A good bit has been written about tungsten-based shot and what choke
should be used with it. When Environ-Metal introduced Hevi-Shot several
years ago, some thought it was “death to chokes and gun barrels” and
some even thought of it as evil incarnate. Of course it was neither but
rather the beginning of a shotshell revolution.
Some
7 years later, we’ve seen not only the original Hevi-Shot and the
Remington versions but also Remington’s Wingmaster H-D, Federal’s
Heavyweight, Environ-Metal’s Hevi-13 and Winchester’s Xtended Range
Hi-Density. The names and formulations may have changed but the
mis-information is as prevalent as ever!
I won’t attempt to even
discuss the various amalgams that each maker uses for their shot but
for the purpose of this discussion, will simply refer to all of it as
“hard” shot. It’s all tungsten-based and tungsten is a very hard metal
that is more dense than lead. It’s also non-toxic and can be used for
waterfowl.
In the early years, we were warned not to shoot hard
shot in a choke with an exit diameter tighter than “modified“, or lots
of bad things would happen. There were even stories of barrels and
chokes being destroyed by any shooter foolish enough to try anything
that constricted the bore more than that.
Shotshell makers,
being very cautious and concerned about possible barrel and choke
damage, used very stiff, highly protective wads to shield the barrel
and choke from any possible contact with the hard shot. Shooters soon
learned that, at least with modern steel barrels, they were not
experiencing any visible barrel damage but pundits were still urging
caution on using tight chokes and many urged waterfowl hunters to use
improved cylinder chokes in their guns.
Enter the turkey hunter
and his never-ending quest for tighter and tighter patterns. The advice
to him was to use nothing tighter than a choke with an exit diameter of
.675 or again, bad things would happen. Many turkey hunters did just
that and harvested birds with hard shot and .675 chokes.
When
the market exploded with all different versions of hard shot just a
couple of years ago, the same advice was still there. The questions
became, are we really getting what we pay for, are we really optimizing
the potential of these shells, using only one size turkey choke? The
answer is a resounding no!
Over the past several years I have
fired literally thousands of rounds of hard shot, from each
manufacturer, both in testing and in still target shooting competition.
I’ve tested all the major brands and models of shotguns, in all
available barrel lengths. I’ve shot most if not all major brands of
choke tubes in most if not all exit diameters available. I have come to
one, inescapable conclusion. It’s not the shot, it’s the shell!
There
is no one perfect exit diameter for every gun with every shell that
contains hard shot. That has little or nothing to do with the shot, it
has much to do with the shell.
Each manufacturer creates a
shotshell from the “brass to the crimp” in a manner that it believes to
be the best. Between the brass and the crimp are a primer, powder, a
wad, possibly buffers and shot. Some manufacturers may include an
over-wad and some type of sealant on the crimp. Cut a few of those
shells open and you’ll see a real variation of components. These shells
don’t look alike and don’t shoot alike. That’s one reason that there is
no “one size fits all” when it comes to turkey chokes.
Each
shotshell actually demands a different turkey choke to maximize its
potential. The effect of “constriction” or the reduction of the bore
diameter by the exit diameter of the choke, is a factor but less so
than the makeup of the shotshell itself.
One component that
greatly influences the type of choke that should be used is the wad.
For example, a ported choke tube will many times “eat” a portion of a
wad. That may have little if any effect on some wads but a great effect
on others.
A choke tube with the incorrect internal geometry
and a too tight exit diameter, may adversely effect a wad that is
designed to stay with the shot charge for an extended period of time.
It may “strip it” too soon.
A shotshell that uses a very soft
wad with “grabbers” on it, will not function at its peak of performance
with a choke tube that has an exit diameter that is too open.
There
are other factors that influence the type and exit diameter of a choke
that is needed in a particular brand of gun, with a given barrel length
but in the final analysis, it’s not the shot, it’s the shell that makes
the difference.