[Guest]

Recently I witnessed several shooters remove choke tubes for a sporting clays station with very, very close target presentation. Will this harm the threads? Will it increase shot spread?

 

[rocnerd]

When I bought my gun recently the guy said to me "Never fire this without the chokes in or you will damage the threads." I would imagine that the threads would be just about destroyed after only one or two shots.

 

[wwb]

With plastic shotcups, you won't harm the threads, but they will get fouled with plastic that gets shaved off the shotcup as it passes... and it's a real bugger to clean it out so that the tubes will thread back in and seat properly. I've seen a couple guys do it, but they carried a brush to clean the threads immediately after the shot. For the slight pattern difference between cylinder bore (no tube) and a skeet tube, I wouldn't think it's worth the hassle.

 

[Guest]

I shoot my 391 without tubes on rare occasion. I wouldn't shoot it too many times, but it won't hurt it for one station. The tubes go back in just fine, but you can feel some plastic in the threads. Clean it when you finish. It throws a very open pattern, only for very close shots.

 

[pumper]

I beleive the gunamkers provide that warning to let you know that if you screw up the threads it is your fault and they won't fix them.

 

[clayshooter25/25]

Gun makers wouldn't put that warning there for nothing. :roll: Also the steel at the end of the barrel is probably to thin to hold up for some of those pressures.

 

[APEXDUCK]

I've seen this done as well and think it is a dumba** thing to do. If you can't hit it with a cylinder tube your only risking serious damage to you , your gun and possibly another shooter.

APEXDUCK

 

[Guest]

I do not think it is a good thing to do. I know the instructions for the 2 guns I have say not to do that.

Maybe you will get away with it on a production gun with thick barrels. But on thin walled installations they make the choke tube out of stuff that they say is 3 times as strong as the barrel so as to be able to take the pressure.

Buy a cyl choke.

 

[pumper]

I was postulating, but I would like to *** it is something I would never do.

 

[Cletus]

:shock: Wow! People actually do this?

1. Why would you need a choke that open?
2. Why take a chance of screwing up an awesome shotgun?
3. It's never a good idea to ignore a warning that every gun manufacturer specifically puts in their manuals. If the engineers go though the trouble to highlight it, then it probably isn't a good idea.

 

[Guest]

Well it seems that it MAY not hurt, but it is not worth the risk - I will leave them in. Thanks for the input.

 

[clayshooter25/25]

Think of it this way, would you drive a car without the tires on it? :lol:

 

[Guest]

I and several friends do it on occasion for very close targets and we feel like changing from the tighter chokes we generally use. On the standard production guns that I use the wall thickness is more than sufficient to handle it. I do not worry about the threads getting damaged; if using lead shot, the plastic of the shotcup and the lead shot are both much softer than the barrel steel and it is only for a few shots at one station. I do have a concern of possibly cross threading the threads when screwing a choke back in but do not force the choke in if there is resistance. I will work it back and forth with a couple drops of CLP on the threads, that seems to cut the crud for me. As for what the owners manual says, one has to put a little thought into it. All the one's I have do not endorse reloaded ammo and all recommended that they should not be carried with a round in the chamber, especially the ones for handguns. How many here reload and how many hunters (or cops) follow the last?

 

[Guest]

I did it once (accidently). I cleaned my gun and forgot to re-install the tube in a Browning BT-100 stainless trap gun. I think I fired 3 or 4 shells before I realized it.

It didn't do any damage to the gun. But, I wouldn't do that on purpose.