shotguns, hunting, chokesI currently hunt waterfowl with an over/under. I use an improved cylinder on the bottom barrel and a modified on the top barrel. Recently I have seen decoy and pass chokes for waterfowl hunting. How do those chokes compare to standard IC and M chokes?
I would assume they are very similar but have not seen ranges on ether.
I can’t find consistent measurements for these specialty chokes, it seems every manufacturer builds them with slightly different constriction. The idea behind these waterfowl chokes is that they’ll both work with steel-shot.
The decoy chokes seem to be about about .110-.114” of constriction , which puts them between an improved cylinder and light modified choke. Common wisdom on the decoy choke is that it will maintain a tight pattern out to about 35 yards. It’s intended to be used over decoys.
The pass chokes run about .180-.200”, which puts them between a light modified and a modified choke, they’re supposed to be used in pass shooting, with the pattern holding tight out to 50yds.
As always, shotgun patterns vary with gun, choke, and load. You need to pattern your gun with your choice of choke and load to see what it’s really doing.
The best thing to do is to get an assortment of chokes and ammunition and head to the range.
Pattern the shotgun to ensure that the shotgun, choke and ammunition combination will work for the application you intend to use it for.
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