Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Choke tubes

I will confess, I'm a bit of a choke tube junkie. But, my modest collection are factory or Briley flush fit. My question, prompted by my wife wondering what I'd like for Christmas, is are the extended tubes worth it? If I get one, I'll want more and I'm not sure I want to dive down that rabbit hole. And yes, I know, I'd do fine with the factory IC, Mod, and full tubes that came with my shotguns.

Depends. Per my conversation with Briley, they don't add anything until constrictions approach "full".

If you hate using a choke wrench, well, that's another consideration.

Both our competition doubles have Briley thinwalls. Flush-fit for both. Then, we about never change tubes for SC.

I am having Briley make 2 right now for my Browning Citori 16ga Whitelightning. A skeet and a light modified. So far I am happy with the factory chokes hopefully I'll get some more versatility out of the new ones.mb

Thanks for the info Sam and Bob. Interesting info about extended tubes being more beneficial with tighter chokes. Maybe I'll ask for an extended IM tube for my 20 gauge. Chuckle. .I think I need one.

I personally like extended chokes for a couple reasons. With steel shot they do pattern slightly better because of the longer area the constriction is applied. I also like that I can see very easily what choke I have in the gun because they say it on the knurled part 99% of the time. I also like to joke with buddies that when the choke gets rusted in, it is easier to get a pipe wrench on it to get it twisted out. (Truth is, I have removed frozen chokes from friends' guns much easier if they are extended and waterfowlers can be HARD on their guns)

Extended is much better if you are a dedicated choke changer on the Sporting Clays course.

Wildfowl, I loosen and reapply grease to my tubes in the barrels when I change furnace/AC filter. Easy way to remember. I've never stuck one, but I don't hunt waterfowl.

When it comes to I/C to Full chokes, my Invector Plus standard flush chokes produce patterns identical to the same constriction in a Browning-brand extended choke. I haven't detected any discernable different. For sheer convenience, I prefer extended. But if I am hunting, I prefer a flush choke.

this guy has a whole series about choke tubes that are quite very interesting some surprising results

That's a great channel. He did a video on the Patternmaster Code Black choke and the maker's claim that it shortens the shot string and improives the pattern. He showed that it not only didn't shorten the shot string, but enlongated it. Either way, it still shoots a great pattern. At least my Code Black turkey choke does.

It doesn’t matter

I’ve never once patterned a load or a choke, counted hits on a 30” circle, or chrono’d a shot shell load

I’ve won National Championships, World Cup Events, and on and on

Put a choke in your gun for the range of the target and go shoot.

I agree, we make it harder than it is.

If you want to see some choke devotees… then look at the Boss FB forum. Constant questions on which choke to use for this “specific” model shotgun. On this Bird, at this range, over big water vs small streams, early season vs late season Birds. It goes on and on

They make a great shell for those that have to use non-tox. And I use them myself when required.

But the “Bossmen” are the “Choke” experts of the shotgun world.

One guy even went so far as to XRay his Duck to show the “Hits” and pattern. It is hilarious.

Choke follows skill, however some have it the other way around.

If given a choice…. I’d take the fixed choke model every time.

Absolutely correct. Most folks overrate their ability, put way too much emphasis on choke when their real trouble is really learning to shoot well. I teach and coach a number of folks at sporting clays, and find that open chokes and closer shots are important from novice through early intermediate shooters, as these build confidence.

As to aftermarket chokes, in my experience these fall into the realm of swamp gas, chicken bones and magic potions. So long as they are bored true, have about the constriction needed for the shooting at hand, just lube them and tighten them down and have at it. Me? I’ll take fixed chokes every time.

Some salt with the figures, as Jack O’Connor often said. This particularly applies to shotgun patterning. Do to the random nature of shotgun patterns, well meaning tests usually fall far short in inadequate sample sizes and “conclusions” drawn from them.

Buy good shells, pick a suitable choke considering the hunter/shooter’s ability and the game at hand and have at it.

The original question: do extended tubes pattern better?

The original question: do extended tubes pattern better?

Again, per Briley, no. Unless you're using constrictions in the full and extra-full range. Ie., over 30 thou.

Briley would know.

The guy in that video tested 44 choke tubes and the flush-mounted non-extended chokes patterned best overall. He is a waterfowl hunter and IIRC he used common duck hunting ammo in his test.

“Pattern better” is a difficult thing to declare, presuming a performance level is met via shotshell and choke, say a 60% pattern at 40 yards (modified choke performance). Some combinations of shell and constriction may need more or less choke to get to this 60%, but once there, the distribution is random. No “good” patterns nor bad patterns.

The issue of quality in terms of the choke/shell performance becomes a big deal when trying to get tight patterns - cheap stuff may be unable to attain, say, a 75% pattern. For lesser performance objectives, in what we refer to as IC and M, a good pattern and a bad pattern are misnomers (presuming we measure performance as percentage of shot in the 30” circle at 40 yards). It might take a cheap shell to be paired with a similar full choke constriction to get a modified pattern, for example.

Bruce Buck makes a pitch about this stuff here that I think is about right:

https://shotgunreport.com/2016/12/29/the-technoid-takes-gauss/

the guy doing the video I put up but also agree at the extended choke tubes do no better if that's good..