Best choke for 20ga using pointing dogs

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oldmanelrod

New member
Heading to hunt Kansas. Area will still have some crops standing and CRP fields. Lots of good cover. Will be using three dogs that have previously worked well together on pining down pheasants in the early season. Most shots 35 yds and under. Using a Beretta A400 20 ga loaded with #6 1oz loads this year and leaning towards a IC choke. But still thinking a MOD might be better. What is your opinion?
 
Either one would be fine. If your shots are 35 yds. and under I'd lean toward the IC. If after using it you feel you need a little more choke you could switch to the Mod. My feeling it you probably won't tell a huge difference. Might not hurt to pattern your shells in each choke at 35 yds. and see what that tells you. Good luck.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Either one would be fine. If your shots are 35 yds. and under I'd lean toward the IC. If after using it you feel you need a little more choke you could switch to the Mod. My feeling it you probably won't tell a huge difference. Might not hurt to pattern your shells in each choke at 35 yds. and see what that tells you. Good luck.
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Been shooting tons of skeet/trap thru the summer and seem to hit better with the IC. Understand if they start getting out past 35 yds MOD will be better. Thanks for reply.
 
I shoot an IC out of my 20 all season on wild birds, and have for years. The only difference is I shoot 1 1/4 oz of #5. Your combo with #6 will work fine 35 yds and in.
 
As Zep says, keep the Mod tube with you and switch out if you don't feel the IC is working for you.

JPH, that sounds like a heavy payload for a 20 gauge, same I shoot in a 12 gauge....I can completely understand why some shoot a 20 when you can throw the same load as a 12. Guessing that is a 3" hull. I have a Beretta 20 in the back of the vault, not sure if it is a 3" or not, might have to find some 3" hulls if it is and give it a try later in the season. Getting older and the 11-87 will be getting heavier one of these years.
 
I agree with others that out to 35 yards, your 1-ounce load of #6 lead out of an IC choke should work just fine. I also shoot a 20-gauge 2 3/4-inch 1-ounce load of #6 lead when hunting with good dogs, but usually have a 3" 1 1/8-ounce load of #5 lead for the second shot.

It would be nice if you would confirm you load/choke combo's performance at 35 yards, so you will know what that combo does before shooting birds.

Here are a few of my pattern numbers with those 20-gauge loads to give you an idea of what you might get.

Patterns from a 20-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels and Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

20 GA 2 3/4" RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 oz #6 lead (233 pellets) @ 1200 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 147 (63%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 168 (72%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 146 (63%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 163 (70%)

20 GA 3" RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 1/8 oz #5 lead (190 pellets) @ 1220 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 140 (74%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 149 (78%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 138 (73%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 147 (77%)

Good luck!
 
Joe Hunter said:
I agree with others that out to 35 yards, your 1-ounce load of #6 lead out of an IC choke should work just fine. I also shoot a 20-gauge 2 3/4-inch 1-ounce load of #6 lead when hunting with good dogs, but usually have a 3" 1 1/8-ounce load of #5 lead for the second shot.

It would be nice if you would confirm you load/choke combo's performance at 35 yards, so you will know what that combo does before shooting birds.

Here are a few of my pattern numbers with those 20-gauge loads to give you an idea of what you might get.

Patterns from a 20-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels and Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

20 GA 2 3/4" RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 oz #6 lead (233 pellets) @ 1200 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 147 (63%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 168 (72%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 146 (63%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 163 (70%)

20 GA 3" RELOAD (BLUE DOT)
1 1/8 oz #5 lead (190 pellets) @ 1220 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 140 (74%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 149 (78%)
40 YARDS – M / pattern 138 (73%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 147 (77%)

Good luck!
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Impressive stats
 
oldmanelrod said:
Been shooting tons of skeet/trap thru the summer and seem to hit better with the IC. Understand if they start getting out past 35 yds MOD will be better. Thanks for reply.
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My way of thinking is choke for the longest shot you'll honestly take. If a mod is in the gun and you get a close shot you can always hold off a bit till the bird gains a little distance. But forcing an IC to be effective on birds that are always jumping beyond it's effective range might be counter productive. Most times the birds will dictate whether to open up or choke down.

Good hunting. 👍
 
birdshooter said:
My way of thinking is choke for the longest shot you'll honestly take. If a mod is in the gun and you get a close shot you can always hold off a bit till the bird gains a little distance. But forcing an IC to be effective on birds that are always jumping beyond it's effective range might be counter productive. Most times the birds will dictate whether to open up or choke down.

Good hunting. 👍
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Makes good sense.
 
Shoot an IM/Full in my O/U. I'm weird though, I like to take my time on shots and end up shooting farther than I probably need to. I also don't get the chance to hunt often so take my advice with a grain of salt.
 
I like to use my 20ga also. what does everybody recommend in a steel shot load for pheasants within 35 yards?
 
When using a 20ga and steel shot on pheasants, I think it is best to go with 20-gauge 3-inch 1-ounce loads of either #3 or #2 steel. Steel shot lethality research conducted on pheasants by Tom Roster showed #2 steel to be more effective (at all ranges) than either #6 or #4 steel. Yes, you can kill them with #4 or #6 steel loads, but a little extra pellet energy is a good thing on wild pheasants where shots tend to be at going-away angles and can get on the long side. The research also showed #2 steel resulted in fewer cripples than both #6 and #4 steel; and Roster also speculated that the #3 steel pellet would be a good compromise between pellet count and downrange energy.

Here are a few of my pattern numbers to give you an idea of how these loads perform, in my gun/chokes anyway!

Pattern numbers from a 20-gauge Browning Citori with 28" Invector-plus barrels and Briley flush chokes (patterns average of five, 30" post-shot scribed circle, yardage taped muzzle to target, and in-shell pellet count average of five).

20 GA 3" WINCHESTER DRYLOK SUPER-X STEEL LOAD
1 oz #3 steel (145 pellets) @ 1330 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 114 (78%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 123 (85%)
30 YARDS – M / pattern 133 (92%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 106 (73%)
40 YARDS – LF / pattern 110 (76%)

20 GA 3" REMINGTON NITRO-STEEL MAGNUM LOAD
1 oz #2 steel (118 pellets) @ 1330 fps
30 YARDS – SK / pattern 101 (86%)
30 YARDS – IC / pattern 105 (89%)
30 YARDS – M / pattern 114 (97%)
40 YARDS – IM / pattern 99 (84%)
40 YARDS – LF / pattern 102 (86%)

Hope this helps, good luck!
 
Joe Hunter said:
When using a 20ga and steel shot on pheasants, I think it is best to go with 20-gauge 3-inch 1-ounce loads of either #3 or #2 steel. Steel shot lethality research conducted on pheasants by Tom Roster showed #2 steel to be more effective (at all ranges) than either #6 or #4 steel.
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I agree w/ 2's or 3's. I think m.v. around 1350 would make steel 2's or 3's lethal on most pheasants out to maybe 45 yds.
Also, I chuckle whenever someone mentions Tom Roster, as it reminds me of his studies on shot strings.
I could promise my wife the moon & stars. There's NO WAY she'd drive a car, pulling a board on a trailer, for me to shoot at!! So funny.
 
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