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cottonstalk
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 5:27 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 11 Jan 2018
Posts: 36
Location: Eastern NC

Got a 311 sxs16, that is m & f choked. I've got some bismuth for duck season, Kent #5, and some #2 bismuth reloads I purchased from this site. If I run short could I use the federal load of 4s with out bulging or splitting my barrels? Anyone got experience with Kent #5 load? I do not shoot past 40 yards, my rule, self imposed, I'll try and call'em better next time. Mostly woodies, some gadwalls and occasionally some mallards.

I have a sweet 16 with a poly adjustable choke, can I use steel and the heavier no-tox in it? I would like to go all year with the 16, ant advice would be appreciated. I plan to reload but it won't be this season.
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skeettx
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:17 pm  Reply with quote
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https://www.chuckhawks.com/poly-chokeII.htm

https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=236398

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John Singer
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 7:20 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 03 Sep 2014
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Location: Rochester, MN

I duch hunt regularly with a 16 gauge Stevens 5100 sxs. I opened the full choke barrel before using it with steel.

The problem with steel and full chokes works like this: When the outside diameter of the shot charge in the bore is as large or larger than the inside diameter of the choke, as the shot charge impacts the forcing cone, something has to give.

Lead is soft and malleable. Steel is not soft. Often the choke is scored. Sometimes a ring bulge develops behind due to the pressure rise.

With a SxS, a ring bulge can separate the barrels and ribs as they are soft soldered together.
I would recommend opening the choke if you wish to use steel.

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DanLee
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:07 am  Reply with quote
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You can use the modified choke barrel for #4 steel. Don't shoot steel through your full choked barrel. The Poly-Choke can handle steel as long as the setting is no tighter than Modified, according to the company's own statement.
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rdja
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:24 am  Reply with quote
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Kent #5, are you talking bismuth or TungstenMatrix?? I have used Tungsten matrix #5 in 12 ga qite a bit. Love it, but now too expensive unless can find it on sale.
Bought some Kent Bismuth #4 and 5 to use in my Winchester model 21 but have not had much chance to do so yet. Kent bismuth sizing is European, meaning a #5 is more like what we see in a #6.
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cottonstalk
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 11:31 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 11 Jan 2018
Posts: 36
Location: Eastern NC

The loads I have are all bismuth. My sxs patterns the Kent load well. I would like to find some loaded 4 bismuth, try some itx, and see how that goes. If any of that does well I won't open the chokes on it and just shoot. If I go to steel I'll have to open the chokes. I'd just like to try a few different things so next year when I start reloading I'll know where to start.

Sounds like my sweet 16 may be more versatile but there's just something about that two triggered sxs that just keeps calling my name.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:06 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
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Cottonstock,

Good advice has been given here already, the steel Fiocchi #4 shot I use for shooting Woodies is shot out of a more open choke, (IC) even in my modern 28 gauge L.C. Smith. I want no damage done to my good guns while Woodie hunting. I also use the softer Bismuth type shells in my Classic American and German Best double guns. All these different shells work very very well. The cost however is prohibitive for purchasing cases of shells, like I do with my SpredR's for Grouse Woodcock & Quail.

None of the Duck hunting shells are cheep, unfortunately.

Pine Creek/Dave
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rdja
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:50 pm  Reply with quote
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cottonstalk wrote:


Sounds like my sweet 16 may be more versatile but there's just something about that two triggered sxs that just keeps calling my name.


I hear that!! I have some #5 Kent bismuth in 16 ga, but to get larger sizes you would probably have to load your own. Rotometals sell bismuth shot and their shot sizes are US sizes. I loaded some #1 in 12 ga for my Model 21 have not had a chance to try yet, but early goose season in only 22 days away. May be trying those #5s in teal season if I can get out. I do wish they still made Nice Shot, it worked very nice for me in my Marlin 90.
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fourtown
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 5:06 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 25 Jan 2014
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Don't open the chokes just to shoot 16 ga steel. If want to open the chokes for other hunting go ahead.

My wife and I have shot a bunch of ducks, large and small, with Kent bismuth 5's, but our shots are usually well short of 40 yards.
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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 2019 6:31 am  Reply with quote
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First consider the mission for the gun -- the tasks you want to perform with it. A quick internet search showed me bismuth seems fairly cheap nowadays at about $1.40 per shell, which seems way low compared to the past, and it looks like tungsten matrix is between $4 and $4.50 per shot. Steel is a little over a buck per. How many shells are you going to shoot through that Stevens 311 over the next few years? Do you also shoot upland birds with that gun? How about clays? The point is: why throw a bunch of expensive shells at a not-too-valuable gun that is already over-choked these days for almost any game or target you might encounter.

Open the chokes to .012" and .007" -- about light mod and improved cylinder -- and be done with it forever. Those would be the constrictions from the actual bore diameter. Have the forcing cones lengthened at the same time. Mike Orlen and others can do this for about $200, maybe less.

You certainly are not desecrating a collector gun with such a modification. Thus modified, you can shoot just about anything through it, and with it. Steel? -- Yes, probably up to #2 in the 16 with modern loads with no problem. HeviShot and other ultra hard stuff? -- same sizes as with steel, but you'll be shooting smaller, even better-flowing shot in those alloys to take the ducks you mention out to 40 yards or more. Shooting steel instead of the other non-tox alternatives will make the modification pay off earlier, though, and that was the point.

Upland with lead or other soft shot? Those chokes are perfect for that. The vast majority of the shots are within 30 yards. Even with pheasants, it is fairly uncommon to need to take a shot past 40 yards, or use shot greater than #5. Today's loads with today's shot protecting wads shoot at least one choke tighter than the choke listed or measured on almost any barrel. Also, larger shot patterns tighter, so even if you have to shoot large upland birds (pheasants) at long range, those chokes work just fine. They might even increase your "hit percentage". Those chokes are also adequate for just about any clay target sport you might attempt with that gun -- open enough to be OK for skeet, tight enough to work just fine at the 16 yard line for trap, and certainly adequate with modern loads at the vast majority of sporting clays shots. The modifications mentioned above increase the utility and thus the value of your gun.

Some will say the only way to go if you want to modify a shotgun barrel is choke tubes. There is versatility in having a good choke tube installation, but for most shooting and most people, it has some disadvantages: 1) It is more costly, 2) There is greater chance your point of impact will be altered, 3) Sports equipment alternatives and choices (such as choke tubes in shotguns) often "get in the head" of the average user who is unable to objectively discern the differences, causing endless speculation and second guessing, distracting the user from focus on the fundamentals.
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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2019 8:59 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

First of all, some of the steel damage claims are rather exaggerated. I actually own a 28 ga. double that I picked up cheap years ago and it has one heck of a ring bulge, the barrels haven't separated after 15 years use and thousands of rounds.

The 311 is a very stout gun. It seems a waste to spend more on ammo in one season than the gun cost. Best compromise? Open the full choke to improved modified and call it good. The steel #4's will drop ducks all day long if you do your part.

As far as a polychoke goes, I have never used one but did listen to Tom Roster say that steel shot wouldn't hurt one as long as the constriction was not dialed too tight.

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