20 0r 16 ga. smoothbore

[Bruce Roberts]

I really don't know anything about BP smoothbores, but am interested. I would not use for shooting on the wing. would use for turkeys and squirrels, but need a tight pattern for 35 yards. So, are all smoothbores choked, or how does one know if it is and what it is?? I see smoothbores advertised, used, with no indication of any choking or not, so how does one determine? Any comments will be appreciated.

 

[satwel]

If your question is are all smoothbore, muzzleloading, barrels choked, the answer is no. Because they are loaded at the muzzle, smoothbore, muzzleloading barrels are rarely choked like a breechloading shotgun, as it makes loading difficult or impossible. However, if you buy a muzzleloading smoothbore and your barrel walls are thick enough, you can have a gunsmith jug choke your barrel. A jug choke is a wide spot in the bore about 4 inches long, a few inches from the muzzle that spreads-then compresses-the shot just before it leaves the barrel. They use a tool similar to a brake cylinder hone to create the wide spot.

 

[jdkerstetter]

Muzzleloader barrels can be and are choked in the conventual manner. Colerain produces a "turkey" choke barrel and I think Larry Zorn markets one too. The restriction does not have too be to great and loading with conventional fiber wads they contact to go in the muzzle and expand to the bore as they slide down.

Jug choking just offers one the ability to still shoot round balls as the choke is over bore diameter. It's the multipurpose, one gun solution.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[BillinOregon]

Yoo-hoo, Coyote Joe!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I once had a Richland Arms (Pedersoli) double barreled 12 ga. shotgun (actually measured 14 ga.) that was choked.
It was a major pain in the bizenkiss to load. Could not get the 14 ga. wads past the choke without a big mallet.
I celebrated the day I traded it off.

 

[Golfswithwolves]

There are ways to load conventionally choked barrels that some shooters on this forum have described, and there are also ways of tightening up patterns from barrels with no choke. And the option of jug choking is also possible. For getting the good patterns you are looking for at as far out as 35 yards you are most likely to achieve this with some form of choke in the barrel. Most muzzleloading smoothbores do not start out with any choke though, and a number of shooters here have fine success using them on turkeys and squirrels anyhow.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Are you looking for a side by side or a single bore gun? Some percussion guns have been fitted with screw-in chokes.

The other question is to go with a 16 gauge or a 20. The 20 is pretty effective for both squirrel or turkey. Loading components such as wads and cards sbould be easy to find. You can get more shot in the 16 but wads and over shot cards may be harder to find.

All said I think that the 20 is the better choice.

 

[Bruce Roberts]

I guess I need to find those ways of tightening pattern without choking.

 

[Bruce Roberts]

I was originally thinking 20ga. anyway, just through in the 16ga as after thought. Don't know about SxS, Haven't thought that far yet. I assume it would be heavier gun, but for turkeys or squirrels probably not an issue.

Thanks for all the comments from everyone.

 

[Dave K]

I have a 20ga. fowler that I built, but to do it over again, I would have used a 16ga. barrel. The reason being is that the barrels are the same profile, so the 16ga. would be lighter with that bigger bore and for me, would swing nicer. None of my 7 fowlers or shotguns are choked at all. With a little diligence, working up a load, I have been very happy with the patterns out to my range of 30yds. on turkey.I am sure that a choked barrel speeds up the patterning ritual, but I just do not have any experience with muzzleloaders and choked barrels. Getting components are absolutely NO Problem to obtain.

 

[majg1234]

I've got a 20ga carolina stye and like it a lot but I'm considering getting a 16ga just because :v Look @ Mr spencers web site for some insight into how flexible these guns can be http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen
and for some plain ole good reading :thumbsup: I've killed a lot of critters with mine thus far as far as stuff to load with this site has about anything you'll need www.circlefly.com

 

[Matt85]

just curious but why a 16g? if i was using a single shot gun i would do 20g/14g/11g by that i mean 62 cal, 69 cal, or 75 cal. for a SxS i would choose 20g, 12g, or 10g.

im not an expert on smooth bores by any means. but from the many many posts ive read the 20g seems to be the best all around gauge for a general purpose smoothy.

-matt

 

[Darkgael]

I have both a 20 and a 16 gauge fowler. I prefer the 16 ga. It is a lighter gun (my 20 is not a particularly light gun) and pretty much duplicates any load that I have used in my 12 ga. SXS.
Practically, though, I don't see a big difference between the 20 and the 16. I have not used either for turkey. They drop pheasants just fine, though.
Wads and cards for the 16 are as easy to find as they are for the 20 or the 12.
Pete

 

[BrownBear]

I shoot 20, 12 and 10, but if limited to one gun it would almost certainly be a 16. Just more versatile in my eyes. I don't go for super heavy loads in any of them, restricting myself to 1 oz max in 20, 1 1/4 oz in 12 and 1 5/8 oz in the 10. In truth I almost always shoot lighter loads than those.

My guns are all light, and heavier charges push recoil high enough I worry about the skinny wrist, even if my shoulder doesn't mind a little extra push for a few shots. More heavily built guns would be less of a question in my mind.

Mine are all cylinder bore, and I limit my range accordingly. I'm only using them for wing shooting or low flying rabbits, so my range and pattern requirements are different than yours. If I was stretching ranges, I'd go for jug choking, then work up the charge scale looking for the performance you need.