Fibre Wad or Choke change?

[Geordieboy]

I think I have a Cylinder, 2 x 1/4, 2 x 1/2, and a 3/4.

Cylinder it is then.

 

[Will Hewland]

Cyl and 1/4 and leave it. Just barrel select for the pair presented. I bet you still get great kills everywhere. Your cartridges are basically trap ones and will pattern roughly a half choke tighter than an average sporting 8 shot cartridge.

 

[Geordieboy]

Thing is my Mk38 trap doesn't have selectable barrels.  I was shooting at a rather fast and long (80yd) Battue on Saturday and my half choke was breaking it a treat.  Will Quarter choke not blow out that far away?   I suppose the only on way to figure that out is to try it!

 

[maddmatt]

Now I have no doubt about the battue you shot, but I would question the distance you quote, I have seen a skeet choke dust a 65 yard clay. There is a lot of BS around chokes and patterns - all of which have been discussed before, suffice to say that most of what people think happens doesn't - not completely.

To the OP - stick with half & half and 1 cartridge, if you are missing dinner plates it is probably more likely to be technique and not the pattern, I have never seen RF or GD stick a different shell in when shooting sporting and they have very tight choked guns.

 

[Geordieboy]

I stand corrected then sir.

It was a bloody long way!!!  ilot:

As everybody tells me and I think I know myself.  Improve my technique!

 

[Geordieboy]

Well I shot at Barby last night with 2 x 1/4 chokes.  I shot a 24/30 which is respectable for me and there was a nasty edgy incomer and another edgy tower bird going away.  I broke everything I hit but most noticeably was the rabbit.  Crunching kills with 1/4 choke each time.  The edgy birds broke but were a bit 'chippy'.  Next round I shot 20/30, but that was just down to bad habits creeping back in.  Kills on full face birds were dusting and I smashed the edgy birds, with no change to sight picture.  

I have decided I will stick with my 1/2 chokes and 1 shell.  I like the dusting I get when I connect.  It gives me confidence in the stand.  1/4 choke broke everything very well......so did 1/2 choke.  Its my technique I have to keep working on.

 

[Will Hewland]

There is nothing more important (with chokes and carts) than your head being at peace with the combination.

 

[Geordieboy]

Shot at Barby on Saturday and shot at 27/30 which matches my personal best there.  There were 2 close incomers (15-20 yd'ish), 1 edgy and curling, the other full face and dropping like a stone.  I dusted them all with the 2 x 1/2 chokes and Fiocchi Golden traps.

Technique matters!

 

[Jifen]

Fantastic read thank you guys. I am a couple of months in and trialling various things whilst being at complete peace with my gun, a DT10L with adj stock. I love it to bits and every day is a school day at the moment.

I tried some B&P green core and Fiocchi Rossa, both plas on Saturday @ Park Lodge, mainly Skeet but did a tour round stands, inc some long driven towers.

I was shocked at the kill rate of the B&P through a cylinder choke, running the Fio through a skeet choke didn’t give me as good a result but both scored well beyond my normal game. To the extent I felt I could barely miss with the B&P cylinder combo. This got me thinking that if choke actually deforms a good plas wad? Which possibly cups and patters well without choke constriction?

On Sunday I kept same chokes, grinning from ear to ear with B&P green core fibre wads on a local close quarters 50 clay shoot, expecting to hit most things. I couldn’t hit a damn thing, despite some occasionally good aims, and they must have been too big a pattern spread. Half way round I went to half choke and started killing things.

I have heard people say 1/4 choke difference from plas to fibre but in all honesty it felt more like 1/2 choke difference at the weekend. The plas shooting far tighter through cylinder than ever expected and the fibre needing half choke to match it.

I have a lot to learn and lot to improve but appreciate opinions on if choke actually improves plas wads patterns? Or deforms them?

I am in no doubt that fibre needs lots of choke .

Written respectfully from a novice, so treat me gently ;-).

 

[Martinj]

Sounds as if you are having a great time, keep it up.

In my early days of shooting I would never be able to shoot well after a particularly good day's shooting, it was as if my brain was saying to me that I've got it cracked and now I don't have to try so hard - with predictable results.

It's not all about chokes but more about being confident with your choice, so your choke/cartridge combination is important in more ways than one.

 

[Stiggers]

Great thread that everyone

 

[TRINITY]

I have had a couple of old miroku 3800 and both of them shot far better even patterns with fibre compared to many more modern guns. Back bored guns are far from ideal if you are using fibre in my opinion.

 

[sich1]

agreed with above. not on clays but on pigeons at the weekend i tried a box of e j churchill 30g/6 fibre after using
my usual fiocchi pigeon 32g/6 and my kill ratio on live birds went down by around 25%, went back to my usual plastic wads and service was restored to normal levels of kills. i did get the feling that they were a lot looser after a few pricked birds. shooting mk38 1/4 + 3/8.