Shotgun Chokes explained

Shotguns barrels are, in their most basic form, a pipe.  Long ago, someone figured out that by constricting the end of the barrel slightly, they could cause the resulting pattern of shot to be tighter.  This constriction is known as choke.

The image at left represents the most common chokes.  At the bottom is cylinder bore.  Cylinder bore is essentially that pipe that we discussed earlier.  Sawed off shotguns are cylinder bore, since the choked section of the barrel has been removed. Cylinder choke is also used in tactical style guns where longer range shooting is not an issue.

"Skeet" choke is the least restrictive of the chokes, then improved, modified, and full.  There are also extra full chokes, primarily for turkey hunting.

Lead vs. Steel

When shooting lead shot, the more constriction a choke provides, the tighter the pattern will be at a given distance.  So, if you are shooting close targets like skeet, you go for a more open choke.  One that allows the shot to spread faster works great because skeet is a close in type of target.  On the other hand, trap is a game where the targets are relatively far away.  A full choke is considered the standard for that.

Another way to put it is that if you take a full choked gun and shoot a large piece of paper at say 20 yards, you may have a pattern that measures 8 inches, whereas the pattern with improved cylinder may open up to say 18 inches.  That is a bit of a simplification, but you get the point.

The visual below may be of further use.  Cylinder bore quickly becomes useless as range increases.  The tighter the choke, the more effective the shot is at longer ranges.



Today's shotguns primarily use interchangeable, screw-in chokes.  These choke tubes are a convenient way to have any choke you want while keeping the same barrel on the gun.  Every manufacturer uses it's own trademarked choke system.  Remington is Rem choke, Browning is invector or invector plus, etc.



Most of these tubes install flush to the muzzle with a wrench but some extend past the barrel.  Some even incorporate muzzle brakes, flash suppressors, door breachers, you name it.

Before the advent of the screw in tubes barrels had fixed chokes.  The choke was made into the barrel when it was manufactured.  If you wanted a different choke, you generally bought a different barrel.

The only way to get interchangable chokes back in the day was to have a poly choke installed.  Poly chokes were fairly popular because they allowed the shooter to literally dial in which choke they wanted.

 These chokes are professionally installed onto the barrel by the poly choke company or a gunsmith.  While popular once, they have basically been replaced by screw in chokes.

What is an assault weapon? Part two

The text I quoted in part one is just a small part of that huge crime bill that passed in 1994.
Our friend Bill Clinton had won a major victory.  But, no one seemed to be able to explain how the banning of these weapons, or more specifically some certain features, would make us all safer.

So, with the renewed calls for an "assault weapons ban", please tell me how effective the last one was.  Specifically, tell me how a pistol style grip, a flash suppressor, threads on the end of a barrel, a grenade launcher (with no possibility of obtaining grenades), or a heat sheild make a gun more dangerous.  Please, I'm listening.

This is an AK style rifle produced under the ban.
It fires the same ammunition.  It's really the same gun.  But it has a traditional stock, no flash hider, a lower capacity magazine, and a few other cosmetic details.

Below is a modern AK rifle that you can buy today.  As you can see it has a number of features that were banned under the 94 bill.  It has a folding stock, pistol grip, and a big bad magazine.  Only the magazine does anything to do with the fire power of the weapon.  We can debate that later.  The rest of the changes are really cosmetic.  And that is precisely the point.  People who know nothing of firearms are telling us what we can own based upon what characteristics they find scary.  They saw Rambo do some crazy stuff in a movie with a gun that looked scary to them, so they feel like if it looks like Rambo, it must be bad.