Trap / Skeet Shooters?

[Dennis1209]

I'm shooting trap and going to start skeet also when the weather gets decent again. Just bought a new trap gun (Citori XT) and was thinking of replacing the factory choke tubes with Browning Diana Midas grade choke tubes for better patterns before I even shoot it.

 

Using my Citori White Lightning and standard factory in-vector-plus chokes, at 22 yards shooting the pattern board, there are gaps in the pattern big enough to completely miss a clay target at > 22 yards.

 

So my question is, will the better chokes actually pattern better? I'm also thinking of dropping from 7 1/2 to #8 shot for singles and switching from IM to full choke.

 

What y'all's experience and opinion?

[gjohnsoniv]

I shoot a stock Benelli with the Benelli chokes, modified in competition and full in practice.  With that I can shoot 24's and 25's without issue.  I would say a better choke will improve the pattern though, but I've never changed them so I can't base that on anything.  You might consider just shooting some when it warms up and see how it does and if it's not to your standard change it.

 

I've just kept mine how it is since I would put between 75-125 rounds on average through my gun every day after class through high school.  So it's a comfort thing with me, I know where it's going to go when I pull the trigger and I'm happy with that.

Edited November 17, 2014 by gjohnsoniv

[chances R]

You may find that shot size will change your pattern. For skeet pattern 9's and see the results. On trap 8's will work fine but beyond the 20 would Change to 7 1/2

[03CR]

I used to run a Citori XT with the factory chokes. Shot well and never bothered changing them.

[shotgunshooter]

Try Briley or Wright's for chokes

Edited January 4, 2015 by shotgunshooter

[GKar]

My Citori XT Trap really seems to like the Briley Invector Plus chokes better than the Browning Midas IP chokes.  I'm shooting LFull for singles and short yardage ( up to 21 yd line) caps, but IM for singles worked just as well.  Pattern board results at 30 yards still looked good.

 

That said, load may also play a role, including wad choice.  I'm loading 1 oz 7.5 over 18.3 grains Red Dot with a Downrange JXL-1 wad - which are rumored to result in a slightly more open pattern than their 4-petal wad counterparts.