![]() The composition of the shot is what makes it most effective. If you’re a handloader, Precision Reloading makes nickel-plated lead shot that is applied through electrolysis, which makes it harder and penetrate deeper. But plating thickness is difficult to measure if you’re shooting commercial loads unless you have a digital plating gauge. Now, if the plating is thicker and applied properly through electrolysis-a process that uses electricity and an electrolyte solution to coat the pellet-that can improve the hardness of the shot and make it more lethal. But plating is often just a coating that protects pellets. Many shotmakers tout the quality of their plating process and link it to more effective kills. Plenty of non-toxic and lead shot is plated, whether that be nickel, zinc, copper, or some other metal. Plated Shot Does Not Automatically Make Pellets More Lethal So, if you shoot ducks in the decoys, you can make cleaner kills with an open choke. They steadily get worse after exiting the muzzle. Payloads through more open chokes may not deliver a killing pattern at distance, but they also don’t depreciate as quickly. That makes a full choke a better option at 40-plus yards if you are a good enough shot to put a proper lead on a passing drake, but it doesn’t have limitless capabilities. A payload that runs through a full choke stays together longer, but when it runs out of steam, it falls apart rapidly. It does however give you a better chance to wound a duck that’s in the decoys because it’s more likely to only deliver a small portion of the payload to the target, which may not be lethal enough to kill it. You will find that an IC choke casts a much wider net of pellets than the constricted choke, offering far more forgiveness should your point-of-aim be ill-placed.Ī tight choke doesn’t give your shotgun rifle-like precision. Take your favorite duck load and pattern it at 25 yards with an IC and then try the tightest choke you can safely shoot steel through (if you shoot bismuth or TSS you can use a full choke). Inside 25 yards, you can fringe a mallard with a more constricted choke in your shotgun much easier than you can with an open improved cylinder. I’m a duck hunter first, and plenty of the folks I hunt with shoot a tight choke because they think it will cripple less birds. I don’t think it’s done on purpose, but out of carelessness and sometimes sheer ignorance.įull Chokes Do Not Always Kill Birds More Cleanly An illustration from Bob Brister’s book, Shotgunning: the Art and the Science, shows how a full choke can fringe a duck at close range. Most of them exist on Internet forums and social media, but there is also misinformation from media outlets and even the manufacturers themselves. In that time, I have discovered there are far too many shotgun and the shotshell myths. But in the last few years since joining Outdoor Life, I have spent most days either shooting a shotgun, reading books and articles by more experienced shotgun writers, or talking to ballistics experts and pro shooters (sometimes a combination of all three). I’ve been shooting shotguns for over 30 years now, and still have much to learn. ![]() Many of these falsehoods are perpetuated by well-meaning folks that have not done the pattern work, don’t fully understand the engineering behind break-action, pump, gas-, and inertia-driven shotguns, or have misconceptions about the effectiveness of lead, steel, bismuth, and tungsten super shot (TSS) loads. There are plenty of shotgun and shotshell “truths” that simply aren’t, well, true. We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.
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