Over / Under Shot Guns - school me on proper choke set-up

[Ben Lamb]

Nice try Smokey, but you aren’t going to find many hunting guns choked full/full..

Classic German guns can often times be found in full/extra full or full/full.

 

[homestead]

I've got an older field model Citori with fixed chokes, bottom-modified/top-full. Shoot bottom barrel first, though I can select to shoot top first. But the selector can be finnicky and slide to the middle where it gets stuck and prevents the safety from sliding forward. It's a problem I'd like to remedy this spring.

 

[shrapnel]

Classic German guns can often times be found in full/extra full or full/full

I missed the part about Germany and North Dakota standards…

 

[Mica Man]

Lot's of good advice already given with chokes so I'll add nothing more to the conversation other than great choice in dog breed.

 

[406dn]

Is that a North Dakota joke?

I shot Registered Skeet for about 10 years, and other that an occasional bird hunter that only came out to the practice range to shoot a round just before bird season opened, I never saw a serious Skeet shooter shooting a full choked gun.

Curious, you say that. There was hardly anything other than trap around Fargo, back in the day. The two years I shot in a league, most every one was shooting a gun pretty heavily choked.

 

[crock239]

@Bugle 'Em In I think everyone drove right past the obvious...that's a damn nice mixed bag o' birds you got there, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Jnasa]

It depends how far your average shot is. I hunt with a semi auto and pump so I run and IC or Mod depending what I expect. If I had a O/U I would probably run IC then Mod. If hunting grouse I’d do skeet/IC. Late season pheasants maybe mid/full.

 

[SilentBirdHunter]

I've got an older field model Citori with fixed chokes, bottom-modified/top-full. Shoot bottom barrel first, though I can select to shoot top first. But the selector can be finnicky and slide to the middle where it gets stuck and prevents the safety from sliding forward. It's a problem I'd like to remedy this spring.

An easy remedy most gunsmiths can do for you...pin the safety so it always fires the bottom first.
I had that done to my 20 and 12 gauge Citoris as they are both 40 years old.

As far as chokes go, steel patterns tighter than lead and I shoot steel.
In 12 gauge for waterfowl, I shoot Skeet2 (which is between IC and modified), Modified.
In 20 gauge for upland, I shoot Improved Cylinder/Modified.

With lead shot:
For trap, I shoot modified or full choke, sporting clays improved/modified, Skeet skeet/cylinder

 

[buffybr]

Curious, you say that. There was hardly anything other than trap around Fargo, back in the day. The two years I shot in a league, most every one was shooting a gun pretty heavily choked.

One big difference between Trap and Skeet is the shot distance from the shooter to the target. The longest "legal" shot in Skeet is 43 yards, with most shots being much closer than that and some being less than 10 yards. In Trap, the targets leave the house 16 yds in front of the 16 yd singles shooters and 27 yds in front of the 27 yd handicap shooters. With the Trap targets flying at 42 mph and the reaction time for the shooter to see the target and swing their gun to properly lead the target, and the actual shot distance is often double those distances. Open chokes are made for shorter shots, and tighter chokes for longer shots.

I shot fun, league, and ATA registered Trap for many years before I started shooting Skeet. My first shotgun was a Miroku 12 ga O/U choked Full over Modified, that I ordered just before I left Vietnam in 1970. I started shooting Trap just to learn how to shoot my shotgun. By the early '80s I was into Trap league shooting and I bought a Trap shotgun, a Browning BT-99 with a 32" Improved Modified barrel and a 34" Full choked barrel. I rarely shot the Full choked barrel and got my ATA registered 27 yd Handicap punch with that Imp Mod barrel.

 

[Mr. UML]

My policy is one trigger per barrel. My O/Us and are all double triggers. Regarding chokes, remember "close trigger, close shot". On a twin trigger O/U, this means choking the top barrel with Modified (for pheasant hunting) and Full on the bottom barrel. You can play around with this depending on your accuracy. I shoot Light Full (LF) over Extra Full (XF).

In theory the same logic applies for a single selective trigger gun, but man, you really are at a disadvantage. I also strongly recommend English stocks for quick handling.

 

[Bonasababy]

I generally go IC first and modified 2nd for pheasants whether shooting steel or lead in my O/U. It's a bit of a compromise as I hunt areas where lead isn't and is legal. Often go from one the other but have the chance to switch at the truck first. Still have quite a bit of lead to burn up once that is gone I'll probably go completely steel. Shoot over pointing dogs, and my upbringing on ruffs often has my shooting fast.

 

[Moserkr]

I dont mind the single trigger o/u with a switch. On the old Winchester 101s its easy to flip the switch over and disengage the safety, all while drawing on a pheasant close or far. After a while it becomes second nature. For wild birds we shoot mod/full with lead #5. IC/Mod for steel and drop to #2 or 3. Late season birds can really take a solid hit and still take off running.

 

[F250]

I’ve killed many hundreds of ducks and geese with my O/U Beretta barrels both choked IC. Shot a bunch of North Dakota pheasants with same set up. 12 ga. 1 1/4 oz. Steel # 1. Keep it simple.