Shotgun chokes?

Question

i have a few chokes for my benelli supernova shotgun. i have a full choke, a modified choke, an improved cylinder choke, or no choke. i do not have a skeet or trap choke. can anyone tell me which of these chokes would be best for skeet shooting? i am not sure which one.

Answer 1

Use the modified choke.  The pellets spread giving you a higher chance of hitting the skeet.

Answer 2

You want a wide pattern for the skeet field, so go with the IC (improved cylinder choke) for skeet shooting.  Also, I am not sure what you mean by "no choke".  By no choke, I hope you don't mean removing the choke from the gun entirely.  Doing that would damage the threads at the end of the muzzle.  Or, maybe you meant the cylinder choke tube.  If so, that is the same as the skeet chokes on most guns.  Here's another little industry secret.  The Italians choke their guns differently than the Americans, so a cylinder choke for the Benelli may actually be wider than the American counter part.  The Skeet chokes for the Benelli are actually sort of overbored and are much wider a pattern than the American skeet chokes.  The key is, a manufacturer may call their chokes full, modifed, skeet, etc, but they may not be the same as what another manufacturer refers to as full, mod and skeet.  So, just put your IC in the gun and have fun.  

Answer 3

Well why don't you try the skeet/trap choke.

I recommend taking some sort of firearms safety course

Answer 4

Ideally, the skeet choke is the one because it fires a wider shot pattern.  

I would use the improved cylinder because it provides a wide shot pattern, but gives more range than cylinder bore (no choke).  

I am not sure if you are familiar with chokes, but these are the main ones from the tightest pattern to the most open:

Full

Modified

Improved Cylinder

Skeet

These are the main ones.  There are more that fall in between these main ones.  

For trap shooting, I would use the full choke because the targets go away from you.  Since the skeet targets are all close, the wider choke is more ideal.  

Good luck!

Answer 5

you can go with the improved cylinder or the open no choke for skeet. A choke that provides little restriction is used for skeet because the clays move fast crossing you so a less constricted choke gives you a broader shot pattern with more room for error and a better chance of breaking the clays, whereas it would be extremely hard with a choke with a more constricted pattern to lead and precisely hit the clays.

Here's a basic list of chokes (most open to tightest constriction) and my opinion for their best uses:

Cylinder (no constriction): Skeet, Sporting clays, Upland, Slugs, Defense

Improved Cylinder: see above

Light Modified : see above

Modified: Upland, Sporting Clays, some trap

Improved Modified: Upland, excellent all-around trapshooting choke

Full: Still can be effective for longer upland bird shots, waterfowl, turkey, and it is THE most widely used trap choke and "old stand by" for trapshooters

Extra Full; Super Full: Turkey

Answer 6

Improved Cylinder for skeet (targets are no more than 30 yards away).

Full for trap (targets moving away, generally are shot 20-35 yards from the house +16-27 from the firing line or handicap makes shots 36 to as many as 62 yards)

Answer 7

that would depend on your shot size and powder loads, but primarily it is a range concern.

fullchoke can be effective to 50-60yds with the right loads, whereas the cylinder chokes allow shot to spread quicker and are only effective at close rage (<20yds) so it really comes down to what distance you're shooting skeet at. i would think the cyl. or imp.cyl.

i wouldnt reccomend firing your shotty without a choke tube in ("...or no choke") because you'll ream the thread then you can kiss all those choke tubes byebye.

FYI chokes work by constricting the shot at the muzzle, the higher level of choke (fuller) the tighter the shot pattern and thus greater range.