Another presumably good question for a DA (<=ME)

[Rockhound]

Does a choke tube have a noticeable break in period?

[bird]

No such thing as a dumb question and in fact your question is a very good question as I have never heard that one asked before.  I will stick my neck out there without having the knowledge of being a metals scienctist and say that there is no need for a breakin period for a turkey choke. Just keep the choke and it's ports if it has ports clean like you do the barrel of the gun. Be mindful of the fact that some chokes have inside of them ridges or whatever you want to call them designed to grab the shot cup to slow it down as it is leaving the barrel separating it from the shot. Don't do anything to change these ridges as it will in effect change their purpose which could and can effect your shot patterns.

[SKFOOTER]

Ok.  Let's carry this one step further.  Can you you "shoot a choke out";  in other words shoot enough rounds through it so that it no longer patterns as it did when it was new???

[davisd9]

I agree that there is no break in period, that I am aware of.  I do "deep clean" the choke before I shoot it for the first time.  Some manfacturers but grease on the choke to keep it from rusting in the package. Everytime I clean my barrel I also scrub my choke.

[bird]

Ok.  Let's carry this one step further.  Can you you "shoot a choke out";  in other words shoot enough rounds through it so that it no longer patterns as it did when it was new???

I would say that if your choke has wad catchers and they become worn or damage then yes that could effect your patterns eventually.

[Rockhound]

good info guys i just got to thinking about that at work last night and had to ask

[davisd9]

Hevi Shot shells seem to be the dirtiest, nastiest shell you can run through a barrel.  They leave lots of wad residue behing also.  That is one reason I scrub the choke as much as I do the barrel.  If I shoot just once then I just run a bore snake through the barrel and choke, but if I shoot 3-5 times I clean the gun.

[R AJ]

I don't say yes or no but there are many times that the more a choke is shot the more consistent the pattern becomes and at times it gets better.
Any choke I now get will have some #7.5 or #8 shot go through them before I clean them and try turkey loads.

[reynolds243]

yup as RAJ said it seems to be "better" the more you shoot it. Clark even had an article about this same topic and if i remember correctly his stance was the same. The more you shoot it the better it should get.

[chipper]

I agree with RAJ, I believe my IC has gotten to were it performs better I shot a bunch of lead loads out of it before this year and it seems like I'm getting more consistent patterns with it now.