What choke tube to use on my remington 870?

Super-Dave · December 26, 2008, 12:07 PM

I assume you should never fire slugs without have a choke tube in your barrel?

If this is true for a remington 870 which choke tube should I get for firing both slugs and buckshot?

hogdogs · December 26, 2008, 12:26 PM

Improved Modified is the one Mossberg says will be best results most of the time.
You are safe firing a slug thru any choke at least up to "full" with out risk of obstructing barrel. You should never fire any thing without a tube in place. Them are some fine threads to have to clean of lead, plastic or powder...
Brent

zippy13 · December 26, 2008, 12:30 PM

Shooting without a choke, in a gun designed for screw-ins, should be reserved for an absolute emergency. If something goes bump in the night, you don't want to take the time to screw in a choke. Otherwise, install a mission appropriate choke.

For slugs and buck shot, you'll want an open choke: Skeet to Lt Mod. Here's a link to Remington's choke chart.

Scattergun Bob · December 26, 2008, 12:43 PM

Skeet or Imp Cyl seem to be the best in general for both liability and performance.

Good Luck & Be Safe

BigJimP · December 26, 2008, 05:21 PM

Shooting a shotgun that is threaded for a screw in choke / without a choke screwed in - will often damage the threads insiade the barrel. I've seen it happen too often / where guys forgot to screw in a choke before they went out into the field ( and it happens more than you would think, especially with guys shooting flush mounted chokes ..). If you do it / you might get lucky - and just have to clean the plastic wad fouling out of the threads - or you might have to "chase" the threads with something to clean them up.

I usually store my shotguns with choke tubes inserted in the gun ( clean them, lube them, and put them back in ).

Its easy to say we all check our guns ( and our chokes ) before we walk out to the field - but my Skeet buddy was shooting his "rain gun" a Rem 1100 a few weeks ago with screw in flush mounted chokes / and the last time he shot it was in Sept ( and we shot a round of Trap ) so he screwed in a Mod choke / and apparently never removed it. We were shooting Skeet this day, and he was "dust balling" a lot of targets (not that he can't do that normally ) but it seemed a little odd on stations 3,4 and 5 - but he was straight until we got to station 8 ( and he chipped the high house 8 badly ... ) then he missed a low 8 - for the 25th target he chipped a low 8 ( not like him ). As we were walking back to our veh's he started laughing .... he realized it was a Mod choke he still had in the gun ...

He probably would have noticed if there was no choke in the barrel / but then why didn't he unscrew it and check it ( because we shoot Skeet 90% of the time )...

nutty ned · December 27, 2008, 10:15 PM

"They" say a lot, but, it boils down to which choke works best for you. That means you have to test them. I've seen shotguns shoot like rifles to 50 yds with a full choke and others shoot low at 30 yds with slugs.
Buck shot is the same deal; however, buffered premium ammo will shoot best in whatever choke you use.

December 26, 2008, 12:07 PM	#1
Super-Dave Senior Member Join Date: February 1, 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 795	What choke tube to use on my remington 870? I assume you should never fire slugs without have a choke tube in your barrel? If this is true for a remington 870 which choke tube should I get for firing both slugs and buckshot? __________________ If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. George Orwell

December 26, 2008, 12:43 PM	#4
Scattergun Bob Senior Member Join Date: February 29, 2008 Location: Nine Mile Falls, Washington Posts: 1,186	Dave Skeet or Imp Cyl seem to be the best in general for both liability and performance. Good Luck & Be Safe __________________ First, with the most, WINS! Regards, Scattergun Bob

December 26, 2008, 12:26 PM	#2
hogdogs Staff In Memoriam Join Date: October 31, 2007 Location: Western Florida panhandle Posts: 11,069	Improved Modified is the one Mossberg says will be best results most of the time. You are safe firing a slug thru any choke at least up to "full" with out risk of obstructing barrel. You should never fire any thing without a tube in place. Them are some fine threads to have to clean of lead, plastic or powder... Brent

December 26, 2008, 12:30 PM	#3
zippy13 Senior Member Join Date: August 23, 2008 Location: SoCal Posts: 6,442	Shooting without a choke, in a gun designed for screw-ins, should be reserved for an absolute emergency. If something goes bump in the night, you don't want to take the time to screw in a choke. Otherwise, install a mission appropriate choke. For slugs and buck shot, you'll want an open choke: Skeet to Lt Mod. Here's a link to Remington's choke chart.

December 26, 2008, 05:21 PM	#5
BigJimP Senior Member Join Date: February 23, 2005 Posts: 13,195	Shooting a shotgun that is threaded for a screw in choke / without a choke screwed in - will often damage the threads insiade the barrel. I've seen it happen too often / where guys forgot to screw in a choke before they went out into the field ( and it happens more than you would think, especially with guys shooting flush mounted chokes ..). If you do it / you might get lucky - and just have to clean the plastic wad fouling out of the threads - or you might have to "chase" the threads with something to clean them up. I usually store my shotguns with choke tubes inserted in the gun ( clean them, lube them, and put them back in ). Its easy to say we all check our guns ( and our chokes ) before we walk out to the field - but my Skeet buddy was shooting his "rain gun" a Rem 1100 a few weeks ago with screw in flush mounted chokes / and the last time he shot it was in Sept ( and we shot a round of Trap ) so he screwed in a Mod choke / and apparently never removed it. We were shooting Skeet this day, and he was "dust balling" a lot of targets (not that he can't do that normally ) but it seemed a little odd on stations 3,4 and 5 - but he was straight until we got to station 8 ( and he chipped the high house 8 badly ... ) then he missed a low 8 - for the 25th target he chipped a low 8 ( not like him ). As we were walking back to our veh's he started laughing .... he realized it was a Mod choke he still had in the gun ... He probably would have noticed if there was no choke in the barrel / but then why didn't he unscrew it and check it ( because we shoot Skeet 90% of the time )...

December 27, 2008, 10:15 PM	#6
nutty ned Senior Member Join Date: November 26, 2006 Posts: 765	"They" say a lot, but, it boils down to which choke works best for you. That means you have to test them. I've seen shotguns shoot like rifles to 50 yds with a full choke and others shoot low at 30 yds with slugs. Buck shot is the same deal; however, buffered premium ammo will shoot best in whatever choke you use.