20 ga choke tubes

rentalman

Six Pointer
Been shooting a 20ga the last couple seasons. It’s done really well. However I was thinking about putting in an extended choke to get a tighter pattern. Any suggestions
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
You’re gonna get umpteen responses and most will probably work just fine. I personally like comp-n-choke or Muller in my 20gauge SX3.
 

terriblehunter

Button Buck
Couple of other thoughts here, when looking at chokes, research how the science of it all works.

For constriction chokes, this is just going to tighten up your pattern, but probably also extend your shot string. There are lots of constriction chokes options and these are generally cheaper than a wad slowing choke. Think about it this way, you have a certain amount of sand that you are pouring through a funnel. If you make the hole smaller, you get the same amount of sand, a narrower string of sand, and a longer string of sand. Same thing with your shot, you will get a tighter pattern, longer shot string.

For the wad slowing type chokes, they have little ribs in there to temporarily slow the wad and cause the shot to back up in there before all coming out at once. The result is a shorter shot string. These are the patternmaster types of chokes and are generally more expensive. These chokes are far more sensitive to types of ammo. They probably aren't going to perform very well with the super high velocity shells (i.e. Hypersonics) and they definitely are bad with the wad control shells like black cloud. For me, I shoot a pattern master duck and kent faststeel with a speed of 1500ish fps and it works well.

People have good luck with both kinds, just figure out what is most appropriate for your situation before just going to bass pro and buying whatever one fits in your gun.

-Jud
 

Smitty010203

Twelve Pointer
First time out using my patternmaster last year it was crazy. There was no doubt which ducks I hit because they were dead the second I pulled the trigger. Zero cripples. You get more pellets on the bird when you hit them at the expense of the shot string being shorter. I don't doubt there are some birds that are missed because of this but when you do hit them they get hit hard....
 

rentalman

Six Pointer
Thanks guys. Shooting a 20ga franchi affinity. 20 ga for ducks in an impoundment. I hate chasing cripples even with a dog in that Corn.
I have been using the Indian river .555 for turkeys the last 5-6 years and it’s been awesome. Just curious as to different experience on the 20 ga. Choke for ducks. We don’t take long shots. Just looking for something with a tight pattern to kill dead. Thanks for the info
 

apexhunter

Ten Pointer
One does not necessarily have to use an extended tube to get tighter patterns. Constriction is constriction and the physics are the final inside bore diameter of the tube is the determining factor of the pattern. Extended tubes basically originated from clays shooters that change constriction to better match the stand they are shooting at the time. That said steel shot is especially finicky to constriction as well as being extremely variable from load to load, from barrel to barrel and from tube to tube so the combination of variables can drive one nuts in their search for good, consistent patterns.

I used an original PM for years with large steel shot and for open water diving ducks it threw amazing patterns that held up way past 40 yards. I personally used to always chosen tighter than necessary constriction for a given situation, but that was before the improvements to velocity and consistency with steel loads. Nowadays with the likes of loads like Kent Fast Steel or even the original Hevi and the newer blends of Hevi where one can shoot smaller shot with excellent ballistics I have reverted to more open chokes and am killing just as many if not more birds.

The issue with a 20 gauge, especially with 3" loads is shot stringing and pattern deformation with larger shot. As terriblehunter described the funnel with sand, imagine using coarse sand or tiny gravel where several pieces can actually jam the opening causing a backup. With the force behind the load of larger shot going through a smaller opening the effect is a longer shot string which is a detriment to a moving target. With turkey hunting where one shoots at a basically stationary target it doesn't matter that the last pellet arrives some time after the first...but take a bird crossing at 40 MPH at 35 yards and shoot it with a 30" wide pattern that is several feet long and see how many pellets are put into the vitals. In this case you are actually better to use a slightly more open pattern that reduces stringing in order for more pellets to arrive at the same time in order to put more of them into the vitals of the bird. For this reason alone I have never bought into the 3-1/2" craze as a quality fast 3" 12 gauge load is just as deadly on puddle and diver ducks out to 40 or even a max of 50 yards as the shot string is shorter.
 
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