What's your experience with ...
 

I just bought a VH 20 that letters as having 28" Cyl & Mod. I measured the barrels and the bores are both .617 The right barrel has a 3 1/4" long choke and has .004 choke nearly to the end of the barrel then goes to cylinder bore. The left barrel has .015 choke.

I'm headed to Kansas pheasant hunting this week and don't have the time to pattern it before I go so what is your experience with the performance of a 20 ga cylinder bore choked gun ?

I will be shooting RST 7/8 oz #5's and just curious what to expect from the right barrel.

Thanks

My advice would be to bring a different gun for late season pheasants.





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Karl,

If you're hunting over pointing dogs and willing to pick you shots, it will be ok. However, this time of the year, the birds can get pretty wild so you may want a backup gun.

Ken

I should have mentioned I will be taking my Fox AE 16 too but I would like to hunt with the VH 20 also. I don't normally shoot a gun with this configuration so I'm just curious as to what range the right barrel would still be effective at.

I remember Reggie saying in a post a while back that he had a 20 with factory cyl & mod and he really liked it so hopefully others that have experience shooting these factory chokes will chime in.

Thanks

I have found parkers with little choke will patteren what you would think they sould and with tighter choke they pattered tighter than what they should. Every cly choked parker i have had had .003 to.004 of choke and did shoot 40 to 45%. This is what i have seen with all test shots i do at a 30 inch circle at 40 yds.
Also found the bigger shot (6s and up) shoot tighter
Scott

Karl, when i last hunted pheasants in south dakota this time of year, if the birds saw you getting out of the car or if you happened to slam the car door shut, the pheasants would flush wild. That is how skittish they can be this time of the year. As much as i enjoy hunting with my 20, i would take a 12 ga 28 or 30 inch barreled gun out there.

Karl I know how much you like your 20 gauge guns and how you are chomping at the bit to use your new toy. However I think you are going to be disappointed with the results with that choke combination for pheasants this time of the year. Have a great hunt and take some pics for us.

i agree with the other fellows use your 16 if it has a full and modified barrel with some 1 1/4 heavy loads or a 12 ga with full chokes....try the twenty one day also.....charlie

Wear your track shoes and make sure you and your dog break at the shot because you need to get to the bird quickly as pheasants are often ready to run if you don't hit them hard. I agree with Ken, and if you are disciplined, you can use your VH effectively. Not too many folks can withstand the excitement of Mr. Rooster rising, cackle or no cackle, and often shoot first and step off distances later.

This is what that back trigger is for!

Seriously...if you dont completely fold the bird with the tight barrel, thump him again with the cylinder barrel. Stuff some 4’ or 5’s in the right barrel for a swatter load, that bigger shot flys good out of an open tube. You will know if you dont connect with the tighter barrel.

I would not be afraid of shooting using #5’s

The last time I hunted with a Cyl/ Full gun, I had no problems.

I think it is a very good combination.

As both Scott and Brian suggest, cylinder bore, i.e. No Choke, can be effective in the hands of a good shootist. 30" circles at 40 yards, may be a method of determining pattern density, but, try a circle which might best represent the distance a jumpy bird might fly at. The best dog may not be responsible if a jittery bird flushes early, but if you're withing 20-25 yards, your pattern test in a 20" circle (about the area a bird occupies, in flight), and your skill to put the shot IN THAT CIRCLE will almost always drop the bird. If you don't consistently shatter clays at that distance, with that gun, pick a tighter choked gun.

I have a 16 ga. Parker with both barrels at Cyl and it breaks clays effectively out to 40+ yards but I would never attempt to bring a pheasant down with it even at 25-30 yards.





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I know the 16 of which you speak, and I killed 4 grouse with it the first day I took it out.
That said, a few #8 pellets will break clays quite impressively at about the distance you mention, even as your pattern is pretty dang open at that range, but, I still maintain, #5 shot, at 20-25 yards will most certainly kill pheasant, if you put your shot centered on the bird.
If you don't put your shot on the bird, perhaps you are correct in choosing a different gun.

Choke debates are virtually endless. But ALL of my Cyl. & Cyl. 12 bores perform as well as Dean's 16 on ANY sporting clays target. So much so, that I don't even consider choke when I pick a gun for a day's outing.

The same goes for my 16-bores or 20s. They will ALL break a target with 3/4 oz. loads out to about 50 yds. or so as long as I'm "on" with my lead, etc.

What's more, I also use the same Cyl. & Cyl. guns with 1 oz. loads to great effect on preserve pheasant at just short of the same distances. After all, what choice did shooters have before choke was invented?

I would rather err on the side of too tight, when it comes to chokes, especially when it comes to a 20 ga. on pheasants.
Besides the extra yardage thing, I would prefer a clean miss with a tight choke over a single pellet fringe hit with an open choke.

That said, no pellet size, ounces of shot, gauge, or distance from the muzzles will help you if you don’t put your shot on the bird.






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You got it Dean.

Karl, I would'nt use that choke combination on wild pheasants period. Quail, woodcock and grouse it would be perfect. I've bagged a boatload of wild SD pheasants over some very good dogs and I shoot 20's and 28's. You need choke, the more the better. For a 20 I suggest a minimum of .020 in the right barrel and .027-.030 in the left. I'm not a fan of 5's as I use 7.5's with a lot of choke. They are usually shot in the open giving you plenty of time to focus and swing to the front end of the bird. That's the only reliable way to kill and not cripple. Keep your shots to under 40yds. and you should do fine. Good luck.

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;261634]My advice would be to bring a different gun for late season pheasants.

Sound logic, Dean!

You owe it to the bird to shoot it hard with enough shot to kill it at the distance you decide to shoot. I'm sure you can figure out what that distance is, but just remember, pheasants are tough and can carry lead. Unless you want to feed scavengers, make sure you either shoot close with a cylinder bored 20 or not at all. I always count the birds that I knock down and don't find as part of my bag limit. It hurts to cripple a bird as noble as Mr. Rooster.

And I still recommend track shoes and a dog that breaks at the shot.

Growing up, one of my Dad’s pals and hunting buddies hunted everything he hunted with one gun. It was a Iver Johson Cycle Works single shot 20 gauge with modified choke. He killed the crap out of wild Pheasants in the Texas panhandle with that gun. Just shoot the left barrel, pretend you are shooting a single shot, and you will be fine. I agree with most everyone here, that a far flushing wild bird is not for that cyl. bore, but modified sure is.

[QUOTE=Kevin McCormack;261727]That old Browning just makes me want to go shooting! That would be a fun duck blind gun.

Table training a new puppy is a real bitch sometimes. However, Kevin has found that table training a cock pheasant is a piece of cake.

I have a vh20 with 26in cylinder and mod barrels and adhe 16 with 26 in cylinder and mod chokes. I have shot plenty of preserve pheasants with both of these guns, but I would not take either one of them on a trip to Kansas. I was in Kansas last January in the next to the last week of the Season flushes were few far between and at good distances. I was generally carrying my gh16 choked mod and put full or my 4E Ithika 16 chokedmod/full ,a much better choice for the Prairie