Sporting Gun UK – May 2019

98 SPORTING GUN M AY 2019 http://www.shootinguk.co.uk

Isit goodtousea choke for shooting

pigeons over decoys? I

usedtoshootdad’sopenchoked
AYAYeomanside-by-sideonthe
farmasa boy,anddidwellwithit.
OrsoI thought,untila friendboughta
‘PigeonMagnet’when they fi rst came
onthemarket.
Themachinecertainlydrewthe
birdsbutmostskirtedit atdistances
beyondmycomfortzone.I never
seemed‘connected’andtheoldfarm
gunjumpedallovertheplace.I didn’t
havea cluewhereI wasmissing.
Intheend,dadkindlyshelledout
ona Beretta 682 multi-chokeSporter
asa 21stbirthdaypresent.
I didn’tlookback.I triedevery
chokeandcartridgecombination
goingandsettledon¾and¾with
30g5sasthebestoption.Itkilled
pigeonscleanasa whistle over the
rotarymachine.
Butbestofall,it taughtmethe
needtomeasureoutlead,mount
a gunandshootmoredeliberately,
somethingthathashelpedmyclay
anddrivenpheasantshootingnoend.
Heavychokeslikethiscertainly
don’thelponclose-rangewoodies
overdecoysbutit hastaughtmeto
holdfireuntilbirdsareout 30 yardsor
so.It’sgreatpracticeand discipline for
driven game days.
BRIAN PHIPPS

NO

Robin Scott, former Sporting Gun editor-at-large

YES

RichardButcher,all-round

shooter from Co Durham

Ideallya smidginsuitsmebest.

Improvedcylinderispretty

muchperfectfordecoying.But

I didn’tfretwhenI wentback to shooting

pigeonswithouta choke.

Forty-fiveyearsagomymusketof

choicewasa temperamentalfive-shot

Remington 1100 Skeetsemi-auto.I

boughtwhatevershellit wouldrecycle,

whichwasusuallyWinchesterAAsor

RXPsincompressionformedcaseswith

double-basedballpowder.Remember

them?Theyweremustardoneverything

outto 40 yards.Andbeyondif youever

endedupina shoot-offata strawbale

Down-the-Linecompetition. But that’s

anotherstory...

I nevermanagedtokillfivewoodies

froma bunchwithseparateshotsbutI

didcopforfourhalfa dozentimes,and

threeshappenedregularly. Shooting that

gunwasoh,soeasy.

ButwhenI steppeduptosporting

over-and-unders and discovered choke

myaveragesslipped.Closebirdsunder

20 yardseitherescapedthetightershot

patternorweretoohardtohitevenfor

a pate-makerinBrussels.Yes,I didkilla

fewmorebirdsatlongerrangesbutthis,

I felt,defeatedtheobjectoftheexercise

ofdrawingpigeonscloseenoughtokill

themcleanlyoverthedecoypattern.

Ittookyearsanda 16-boregunwith

nochokeinitsthinDamascusbarrels,

forthepennytofinallydrop:chokecan

bebotha blessinganda handicap.It

wasa chanceoutingbutbirdsstarted

tumblingagainaseasilyastheyhadwith

thatfactory-madeRemington.I don’t‘do’

gunswithchangeablechokesso,tosave

the16’santiquebarrels,I boughtanold

MirokuSkeet800.Touchwood,it hasn’t

yetmisseda beat.ButI domisspopping

offthreewoodiesover decoys when the

chancearises.

SosomedaysoonI willbuyanother

autowithnochoke to its name. Watch

this space...

Parting shots

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