Don't Choke

One of the cool new benefits of the Remington Versa Max shotgun is finally having access to a system of interchangeable choke tubes. With my other shotguns being older, I'd never really ventured into the world of changing chokes. The Versa Max came with five chokes and a wrench, so swapping is completely simple.

For a great discussion of chokes and their effects on patterning at certain distances, try this site.

My first outing for clays was with the Cylinder choke that came installed. I find that my natural tendency is to shoot clays further out. Per the diagram link above, a Cylinder choke delivers a 40" pattern at 25 yards. That's pretty close. At the suggestion of a friend, I swapped to the Improved Cylinder choke, which patterns at 30 yards. The improvement was noticeable from the first station on this weekend's outing. My percentage of broken clays went up significantly.

Naturally, this has me curious. What about a Modified choke that patterns at 35 yards? Maybe that allows me more time to acquire and track the target? I think it's time for further experimentation.

Beyond clays, this starts me thinking about choke tweaking for hunting situations. I was pheasant hunting with some friends a couple of years back and one guy had choked down to Full. He did very well that day shooting clean-up on the birds others missed. Hmmmm. Ducks look like an opportunity for a Full choke, also. But pheasants seem like perhaps Modified or Improved Cylinder. Definitely time to pick up a choke tube carrier so I can have options in the field. On the other end of the spectrum, I don't feel compelled to be the guy on the sporting clays course who seems to be continually swapping out chokes.

Just one more way the Versa Max is among the most easily user-adjustable shotguns out there. A solid new offering.

-Sean-