No Choke?

[bill87123]

Ever shoot a shot gun with out the choke in it? Took a buddy out to a sporting clays match the other day and after wards we got to talking about choke tubes. Turns out his gun did not even have one screwed in. Says it must have been that way since he bought it. I did notice on a rabbit shot or two that he had a nice wide pattern. The surprising thing is he even got some clays at a good distance. We screwed one in and the threads and everything seem to be just fine.

It makes me wonder though if there is an advantage to having something even looser than a skeet choke?

[EkuJustice]

It hasnt happened to him but you stand a good chance or messing your threads up. Choke for the shot or use a little tighter choke than necessary. Spray and pray with too loose a choke or no choke is not a recipe for success

[Sean Gaines]

ouch! thats like a sin! lol, put something in there, if the threads aren't already damaged. If they are damaged, you can have the barrel cut and threaded for thinwall chokes. If he cares!

[Youngeyes]

Choke? What is this thing called "choke"?

[Airedale]

Years ago my main sporting clays gun was a 12 gauge Winchester model 21 skeet gun choked .003 and .015. Long targets never worried me with the open barrel. If I did my part, the clay broke. I transitioned to an LC Smith Pigeon grade live pigeon gun. It was choked really tight and wow that's tight. Again,if I did my part......etc. It did take some pattern work to figure out what the Elsie liked.

More often than not (IMO) folks choke way too tight for clays and don't pattern to see what those chokes are throwing.

Don't shoot choke tube guns without chokes-it's hard on the threads.

Dave

[The Antichrome]

In Sporting Clays we call shooting without a choke tube "shooting threads" and its fairly common.

Most S/C guys run an over/under and if theres a super close target, they'll slip the tube out of one barrel.

I recently shot a stage where the true pair had one clay screaming away and the other passing right in front of your face coming in. If you shot the close one first while it was still out at a reasonable distance...the far target got waaaay out there. So you'd shoot the screamer (with a light mod), and then hit the incoming. At that distance a skeet or IC hasnt even started to open up.

I have a choke tube marked 'Cylinder' as well as a 'Diffuser' They both produce better patterns (more consistent, even distribution) than 'threads' which seem to just throw the shot string out in a lump.

So, the moral is: pattern the gun.

I always wondered about damaging the threads. I see guys with $20k+ shotguns doing it.

The shot should still be in the cup when it passes thru the threads, right?

[Airedale]

I always wondered about damaging the threads. I see guys with $20k+ shotguns doing it.

The shot should still be in the cup when it passes thru the threads, right?

I bought a Winchester 59 last year that had been shot without choke tubes. I was able to save the threads with several hours of hand work.

Is it worth the risk to save the minute required to screw in a choke?

Dave

[EkuJustice]

I always choked a little tight when shooting as I would reather have too much than not enough. The chokes I was shooting skeet with were in the IC range. On shootoff doubles, the top choke had a little extra choke in it especially in the wind. I wanted to know no matter what, I had enough choke to powder the target going over the stake if I had to for the wind. Also nothing like leaving 2 ink balls hanging 2 feet apart in a shootoff. Was shooting a Krieghoff at the time and wouldnt risk damaging the threads for a little looser pattern. People manage to break the station 8 targets in skeet with choke in the gun and there are alot that shoot them pretty close. ).

[bill87123]

I was worried about the threads being damaged in his gun, I know we shot 100-120 with it that day, and I bet he has shot close to 1000 with it and we suspect it had never had a choke in it ever. The choke screwed right in and looking at the threads looks like nothing ever touched them. Maybe he was just lucky. Anyway it does have a choke in it now, we just found it interesting. I would think a diffuser would be better than no choke as far as consistency.

[BigGabe]

I've seen guys shoot threads before and on some expensive guns. I don't recommend it and I don't do it. The choke tubes are made to throw a specific pattern. Why take a chance on messing up a barrel if you don't have to. I've never understood why someone would take a chance on screwing up the barrels on a $10,000 shotgun. Gabe

[Irishlad]

I'd avoid it for several reasons.

Too much "thinking" choosing between cylinder, skeet, skeet 2, etc for targets that close. I think it's a false sense of security to believe you'll hit a target with cylinder bore, compared to skeet...IMHO.

If you "choke tube" an existing barrel, you are shooting with a "thinner" barrel, without the choke tube installed, than the manufacturer intended. I'm not sure that's wise in the long run. And, in the short run...read above.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Irishlad

[Gary H.]

I've shot sporting competetively for years. I've seen so many Kreighoffs and Perazzis shoth without choke tubes in them, it's almost common practice for some guys. They'd come to a station with a close burner and out comes the tube or tubes if they were both close, nothing went back in till the next station and they saw what they would need. While I don't condone this and don't practice it, there is a very good probability that it will never mess up your threads. Would I do it on a full course, no and neither would anyone else I've shot with, but thing happen and I've never seen threads messed up from doing it.

[Corey]

shooting a shotugn without some sort of choke screwed in seems a bit crazy to me. I know a lot of guys do it, but i cant imagine throwing shots down range with nothing inside the barrel to protect the threads. chokes are easier to buy than new barrels or custom barrel work.

[EkuJustice]

I just dont see the point to it. If your missing the target up close with a skeet or cylinder shooting the threads will not get you a hit.

[warpspeed]

This sort of discussion always makes me laugh. Right up there with running reclaimed shot through a P gun or K gun. " The small bits of rock and sand are going to ruin the barrel " Really ? Seriously? Like the lead shot is going to damage the threads if no choke tube is installed.

Time for a short lesson in modern shotgun shell construction.

With very few exceptions, todays reloads & factory loaded shotshell have what is know as a plastic cup wad.

you've all seen them. they look like this:

So when the powder is ignited by the primer and the wad and shot go screaming down the barrel at 1200 fps or so, the shot is safely and securely inside this plastic cup until it exits the barrel, past the precious threads that hold in the choke tubes. then the wad gets stripped away from the shot column.

Hope that helps.

[MarkS_A18138]

Have shot threads for years with reclaimed shot!!!!! I have 2 chokes for my 390 Mod and threads it will hit everything your shooting at with a good shooter(thats not me)!!!! Well over 10k in rounds through that gun...Other crack head things, dryfiring will kill your shotgun with out snap caps.....My daughter does about 75 mounts a day 7 days a week of dryfire and pulls the trigger 140 times in one session without snap caps and has been doing this for a year with her Blaser F3...Has not done one thing to the gun...Oh she also shoots threads with that gun sometimes and over 45K rounds in reclaim shot!

[EkuJustice]

The point is why do it? The benefit just is not there. How much has George Digweed won shooting full/full? Look at station 8 in skeet. It dosen't get a whole lot closer than that shot. How many good shooters are shooting threads on that one? none. Spray and pray is not the recipe for success. What it will do is leave plastic all in the threads. Ever seen ported choke tubes. An yes I have seen barrel threads messed up by shooting the threads. It was a briley 20 ga tube. It had to be send back to briley to allow a choke tube to go back in it

Edited February 20, 2011 by EkuJustice

[warpspeed]

The point is that just because someone does something you don't agree with, you should not demonize them just to justify your position.

[Jaxshooter]

I have shot over bare threads on my $30,000.00 Kolar O/U many times and it does not hurt the threads.

Edited February 21, 2011 by Jaxshooter

[GISMap]

Lead and plastic are softer than the steel barrel, its not going to kill the gun. I've seen guys screw a thread in a few turns and forget about it, then take the shot, there goes a $100+ choke tube. It happens.

I've managed to always have a choke tube in my Krieghoff, even if it isn't the right one for the sport!

[Glockamole]

Have seen guys shoot threads. Have also had half a choke stripped out of my gun due to a bad threading job. Do not shoot threads in any of my guns.

[pjb45]

Water is softer than rock, yet we have a Grand Canyon.

While lead and plastic are significantly softer than steel, they too over a thousand years wear down those threads.

[Yelrdog]

The recent picture of Obama "allegedly" shooting skeet showed only one tube in the O/U he was using. This should be evidence enough not to do this.

[EkuJustice]

It showed only one extended tube so your not sure if the other was flush. There really is not need to shoot threads though. If your worried about trying to get that tiny bit bigger pattern then maybe you need to hit the range and practice a little more where you don't need to even consider it

[shopgun]

If the object of shooting threads is a more open pattern, why not shoot spreader loads for the close targets? I get about a 8" pattern at 30' with a standard wad and a 14" pattern with the Poly wad insert at 30 '. This is through my Versa max IC choke. They are very easy to reload and Poly wad does offer factory loads also.