I’ve seen him shoot. If you think he can’t do it, you would be wrong.

It's not Sera's ability that I doubt. It's the ability of the equipment (gun, chokes, shells, shot, etc). Perhaps Sera will tell us his secret equipment to smoke 50 yard targets. Sure, anyone can occasionally get a hard break on a long target, but "smoking 50 yard targets" on a regular basis? I'd have to see it with my own eyes.

It's not Sera's ability that I doubt. It's the ability of the equipment (gun, chokes, shells, shot, etc). Perhaps Sera will tell us his secret equipment to smoke 50 yard targets. Sure, anyone can occasionally get a hard break on a long target, but "smoking 50 yard targets" on a regular basis? I'd have to see it with my own eyes.[/quote]

You’re wrong. Put 1 ounce on a target and it goes away. I think your jealous you can’t do it. An extra 1/8 of an ounce won’t help if you can’t make the shot.

I haven't even mentioned 1 1/8 ounce of shot in this thread. Nor have I said that 1 ounce is insufficient to break the targets. But if you want to keep building strawman arguments to attack, then have at it.

Okay.

It turns out that 50 yard targets are pretty common theses days. Folks aren’t punching up into the higher classes without being able to hit them with regularity. And I don’t mean chips. Smoke, maybe not so much, but solid hits for sure. So a good eye, trained brain, steady swing, mod choke and hard lead shot are about all the “secrets” you should need to achieve convincing breaks on 50 yarders.

I also use a Beretta recoil pad. I tried the Browning pad but it was too thick and I couldn't feel my gun mount.

Randy

Just out of curiosity, do you know what percent of the pellets would be in a 30" circle from a Mod choke at 50 yards?

Precisely, no. Approximately, I would say a little under 50%. Mod is commonly recommended for 35-40 yards. 50 yards is not much of a stretch. But let’s face it, many folks don’t want to be changing chokes and certainly can’t between shots of a pair. With a single barrel gun, compromise is the name of the game.

Just out of curiosity, how many does it take?

I think we're getting into semantics about "smoking a target". Briley recommends a mod to 45 yards for an edge on, crossing target. I Mod for 50 yards. If you think the extra .005 of constriction really makes a difference, change chokes. I believe most really good shooters would still shoot a mod at 50 yards if that is what they normally use. A broken target is a broken target.

I agree with you.

Yeah, about 47%, but it could vary a percent or two either way depending on several factors.

In other words, you would have about the same pattern density as you would have using an IC choke at 40 yards.

What is puzzling to me is how some people rave about how great a Mod or IM choke will do at 50 yard (or even longer) shots, but at the same time would tell you that if you use an IC choke at 40 yards, then that's not enough choke.

I'm not advocating an IC choke for 40 yard shots, especially if the target is edgy, but yet patterns prove that an IC at 40 yards is at least the equal (if not superior due to greater velocity of the pellets) to a Mod or IM at 50 yards. BTW, the difference between Mod and IM at 50 yards isn't much... maybe 3% or 4%. The reason being that at the tighter constrictions, an increase of 0.005" in constriction doesn't do much... certainly not nearly as much as it does at the more open constrictions.

I'm having a hard time understanding what point you are trying to make. Do we need more choke, or less choke? By your numbers, you would have 165 pellets of 7.5 with one ounce and 185 pellets of 7.5 in 1 1/8 ounce with a mod choke at 50 yards. For a good shooter, that's enough shot to give a very convincing break. For the rest of us, the problem is we don't have the capability to place those pellets in the correct spot for that length of shot. As with all the other issues in shotgun sports, equipment won't fix that problem.

You may have trouble understanding what I'm saying, but according to your other posts in this thread, you already have all the answers so you don't need to worry about it.

Here is the flaw in your logic. You shoot a lot more clays at 40 yards than you do at 50. Remember what I said about compromise. Do you want to shoot the choke that is best for the most of your shots or the fewest? Mod is a better all around choke for people who don’t change chokes than IC or IM or Full.

How is that a flaw in my logic when I haven't even addressed that issue? We started out the thread talking about recoil. Then someone brought up the subject of shooting at 50 yard targets. Then someone claimed to know someone who could "smoke" 50 yard targets with a Mod choke. Then I pointed out that a Mod choke at 50 yards is about like an IC choke at 40 yards.

At no point did I say that a Mod choke was best or not best for shooting tournaments with a single barrel gun. So how the heck do you come up with the idea that there's "a flaw in my logic"?????

You are comparing the IC at 40 to the Mod at 50 and saying the two cases are comparable. It is a false equivalence, i.e. based on flawed logic. Neither situation is ideal. But it is better to be flawed for fewer targets and just right for more targets than to be flawed for more targets and just right for fewer.

I certainly don’t have all the answers. I do have some opinions. I was asking you to further explain. I guess that wasn’t taken well. Since that is the case, I guess I’ll stick with my original opinion that you are wrong.

All else being equal, reducing shot will reduce scores regardless of the game. How much it reduces it will depend on how often you center the target in the pattern. It may cost you one out of 100 targets or one out of 1000, but the reduced payload will cost you targets.

This thread should be bronzed as Message Board 101.