How to Choose a Shotgun Choke

What if you could use the same firearm for multiple hunting situations? Well, fortunately for bird hunters, you can—with shotgun choke tubes. Arm yourself with a variety of chokes, and your single shotgun turns into a multi-hunt weapon. Choke tubes determine how the pellets of a shotgun shell will disperse when they’re dispelled from the barrel.

Fundamentally, choke tubes constrict the pellets of your shell to varying degrees (depending on the choke you use). The choke tube you select is placed inside your shotgun’s barrel before the muzzle (there are some types of chokes that attach to the end of the barrel). The amount of constriction from the choke tube is very minimal, measured in thousandths of an inch. Some older shotguns may have a fixed choke that can’t be changed, but newer weapons allow you to easily swap out chokes. The convenience of changing your choke enables you to carry a single gun instead of multiple.

You choose a choke based on the pellet spread pattern and range you need. For example, without a choke, the shotgun shell’s pellets disperse quickly, and the farther they travel the greater their spread. Meanwhile, a choke tube will hold the pellets together longer after they leave the barrel. Therefore, you’ll want to strategically select which choke to use based on how densely you want the pellets to be held together and to what distance. The most common mistake beginners make is to over constrict for the type of shooting their doing. While tightly constricting the pellets will achieve tighter patterns at longer ranges, this also results in more misses at shorter ranges.

Keep in mind that a choke doesn’t alter the shot’s speed or distance, just its density. You can visualize how a choke constricts the pellet spread by thinking about how water comes out of a garden hose. When allowed to flow freely from the hose, the water stream comes out in a short arc. On the other hand, if you narrow the water flow (with the water pressure remaining constant), the stream of water will have a greater reach.

Types of Chokes

Below, are the six most common types of choke tubes to choose from. In most shooting situations, you’ll have a general idea of the range your targets will be at, helping inform your decision of which choke tube to use.

Full: The tightest constriction among common choke tubes, a full choke delivers the greatest density at a distance of 55 to 65 yards. At 40 yards, this pattern would deliver 70 percent of the pellets in a 30-inch circle. This choke is most often used for waterfowl pass shooting and turkey hunting, although some turkey hunters will go with an extra-full choke for an extra dense pattern needed for turkey head shots.

Improved-Modified: Considered to have a sweet spot pattern between the more common full and modified chokes, these chokes perform best between 45 and 55 yards. With these chokes, 65 percent of the pellets from lead shot would pattern a 30-inch circle at 40 yards.

Modified: Modified chokes are the middle ground, offering moderate constriction ideal for waterfowl hunting and upland game. Also used sometimes for trap shooting, this choke is most effective between 30 and 40 yards. 60 percent of the pellets shot with this choke would fall within a 30-inch circle placed at 40 yards.

Improved-Cylinder: Ideal for shots taken at 20 to 30 yards, 50 percent of the pellets from lead shot would hit a 30-inch circle at 40 yards. Hunters often choose this choke for quail and grouse, which are likely to be at close ranges.

Cylinder: This means no constriction, or no choke. Shots will exit the muzzle and spread faster than if you used any choke. Technically speaking, in these circumstances 40 percent of the shell’s pellets would strike a 30-inch circle at 40 yards.

Skeet: Just slightly tighter than cylinder bore, these choke tubes provide just slightly more range with a quick spread. Perfect for a range of 15 to 25 yards (which skeet is often shot at), 50 percent of the pellets from these shots would hit a 30-inch circle at just 25 yards.

What has been outlined above are results, by choke tube type, under average conditions. However, these results may not be consistent from gun to gun. The gun and ammunition you use (and varying combinations of the two) will have different results. For example, steel shot disperses differently than lead. Get to know how your gun performs by doing some pattern tests. A pattern test involves shooting a pattern plate (or 30-inch circle) at different ranges, with different ammunition loads and choke tubes, to see how the pattern changes. The more thoroughly you know how your gun functions, the better your shooting results will be and the easier it will be for you to choose what choke to use in varying shooting situations.