pattering board with any quality tube.
If your really serious you might want to mike the inside of the barrel so you can order exactly what you want.

Just pick a choke tube and pattern with your chosen load. Higher priced choke tubes do not guarantee better patterns.

Doc

Many good ones out there, but it always makes me wonder that almost all just accept what the chokes says for constriction is what they will be getting.

If you don't know your bore diameter and then the diameter of the choke, and subtract choke from bore then you don't know what your actual constriction will be.

Some shotguns are known for tight bores, some are over-bored and sometimes they vary within the same model.

Last competition shotgun I bought was fixed LM/LM. No thinking about chokes and which is best. Point correctly and the target breaks. Couple field guns are fixed Mod. Shooting is much simpler without choke changing. Chokes give us inches and we usually miss by feet.

Carlson, briley, trulock, doesn't matter they are all made almost identically. I have them all and they all have almost the exact same inner dimensions, a tapered cone transitioning into roughly a 1" parallel section at the muzzle. No magic formula like the choke makers want you to believe. Buy the one you can find on sale.

I'd say the best one for waterfowl is one that gives you the pattern you want.

Notice though that there are other considerations.

I have no idea how well or poorly they work but there are premium shells with odd shaped shot and weird wads. Might consider specialty chokes that claim to get the most out of the extended range or extra dense pattern of the premium shells - if you shoot those shells.

It's getting pretty picky but some people like titanium screw in chokes as arguably lighter than the common stainless steel and so balancing different. Not better just different.

I might well avoid them in a duck blind but there are ported chokes - I think a ported choke just might pattern a little tighter or a little more consistently in a tight choke but maybe not.

Some folks shooting Sporting Clays may change chokes at every stand and so want an extended color coded choke tube to identify and to grasp and a coated tube for less sticktion and easier wipe clean.

I've always assumed that Briley makes their own at home in Texas as well as the ones they make for others - again maybe not but I'd be surprised.

And are they a PITA to shoot behind.

Get on station, see their show pair and change chokes. Then ask for another show pair. Even worse are the ones who leave the chokes back in their bag and hold the shoot up even more by walking back to get them.

Miss a bunch of targets and then blame it on having the wrong choke.

I do a lot of long shooting on geese and cranes and find the Patternmasters work best for the larger shot I shoot.

I've hunted with friends that shoot a lot of steel shot and they find most constricting chokes wear out in 5-10 cases of ammo.

Stanbury shot a sxs boxlock F/F. Just sayin.

I have a patternmaster also. I like it because can control my pattern with the shell more than with constriction type chokes. Large shot patterns tight small shot opens up and spreads faster giving you a better close in pattern. I shoot 3" BBs for geese, 2 3/4" #4s for woodies & teal and 3" #3s for big ducks sometimes #2s if im hunting big water or a mix of big ducks and geese. Patternmasters don't shoot lead birdshot worth a flip though.

I noted that the Carlson tubes say that there is not any specific constriction, apparently they work by shortening the shot string? I know they do say not to use them with the loads using the high tech wads like Blind Side. I usually use more standard steel loads. Thanks for all the replies

Oops, meant to say Patternmaster

Blind Side and Black Cloud are marketing BS. Round shot has patterned better since the invention of shot shells now all of a sudden square shot and shot with rings are superior,,, I think not. Marketing teams have learned that hunters are gullible as hell and will believe anything that is advertised.

Agree with patterning for your desires, but may imply trying a bunch of chokes before settling on one. If you have friends who are willing to lend you different chokes, then go for it.

I shoot Trulock SK/SK for dove hunting in Peru, and got a nice
deal on a Muller U2 for my Beretta, which according to their website is a LM.
I have seen stratospheric doves being killed by 7/8oz of 7.5s out of a skeet competition gun... and they were dead, not just hit. Center pattern will kill with anything, and as has been said the real pattern will depend on load, shot size and choke.

I have a couple Patternmaster tubes that I swear by for waterfowl. Maybe it is hocus pocus but I shoot better with them in the gun. As someone stated above, be careful with a standard Patternmaster when shooting a shell with a flight control wad. They say it can blow up the end of the barrel. The folks at Mack's Prarie Wings,in Stuttgart, say they have seen guns come in with barrels that were blown out from doing this.

All my duck guns are using Carlson mod extended tubes. FWIW, the load you're using can have just as much effect on the pattern as the tube.

Why do you need an after market tube? Unless you have a defective choke, those that come with the gun are just fine. Contrary to urban legend, you are just as likely to get great patterns from the factory chokes as you are from after market wonders.

As Battue said above, the important thing is to understand what a given choke is doing in your gun, as the markings are often wildly in error. Pattern them.

You have it right. The chokes offered by Beretta, Benelli, Browning, Caesar Guerini, Winchester and a few others will work as well as most if not all the aftermarket brands.

Nor do they all make their own chokes. They just may be the aftermarket brand you pay extra for.

For $100, you can get a Polychoke that screws into your barrel (pump and auto shooters only of course). They still work.

A Polychoke has about 9 settings, from Full + to spreader, and you can dink with it and whatever ammo you happen to have until you get the pattern you want. then leave it alone until you change ammo, game, or whatever.

Not pretty, to most, but we're talking duck huntin' here.

Try the Muller waterfowl tubes. I shoot a lot of sporting clays and I use Muller chokes. I have spent a lot of time at the patterning board with various chokes (Briley, Carlson, Kicks, Seminole, Pure Gold) and the Mullers pattern the best. I very rarely change chokes on the course because when you miss it's generally by feet not inches.

Had a Cabela's gift card for my birthday so picked up a pair of Carlson's tubes. Hope to give one a try tomorrow in the duck blind

Gotta agree with knowing the bore vs. actual choke tube constriction. There was a company (Seminole) that would measure your bore and sell you a tube with the exact ID that would give you the desired constriction. Many off the shelf chokes can be ten thousands, or more, off vs. your actual bore. You just never know what your screwing in is right unless you know the actual bore.

I have a full set skeet-full of bore matched chokes for my SBE from angle port. I use lt mod and imp mod 99% of the time if I'm not duck hunting.

Hands down for waterfowl....patternmaster, only better option than that would be to send the gun to rob Roberts and have him put it on his computer patterning system and customize the choke to your gun

I just bought some Briley's for my Franchi.

How old is your Benelli? You will need either a Crio or a Mobil depending on age.

http://www.briley.com/benellicrioplushuntingchokes.aspx

http://www.briley.com/BenelliMobilChokeHuntingChokes.aspx

All chokes are not made the same whether factory or aftermarket and there can be a lot of variances in constriction and diameter from manufacturer to manufacturer for the same size choke tube.

IMO shot string length means more to me than choke constriction. For ducks and geese I only use wad retention /lock type chokes - Pattern Master, Kicks and Pure Gold, and I pattern all my guns with the loads I'm using.

So, finally got to shoot a few ducks and geese this weekend. Nicely dropped a mallard from a big flock that came in, but don't know that I can say better than before but the bird was dead when it hit the water. We shot some geese to but with 7 guys in the blind and 5 geese in the flock, there was a lot of shot in the air so hard to say!

I did shoot a cripple from someone else on the water and I think the shot string was shorter than the other strings from some other guns, at least from the appearance on the water.

I use Muller lightweight chokes in my Blaser F3. Very pleased with them. One U0, two U01's, one U2 and one U3. That covers the range for sporting clays.