Patternmaster chokes

[WV Sendero]

Anyone have any experience with these chokes? They recommended their Code Black Big Game choke to me for the DC T 3.5" Hevi-shot. They said their chokes work by stripping the wad rather than with constriction. Any info on the Big Game or any of their wad stripping chokes (I think they also make some conventional) would be helpful.

 

[BillR]

What there is are small protrusions inside the choke (Hope I am explaining this right) that actually slow down the wad letting the shot actually move ahead of the wad just a bit so that the shot is not squeezed down by the constriction of the choke squeezing the wad with the shot inside. This is done to keep the shot in a more uniform group. Choke constriction causes a lot of problems with patterns due to the load slamming into it at 1200 to 1500 fps with no give so to speak.
Heavy shot does not like a lot of constriction due to this. The best way to see what your choke is actually doing is to use a Steel patterning board. Get a 40" square of 1/8" steel plate and a bucket of white grease and a paint brush to smear on a thin layer of grease. It can be reused and reused this way. I like to have a 1.5" hole cut in the center for an aiming point. Shoot it and look at your hits. Hits show up very well in the grease. Just take the brush and wipe out the hits and your ready for the next shot. Works best mounted permanently or else you have a greasy mess on your hands.
Also the larger the shot the harder the transition through your choke and the more open the choke needs to be. My most used choke for heavy shot is an IC choke. Even a Cyl choke does well with Hevi Shot. Also if your pattern shows that the load is not right for the choke don't give up, just change your shot size and see which one it likes. If you can't find a load it likes within the range of shot size your looking for just change chokes and start over again. Shotguns are a bit more forgiving than a rifle but do have loads they like and loads they don't.

 

[midwesthunter]

I can say this about them they are expensive, but worth it if they work with your barrel. Meaning my buddies 26" 870 super mag will hold a 6" group at 30 yards with 90% in that 6". My 26" 870 super mag same shells only holds a 20" with 90%. Biggest problem with shot barrels is that there not perfectly cylinder shape they can be lop sided, thus opening up your pattern. Now I took a 20 choke and can shoot same pattern as patternmaster.

 

[Bowhunter57]

Biggest problem with shot barrels is that there not perfectly cylinder shape they can be lop sided, thus opening up your pattern. Now I took a 20 choke and can shoot same pattern as patternmaster.

midwesthunter,
I agree with you, about shotgun barrels not being perfectly cylinder shaped. Unfortunately, this creates the great variations from one shotgun to the next...even though they may be of the same brand, barrel length, etc.

What do you mean by "a 20 choke"? Did you mean 20 gauge?

Bowhunter57

 

[midwesthunter]

Sorry I meant $20 choke tube.

 

[esshup]

I may be cheap, but I wish that if a choke tube didn't work in your gun that you could return it.

I've shot a patternmaster choke tube for a long time. I even have one of their prototypes, where the wad strippers were made from 4 small allen screws.

Like what was said before, every shotgun is different, so the only way to really tell how well a choke tube works for a given gun is to pattern it at the distance that you will be shooting with the exact same shell and shot size.

The patternmaster works very well in my 12ga Model 12 that has a .800" bore barrel, but I couldn't get it to work to my liking in my Citori O/U 12 ga. The load that patterned the best in my Citori didn't work in the Model 12 either. That gun, for whatever reason, patterned 1 1/4 oz. loads better than any other recipe that I tried. The Citori worked the best with 1 3/8 oz. loads.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Just a little FYI a old trap shooting trick was to lightly sand inside of choke to get it to pattern tighter. Down side after a while it needed to be cleaned of plastic.

 

[JOSE A. MARINE]

I have shot a lot of geese with it, it works by shortening the "shot string" thus when you hit, you put all the pellets in the zone, but missing is also easier. most of my friends went back to a conventional full or extrafull choke(here in mexico we still shoot lead). I still use it sometimes its great at the end of the season when shooting longer distances and have more experience/practice on the longer shots.

by the way it works wonders on the coyotes...
Joe from Mexico

 

[bigtime9]

I bought one about 10 years ago to try out and now every shotgun I own has one in it. The only time they come out is for doves and quail. Just don't shoot anything close had a buddy disentagrate a pheasant last year took off a wing and half the breast at about 15 yards.