Choke pattern performance testing

[John A.]

Good evening gentlemen.

I know there are many topics and even books written on chokes and patterning shotguns, so what I am going to go over is neither ground breaking nor revolutionary.

However, it has been a while since I have done any side by side comparisons or review and this seems like a fun one.

I have two different firearms that accept the same chokes, so this is going to concentrate on how the two chokes perform on the two different guns in hopes to see if one is truly better than the other in pattern size, and both while using the same lot of Remington #4 express since that is likely what I will be using for coyote hunting at night to get as much range as I can, and thus why I chose these two chokes to use because they both came highly recommended.

The pattern test will be shot at 40 yards. And all will be aimed at the bullseye, which will be in the center of the Styrofoam plate, and I will not be counting anything outside the edge of the bullseye since I prefer to shoot at my point of aim. None of the shots will be "compensated" to try to get as much of the pattern on the plate as possible. It will be a static test to be as neutral as possible so I can determine which choke and gun combination to use, though I will be taping the plate onto a poster board so I can see if I should compensate a little when I am hunting if the gun(s) are shooting their payload a little off one way or another, which is fairly normal, but pellet count in the bullseye is going to be what I am looking for at point of aim.

The two chokes that I am testing side by side are the HS Strut "UNDERTAKER" choke and the other is a Kicks "Gobblin' Thunder" choke.

http://www.hunterspec.com/content/under ... hoke-tubes

http://www.kicks-ind.com/mm5/merchant.m ... linThunder

Both chokes are extended, and both constrict to .665, which truthfully is way down into the 16 gauge skeet bore territory. If I were to make up a name for that, would be like extra extra extra full 12 gauge choke

One of the chokes is ported, the other is not, but I don't think that will affect pattern one way or another, though may or may not reduce recoil or muzzle rise any, which I'm not really even considering unless it is so much of a difference that I just have to comment on it.

The 500 is a new, all purpose field with 28" ported vent rib barrel.

The 1300 is not new, and has a 28" non ported vent rib barrel.

OK, now for the nitty gritty.

I walked off 40 paces and took 1 shot with each choke and here are the results. I am only counting the pellets within the bullseye (which is 2" diameter to simulate the size of a turkey head) since the whole point of the test was to see which performed better at my point of aim.

Mossberg 500
Undertaker choke..........Gobblin Thunder choke
1 pellet........................3 pellets

Winchester 1300
Undertaker choke........Gobblin' Thunder choke
3 pellets.....................7 pellets

And here are the targets. It looked like the winny and gobblin' thunder choke combination performed the tightest pattern overall on the poster board altogether if you were going to use it for coyote hunting where the target is much larger.

Mossberg with undertaker choke


Mossberg with gobblin' thunder choke


Winchester 1300 with undertaker choke


Winchester 1300 with Gobblin' thunder choke

 

[aksavanaman]

Looks like the 1300 with the Gobblin' Thunder wins.... it's ok, Mossbergs can't always be the best I guess

Thanks for the report John!

 

[John A.]

I don't hold punches AK I'll give it to ya straight, even if it's not what you want to hear.

But consistently, the gobblin' thunder choke outperformed the undertaker in both tests by more than double the number of pellets in the bull.

Coincidence? Maybe somewhat considering the small amount of testing and the nature of how shot works, but even if you look at the pattern on the poster board, the gobblin' thunder choke had denser pattern overall in both guns on the posterboard backing, so it leaves little wiggle room that I give it the nod. And since it had a tighter pattern while in the 1300, I won't mislead anyone about it.