What is it that drives people at a competition on a Sunday, to spend ages watching clays and fiddling with their chokes, where as that same person shooting game on a Saturday, would not walk onto the drive, and when the first flush comes, they start changing their chokes.

Shooting game is all about; style timing and putting your shot in the right place, but are not clay competitions we shoot (barring disciplines such as Skeet, DTL, and so on) such as FITASC, or Sporting suppose to simulate game shooting, if this is the case then why is this not the same, surely if we miss in either, field it is due to bad shot placement and technique, not what chokes we have in our gun.

Let’s explore some of the myths and legends of this mind bending obsession. People who are new to shooting should not initially try to understand or get involved in trying to understand chokes; they would be better perfecting their style and a consistency of putting their shot in the right place.

With that in mind a good gun to start with would be a modern sporting gun; this will already be set up with a fixed amount of choke. For the group of choke fiddlers, let’s get into some figures and knowledge. What does the right amount of choke in your gun achieve, along with the right combination of cartridge?

 You are looking for 70% of the pattern in a 30” circle at varying yardage of each choke. Choke and yardage are listed below.

Although the different types and makes of choke will more or less give you the same yardage and shot pattern, stated above. They are of very varying quality and manufacture, with each developer keeping the methods and quality of materials used top secret.

The biggest producer on the current market for all guns is Teague Chokes; they produce an equivalent of almost all the other makes on the market such as, Beretta, Browning, and Benelli, the list could go on, if you would like to see a comprehensive interchangeable list of chokes then visit, www.choketube.com or visit the Teague website.

 Listed in the tables are some of the general names for size and shot pattern distance and spread percentage, such as Extra Full, Modified and Cylinder, these are the collective names used for this information, each company has their own names for all of their products, listed below are just a few companies and their choke names.

The table above only shows a few variations from three manufacturers, Beretta has a wider range than most, other manufacturers producing chokes are Bettinsoli, Blaser, Ceaser Guerini, Classic and Fabarm. As much as the different makers have varying names for their products, they also often use different marks and colours to represent the same names. To help you work out your Extra Full from your Light Modified, I have laid out a table below with UK, American, Stars and Coloured markings.

Steel shot is a dark area when it comes to shooting, many clay grounds won’t allow it, but some shoots are quite happy with its use. Unless your choke says steel shot ok, it will deliver an unreliable pattern, you may also do real damage to your gun. If you do use steel shot it is prudent to know that a Modified choke will give you a pattern similar to Full choke and Improved Cylinder will pattern much like a Modified choke.

I suppose the next confusion is which choke should I use for which targets, this obviously comes down to personal preference at the end of the day, the best way to find your best combinations, is to practice and experiment on different targets, at different distances. I have laid out a table below that will give you a basic starting point.

Additional chokes that are available on the market range from, Turkey chokes, Extended Ported chokes, Rifled chokes, and finally, Pass choke. As you can see a mind field of information to grasp and interpret, for any wood be shot buying their first choked gun.

Guns with fixed choke or someone using the same set of chokes for all of their shots, at targets of varying distance will give a constant variation in percentage of shot pattern in our 30” circle. Again these are things you can test for yourself if your ground has a pattern plate, or you know where you can use one. You will need to make sure you record the findings properly so as to get the correct results for your own chokes.

See the table below for variations at 40yds.

I think we can see from the figures above even with the percentage variations if you put your shot in the right place in the big blue, and enough pellets to strike you will break the clay.

The biggest exception to this rule is targets that are presented at distance. This is where manufacturing quality becomes more important, as the shot is pushed through the barrels of the gun towards the chokes, at a speed roughly 880mph-900mph (1300 feet per second) as the shot impacts on the walls of the choke, this is where it starts to break up and formulate the shot string as it leaves the mussels of the shotgun.

It is the part of the process where the shot is pounded on the walls of the choke, that will benefit the shooter by using good quality chokes, as they leave the gun they formulate a better shot string, it is not important that you have purchased the most expensive multi choke gun, it could be a cheap gun but have top of the range chokes and get good results.

As I said this is key on long distance shots, as once the choke starts to expel the shot and the string pattern formulates due to gravity and other varying conditions, associated with an outdoor sport, the shot will decelerate roughly from 1300feet per second down to 975feet per second, so as you can see it is not only to get your pattern in the right piece of sky, but use the right choke for shots at distance, this does not mean you should constantly change chokes for closer targets.

To finish this article I think after digesting all the facts and figures, it all comes down to personal preference and selection, if you manage to find a combination that works for you, with a good quality cartridge you should stick to it.

If you can adopt this committed train of thought, you could reduce a lot of stress, and confusion as you approach each stand; this also applies to your confidence on breaking targets, if you are settled and confident with your set up, it just leaves you with the targets on the stand to focus on, which is at the end of the day your goal to break them.

Good luck with finding your balance and, focusing on the things that count, Warm barrels.