What is the tightest choke you would use with buckshot.

I am using an IC but was wondering if a Modified choke is to tight

I use a modified choke in a Benelli M4 and it works fine. I've seen a full choke used in a few other shotguns - some worked OK, some blew the pattern all over the place. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with a full choke with buckshot. Best suggestion I can make is try it and see how it works.

I remember buying boxes of buckshot loads years ago that had advisements on them not to use in barrels choked tighter than 'modified'. Used a 20-gauge years ago for deer hunting in Georgia and Alabama, modified choke barrel and #4 buckshot, which was pretty effective on those little bitty southern whitetails out to 40 or 50 yards.

Most of the buckshot shooting I've done over the years was in 12-gauge police riot guns with cylinder bore barrels. We qualified at ranges up to 100 yards, and it wasn't unusual for a 00-buckshot load to put 3 or 4 pellets on a silhouette target at that range.

Only shotgun I have now is a Remington 870 12-gauge with Rem-Chokes. Factory IC, Mod, and Full choke tubes have no written advisories, but my Hastings Extra Full Turkey Choke is clearly marked not for use with shot sizes larger than #6, lead shot only. For buckshot I think I'd stick with the IC choke.

If you have the room you might want to pattern your shotgun for the range you want to shoot. Take brown wrapping paper to the range you want to shoot and check the pattern so you know how the ammunition you are using will pattern. Not all manufacture's buckshot patterns the same.

Check out these test at the box o truth.

The Box O' Truth #44 - Shotgun Chokes and Buckshot The Box O' Truth

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Psalm 23:4

I've put all the pellets of a 12 ga 2 3/4" #1 buck into a half sheet of newspaper at 40 yards with a 30" Full choked Remington Model 11. Nasty.

You have to pattern your gun with the loads. They will all shoot differently. Those old guns pattern tighter with modern ammo, too

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War Eagle! '10 BCS & '13 SEC

Thanks guys, not that I needed an excuse, now a trip to the range

I use buckshot (#4) only for defense. From an elderly Stevens side-by-side twelve sawed to twenty inches. But I've shot #3 buck from a double twenty choked full and modified, and it patterned fine.

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Oh well, what the hell.

My 1929 A5 Browning shotgun has a barrel built with a full choke. Later they used inserts. It's 12 ga and not a fowling piece so I'd assume they expected some buckshot to be put through it.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

As the others have said, you'll have to pattern your gun with your load to find out. I've never hunted deer with anything but a buckshot loaded shotgun, and members of my hunt club overwhelmingly used full chokes.

I used a modified most of the time, but I admit that's because the gun I had, came with a modified choke. When I got it I stepped off thirty long paces, (call it 28 yards) and put 17 out of 24 No. 1 Buckshot into the bottom of a bushel basket (Hey, we weren't real scientific where I came from) with a couple others in the cone of the basket. That was plenty good enough for me. Every deer I ever shot at with that gun, got dead.

I've read for years that you should use open chokes for buckshot. My experience doesn't agree with that. Not just from deer I killed personally, but from gutting, skinning, and butchering a couple hundred buckshot killed deer over the years. I asked most shooters what shot/choke they used. By far the most common shot was No 1, followed by 000. Toss in a few killed with No 2, out of a 20 ga. I don't think I ever asked anyone who used 00 or 4's. Choke choice was Full with Modified a close second.

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John 3:16 .

Some years back Tom Aveni, at that time at the S&W Academy, did comparative testing and found improved modified to be best with standard buckshot. Don't know off the top of my head if the plated buckshot changes anything.

As others have noted, try it on paper. Once you have a result you like, don't change brands of shell.

Very interesting - thanks!