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..

This is the biggest reason to use them. I have several but in my current stable of scatterguns, maybe one has an extended tube in it?

A buddy who is pretty fastidious about gun maintenance got a flush factory tube stuck in his waterfowl gun. A bit surprising, because I would see him grease it routinely when hunting post rain, etc. Anyway, we used a breaker bar to get it out after soaking for a few days. I told him we might ruin the barrel doing it. Anyways got it out and he said he'd never put a flush tube in it again.

I'll add that my SBE3 20 ga came with 5 factory chokes, 2 of which are extended.

Fixed chokes solve so many unnecessary problems. And most all won’t do any better if they have an IC or MOD screwed in. Especially when they are using a single barrel…and taking opportunities as they come.

Really depends on what you shoot and how regular you change ranges. If shooting clays and you go from club to club with different types of sets then it helps to be able to change a choke quickly when the set from the last time out has changed. Just for example he waterfowl set can give longer shots while the upland bird sets with rabbits, has much closer fast shooting.
So I have a full set of extended choke tubss with knurled ends that can be changed by hand for my Browning Citori guns, especially the sub gauge guns.

Exactly right. While the allure of the perfect choke for a given target is very enticing to many, it is a fool’s errand. A choke change may give a shooter inches in effective pattern, but most shooters and almost all novice to intermediate shooters miss by feet or yards.

Far more important than precisely the right choke is a precise read on the target and a good plan to execute the shot. Good shooters will find happiness by screwing in a couple of modified chokes and then focusing on what really matters, regardless of the course.

A good consistent mount and insertion will kill more birds and break more clays than worrying about the "right" choke. Do it right and IC will take you up to the extremes. What one thinks is the correct choke....will never replace skill.

How much steel and other non toxic loads are you guys shooting? Just put in the IC and go?

Don’t shoot steel….Bismuth or lead: IC or MOD has worked great for the Uplands. My O/U and SxS’s are all fixed IC/MOD.

Model 12 16 gauge is MOD
Model 37 28 gauge came with chokes….Leave Mod in

SC gun chokes….. LM/MOD have been in forever
A400: An IC that must be tighter the way it works

Yes.

Generally agree with all this advice.

I think there's space in the realm for a guy with one shotgun, or perhaps traveling with just one gun, and who's hunting more than one species, to have some choke options. Say you've got a gun that has to work for you on turkeys and on upland game. You need F, and you need I/C, right?? I can get behind that. When I was just starting out I shot an 11/87 for several years on everything, and I needed tubes. Funny thing was I kept turning to the I/C more and more and finally just left it in and moved on. Now I have a few shotguns around and even then LM/IC/Skeet chokes get the nod

My Winchester 101 came with 27" barrels and I wanted 28's, so a pair of Briley extended knurled i/c and l/m have worked perfectly and if I think they work better even if it is all in my head, then they do for me. Besides they look cool.

Did you want them for the weight?

I'm all over the place with tubes, my extendeds maybe ported or nonported....but the briley LM extended is my go to for most wing shooting. Of course I have the nice beretta extendeds that came with ou but I still went out and bought several briley competition extendeds, I have angle ports, I have a compnchokes for two guns. Their owner is a great guy and willing to answer all your questions, plus they are made in Ga.

If you are going to change chokes alot, I love them, can easily see what you have it, plus easy to tighten up once they start backing out after some shooting. Easier to remove if stuck. Plus I do feel better machine chokes will improve your pattern some. Porting can be iffy in a duck blind I admit. If anything, you find a choke you are confident in and that can make all the difference.

My better off buddies junk the factory extendeds even in their nice sporting guns, and will drop 1k on a full set of pure golds or whatever without batting an eye.

We had to weld a bar to a guys duck gun on the inside of his flush choke once to get it out, thankfully saved the barrel, just needed the leverage. Nothing we tried worked, a little heat, soaking in kroil, nothing. Stuckest choke I've ever seen.

muller chokes seem to like quite well by a lot of people and they kind of use the philosophy of simple and less is better.. they don't make a tube with like 005 constriction steps they make three or four tubes total...

When I buy a shotgun, I put the extended modified in the gun, put the rest of the chokes in the box and put the box in the attic. If the gun doesn't come with an extended modified, I buy one.

If I have to use tubes, I always find a way to use extended tubes so I can easily check when they are loose. I've thought about getting some red Loctite and gluing my modified tube in but haven't been brave enough to do so as of yet.

I use Muller chokes in my sporting clays gun for one reason, they don't load up with plastic the way some chokes do.

Intetesting observations! DesertMuleDeer reminded me of my first decent shotgun, a 12 gauge Wingmaster with a 28" modified barrel that did most everything well.

I was using that shotgun when I went hunting with a friend who had a cylinder choked Winchester 1897. Opening day, sharptails were flushing under our feet. He did better, and the birds he got were killed cleanly, all inside of 25 yards. He didn't shoot at any farther away, didn't have to as there were plenty of close shots offered. So I now like a very open choke, usually skeet, for early season, hot weather sharptails. By the third weekend, I usually put in the modified tube as shots get longer. I could probably get by just fine with those two chokes.

Chuckle..but I'd sure like to try an improved modified.

Use the grease I use on other parts for thread lube on a choke tube?

Educational thread, BTW
Glad I looked for it

You can. But most greases you use on other parts is not anti-seize. Regular grease is for moving parts, and anti-seize is for static, screwed in parts.

I can't stand the aluminum and copper based anti-seize greases on choke tubes. Those are very messy if you get them on your fingers. I use this on my choke tubes:

https://www.super-lube.com/food-grade-anti-seize-with-syncolon-ptfe

Any decent grease works.

Not your Granddad's choke tubes....Browning 725 tubes that are advertised to reduce blow back....Somewhere between 1500 and 2000 rounds....oil for the lubricant. May have been rem oil or even motor oil, can't remember which.


How they came out....



A quick wipe with a paper towel pretty much took care of 90%+



However the insides had a good bit of build up that needed brushed out.

Japanese chocks. 😂

More BS from the "Round Eye" that shoots a German sauerkraut shotgun. A disgrace to his Italian heritage. Now go away, I'm sure you have some horse shiit to move around. Oh yea and feed the cats, and be sure and dump the litter..

What's going on Bud????

Living a dream!!! Come visit.

May have to do that…. Let me know when there is a decent shoot going on. Say hello to the Lady for me.