I've fired quite bit of Federal TSS #7 and #9 through my 20 gauges using a Carlsons TSS extended turkey choke .565. The stuff patterns well and I have no evidence in the choke tube that pellets are making contact with choke tube. Here's that choke after several boxes of Federal TSS #7 and #9.
In contrast, here's my new .410 Indian Creek choke .385 after a single round of Federal TSS .410, which killed my bird in January. This choke has porting, but no wad stripping rings like the larger gauge IC chokes do.
Those marks are all the way around the inside of the tube. And they are deep enough to easily feel. Yes, I've heard that the TSS flight control wads may be affected by porting. But I doubt porting is doing anything to the Flight Control wad that it's not also doing to traditional wad/shot cups.
I have a lot of aftermarket chokes. Soild and smooth, ported and smooth, and ported with wad strippers. In every single choke I have that's ported, even if it's smooth (no wad stripper), there's evidence that the shot is getting ahead of the wad/shot cup. In my smooth, ported Kicks chokes, the ports have lead shavings where the ports acted as a cheese grader on the shot as it passed through. Lead had to have gotten ahead of the shot cup. My Patternmaster Code Black Turkeys chokes, likewise, shiny lead deposits in the ports. In my ported Carlsons Longbeard XR (with a wad stripper) and Buckshot (without a wad stripper) chokes, there are shiny lead deposits in the ports and lead fouling from shot outside the shot cup in the tubes. In my Patternmaster Big Game tube (which isn't worth it's own weight in dog shyt, IMO), which is not actually ported, but has weird wad strippers in it (I say weird because most buckshot loads aren't in shot cups), the wad strippers get rather thick deposits of lead behind them because they are shaving lead off the pellets as they go through.
On the other hand, not a single one of my smooth, not-ported choke tubes show this sort of thing. None have evidence that the shot has gotten ahead of the shot cup. There is no lead fouling at all. And they produce very good patterns. (The exception is buckshot loads - no shot cups, and they do leave some lead fouling.)
It's my opinion from the evidence I've seen that porting acts as a wad stripper whether or not there is a wad stripper built into the choke. But it seems to me they all, likely, to some degree or another, slow the shot cup down enough that shot gets out and makes direct contact with the inside of the choke, leaving lead fouling and, in the case of TSS, damage. I'm not saying they don't pattern well. Some of mine do. But it seems to me they disrupt the design-intent of wad/shot cup.
YMMV.
In contrast, here's my new .410 Indian Creek choke .385 after a single round of Federal TSS .410, which killed my bird in January. This choke has porting, but no wad stripping rings like the larger gauge IC chokes do.
Those marks are all the way around the inside of the tube. And they are deep enough to easily feel. Yes, I've heard that the TSS flight control wads may be affected by porting. But I doubt porting is doing anything to the Flight Control wad that it's not also doing to traditional wad/shot cups.
I have a lot of aftermarket chokes. Soild and smooth, ported and smooth, and ported with wad strippers. In every single choke I have that's ported, even if it's smooth (no wad stripper), there's evidence that the shot is getting ahead of the wad/shot cup. In my smooth, ported Kicks chokes, the ports have lead shavings where the ports acted as a cheese grader on the shot as it passed through. Lead had to have gotten ahead of the shot cup. My Patternmaster Code Black Turkeys chokes, likewise, shiny lead deposits in the ports. In my ported Carlsons Longbeard XR (with a wad stripper) and Buckshot (without a wad stripper) chokes, there are shiny lead deposits in the ports and lead fouling from shot outside the shot cup in the tubes. In my Patternmaster Big Game tube (which isn't worth it's own weight in dog shyt, IMO), which is not actually ported, but has weird wad strippers in it (I say weird because most buckshot loads aren't in shot cups), the wad strippers get rather thick deposits of lead behind them because they are shaving lead off the pellets as they go through.
On the other hand, not a single one of my smooth, not-ported choke tubes show this sort of thing. None have evidence that the shot has gotten ahead of the shot cup. There is no lead fouling at all. And they produce very good patterns. (The exception is buckshot loads - no shot cups, and they do leave some lead fouling.)
It's my opinion from the evidence I've seen that porting acts as a wad stripper whether or not there is a wad stripper built into the choke. But it seems to me they all, likely, to some degree or another, slow the shot cup down enough that shot gets out and makes direct contact with the inside of the choke, leaving lead fouling and, in the case of TSS, damage. I'm not saying they don't pattern well. Some of mine do. But it seems to me they disrupt the design-intent of wad/shot cup.
YMMV.