16ga.com ~ View topic - How effective were/are adjustable choke systems?

Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 477

In the '30's, 40's and 50's you weren't serious if you showed up on a skeet field without a Cutts on your gun. They just seemed to shoot and pattern better. It was only years later that the Russians came out with the Tula chokes on their Olympic guns and won a bunch of medals with them. Same concept, An expansion chamber like the Cutts or Tula choke lets the wad begin to separate from the shot charge before it hits the choke. Don't know how but it ends up giving more even patterns. I have a nice Browning Double Auto with a Cutts and it does shoot well. Sometimes those old guys did know what they were doing.

*Last edited by skeettx on Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total*

I sure do love my DoubleAuto with the Cutts barrel installed Very Happy

It is a plain barrel

The other two barrels are vent rib Skeet and Modified, but non-Cutts

Mike

I like my Polychokes . They pattern as good or better than my guns with screw in tubes , and a change is the twist of a wrist away . When I was a kid , my Grandfather , Father , and most of the guys they hunted with either had or wanted a Polychoke . They just look ........right(dunno how to explain it better) for a hunting shotgun . I don't find them a disadvantage on the target field either . The PolychokeII that replaces screw in tubes is the one that doesn't seem to work right according to reviews

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1394 Location: Denver, Colorado

I've never heard the Cutts system compared to the Tula choke, but from what I understand of the Russian system I think it's a fair comparison. Maybe those old boys really were ahead of their time?

When I first had a polychoke put on my pump shotgun my hunting buddy's gave me a hard time. They would say thing like "what is that corncob on the end of your barrel. ect ect. Where we hunt is very good for both waterfowl and partridge. The guys always seemed to have the wrong chokes in their gun, but all I had to do is twist the polychoke to get the right choke. After a while they changed their minds and started calling it "dial a kill". Regards RB Wink

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2177 Location: Florida

Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 218

Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Posts: 1358 Location: Twin Cities, MN

The debate over conical/parallel vs. conical continues to this day. Teague chokes from England are conical and are considered excellent. They are quite long which gives a gradual "squeeze" to the shot column. I know Tom Roster thinks highly of the conical/parallel style. Winchesters old fixed chokes are conical/parallel as are Perazzi factory fixed chokes which are considered by many to be the finest cut chokes there are. If there are differences in pattern efficiency between different styles of chokes I believe they are quite small. Neil Winston compared several brands of choke tubes with similar constrictions (mod and full as labeled by the manufacturers) and found no detectable differences in patterns by shooting multiple patterns and analyzing them digitally with a computer program. We love to focus on technical minutiae when the vast majority of missed game birds or targets are due to poor shooting. I try hard to not worry about choke, but I still do a little. I know that when I shoot well the choke in the gun is immaterial, be it open or tight. Adjustable chokes certainly are an excellent solution to the choke dilemma, but I just can't get past their looks. I guess maybe an A5 with a Polychoke would be just geeky enough to be fun to shoot-especially if you shot it well.
Regards,
Jeff

The chokes in the Remington 1900 sxs are another type of cone with parallel bored muzzle . Not because the pattern would be better, which they are, but because the same tube could be used for a 30" ,28" or 26" completed barrel. So the cone ended a 4" from the muzzle on a 30" gun. I had one of these, it was my first gun. It could reach so well that I would get comments at the local rod and gun. This was before the introduction of the AA wad.

*Last edited by Old Hunter on Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:44 am; edited 3 times in total*

Two of my favorite shotguns have Poly-Chokes on them (Belgian Auto-5 and Winchester M12 - both 16 gauge guns). The Poly's work reliably, I patterned both shotguns with my regular field load - Estate 1 oz. of lead #8. What I found was they essentially pattern (with that load) two chokes under the mark (set on Full the Poly's will pattern MOD, set on MOD they will pattern IC) - once you know that you are in business and can adjust with a few clicks. OH

When I was shooting International Skeet, I heard a story about the Cutts/Tula choke similarity.

At a World Cup shoot, the Russian coach expressed an interest in studying the American single-barrel guns, most of which were equipped with Cutts Compensators. He apparently was impressed by the even breaks the guns produced. After studying one gun, he offered to buy the gun and ammunition for it, willing to pay twice the retail cost of a new gun of the same make. The American shooter sold the Russian the gun.

An hour later the Russian came back and gave the gun back to the shooter, minus the end of the barrel - he was only interested in the last foot of the barrel and the Cutts.

The next year the Russians showed up with their Baikal O/Us equipped with the newly developed Tula choke. That choke type became all the rage in International Skeet until one-piece plastic wads became the standard load. The Tula choke is most effective with overshot cards and filler wads with no shot protector.

I don't think you can buy a production gun of any make with a Tula choke anymore.

Tom

I have and shoot a Rottweil 72 with Tula Choke
and Krieghoff still has Tula choked barrels for the K-80

Mike

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

For my money, you can't beat the Cutts system. I think that the
vented oversize portion helps to strip the wad. I have no evidence, other than the way it crushes claybirds, that it shortens the shot string. More pellets arrive on target at the same time. I have 2 Rem 11's, a 12 & a 20 with the "pickle" installed, and they smoke the target when I do my part.
Cheers,
R*2

Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 694 Location: MN

Joined: 04 Jun 2009 Posts: 827 Location: N. Shore, mn

When you re shooting a shotgun at a moving target you should not have your eyes on the barrel. Eyes on the target if you are going to hit it. If you let Peer pressure bother you - stay in High School. :twisted:

I hit (& miss) equally well with & with out a PolyChoke. I have a couple old pump guns with them onboard. :oops: