Hi all, Much like a lot of people posting on here I am new to O/U's. I have shot sporting clays for years but always used semi-autos. The first questions I have are about choke placement. Should I put the wider choke in the top or the bottom? Is there any rhyme or reason for location or is it just personal preference? Also. I see a lot of choke options from Browning that have come out after my shotgun was made. How do I determine which ones I can use? It looks like anything Invector Plus would work... I was considering purchasing some Midas Grade Invector Plus Extended Tubes from midwestgunworks.com ($44 ea.). Can anyone supply an opinion on these or other choke tubes I should consider. Thanks in advance, falloutboy
It depends on what you’re doing. Normally you’ll shoot the bottom barrel first, as supposedly there’s less muzzle rise that way, leading to a faster second shot. In Skeet you might want the wider choke on top because the second target is an in-comer. Hunting you’d probably reverse it because both birds are flying away. As for aftermarket chokes, I think it’s a waste of money unless you make the effort to pattern the gun and don’t like what you see.
As stated above put your bbl selector to the right and fire the bottom bbl first; less recoil and easier recovery for doubles. If you consistently have clay targets where the 2nd shot is closer then put a 'looser' choke in the top bbl. For hunting where 2nd shots are usually longer put a tighter choke in top bbl. Now most folks over choke; many SC courses can be shot end to end with IC/IC only; LM for longer targets over 35 yards. You have to pattern your gun at XX yards to see if you have 'miss' sized holes in the pattern. But 1 1/8 oz #8 shot with IC choke will do the job on all but the longest SC shots. 7 1/2 shot may be a bigger help than a tighter choke at 35-40 yards; #8 can bounce right off a clay bird at that range. High velocity light shot is a waste; #8 does not retain the energy downrange. Anything over 1200 fps is a total waste with smaller than #7 1/2 shot size; just extra recoil. I shoot a lot of trap at the 16 yard line and smoke birds with LM choke and 1 1/8 oz #8 walmart ammo; these are moving away from me at ~28-35 yards when I hit them. IMHO spend your money on shells and birds before chokes; get the new gun to fit first with stock mods if needed. Then tweak your pattern with chokes.
