Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Poly choke?

I did not answer the basic question, "Do they work?" in my experience the answer is yes. My objection is that they are ugly.

jack

I god in consultation with John Moses Browning had come to the conclusion that sticking a potato on the end of a shotgun barrel was a decent moral thing to be done, every shotgun after the Winchester model 97 would have had one.

The only thing they are good for is to use it like knob end on a baseball bat. Used thus, a poly choke is a useful addition to a shotgun barrel when you need a club for beating on something/one.

I like it just fine. I have a poly choke on an old mossberg bolt action 12ga. Shotgun. Best bird gun I've ever used. I knock down pheasant with this gun after other hunters have given up as out of range (I have witnessess).
Just passed this gun down to my son this past Christmas.

I find the bolt action to be way more objectionable than the Poly Choke.

My grandfather hunted with a single shot hinge action shotgun for most of his life. My father bought it for him with his very first real paycheck. He went from one shot to 3! It has now passed to a fourth generation. It will fire anything from rabbit and bird shot to 2 3/4" deer slugs. The only thing it has ever needed, was new extractors. I carried it for a lot of years myself. I like it just fine.

I got one of those bolt action Poly Choked Mossbergs branded with Ward's Western Field for Christmas when I was about 14 or 15. Talk about a bummer, but the bolt was far more repulsive than he choke. A few years later, I got lucky and had the winning lottery ticket for a new Ithica Model 37 pump.

Happy, happy,

Jack

I completely understand the sentiments, K; just messin' on ya a little. You have to admit that a bolt is not most folks' cup of tea when it comes to shotguns; neither is the PC, but for most it is more tolerable than a bolt action. But as my dad used to say: "Use it up, wear it out; make it do, or do without." Earlier generations used and were more grateful for what they had, whether they bought it themselves or it was gifted to them.

Heck, I'm not even that big of a fan of bolt action rifles!

I have no issues with bolt action shotguns or rifles. I am nearly as fast with the bolt as with a pump. I nailed 2 deer in 2 shots with that shotgun, and they were running.

(Edit: That is a foster type slug not shot )

I agree on improved cylinder choke. I owned two hunting lodges in South America. Banged away at thousands and thousands of birds every year. Improved cylinder gets the job done at everything from 15 yards out to 40 which seems to be the shot most decent wingshooters can kill consistantly.

Improved cylinder sucks for squirrels and turkeys and therein lies the rub. Here squirrel, rabbit, grouse, timberdoodle and turkey may all be on the menu on any particular day and it's nice to be able to change chokes to suit with a twist of the wrist.

I have no experience with a genuine, name-brand PolyChoke, but I once had a shotgun with a clone collect-type adjustable choke. That choke had numbers 1-8 on it, each with a click. It also had a line of print on it telling me that adjustment should be limited to two turns. BUT, from tightened all the way down to loosened where it came apart was twelve turns, and I was never sure where those two turns should be in there. Much informal patterning (I didn't count pellets inside 30 inch circles) showed little difference between one setting and another. I did notice that whatever loads I shot through it tended to soot it up pretty fast. I eventually had it taken off and slug sights mounted on the resulting 24 inch barrel, and later bought a 28" "mod" barrel.

Bought an 870 with a Poly-Choke and it hit over a foot low when I patterned it. The bead sat on a pedestal, and I ended up replacing the barrel (with a 26 inch improved cylinder). I have a 20 gauge Mossberg pump with their version and absolutely love it. It hammers pheasants and I have lost count of the straights I have shot with it on the skeet field.

Back around 1974, I purchased an 870 and had a poly choke installed. Patterned it at 20yds.Over a foot low. Sent it back and was told that they bent the barrel to bring the point of impact up..... Other than that, it worked great.

They are incredibly ugly... but with that said I own an old Win 12 spoting a polychoke that patterns so well it has became my dedicated turkey gun! Go figure!

Birds in a bag is what counts. Who gives a fug how your gun looks?

I think the {PloyChoke is a better idea than screw in chokes because it's easier to change the choke constriction.

The only disadvantage is they are "ugly." But why do many of the same people who think they're ugly think AR15s, with all their excressences, look "cool?"

Full disclosure: I don't have one because I shoot Over/Unders.

Mines not a Poly but a Lyman. Sure like it, as if you're in the dove fields and the birds are zooming close by, you can simply open up your pattern. Same goes for the high flyers!








DMc

My dad had a Westernfield 550 (Monkey Wards Mossberg) with a PC.

Uckin' fugly as a mud fence, but worked extremely well.

I have had guns with poly chokes on them.. My last was a model 12.. Liked it fine... Just pasted on a 870 16 ga. with a rib and Poly.. Kind of wish I had bought it now, but getting a 16 at my age will leave several cases of 12 and 28 unused...

I had a couple on guns I owned, they worked fine