Muller H2O Decoy Choke tube

[Marc]

So as some of you know I was having multiple issues with my Remington 11-87 XCS shotgun that spanned over the past 14 years. After doing lots of research on dependability and value for the dollar I decided to drop the money on a Winchester SX4 chambered for 3 inch and 3 1/2 loads that I purched from Nechako outdoors.

It's killing birds for me but it doesn't seem to be killing then as consistent as I was with the remington. I know it's a new shotgun and things are going to shoot a little different but I don't feel as confident in the patter the choke is throwing out there. I did some research to see what is the best patterning choke out there for the majority of my hunting which is over decoys. I came across articles of Muller chokes and a few youtube videos on the subject. The video that sold me on it was this one from Surviving duck season. He shot it from multiple brands of firearms and they all patterned better with the muller choke tube.Click on the link bellow where he discusses and patterns it on paper in comparison to all the other choke tubes on the market.

Unfortunately when I did a search for one in Canada there wasn't any that fit my gun so I ended up picking one up directly from Muller. I'll be using / testing it on my next outing to see if I see an improvement in my shooting, as having to chasse less cripples and hopefully fire less shots.

https://youtu.be/oSV9iYCXKgI?t=1079 (https://youtu.be/oSV9iYCXKgI)

[IMG]http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/muller_decoy_choke_reduced.jpg

[Dirty]

I was interested in these chokes as well after watching the same video as you. I don’t want to sound negative but I was scared away by reports of Muller chokes cracking or splitting. I’m not sure if it was something when they first came out because I have read that there should be a revision designation printed on them somewhere. It was enough to scare me away at least for the time being. I have the same shotgun as you and I haven’t patterned it yet at the club. Have you patterned yours? The really interesting thing I found while researching was that even same model shotguns can pattern better or worse with differing factory chokes or different aftermarket chokes. In simple terms, what works for one might not be the case for another. I also looked at the Cremator chokes, but I blew my
budget this year. I have been following your other hunts this year and look forward to seeing your results with this choke.

[Marc]

I haven’t patterned it on paper but I have a shotkam mounted to the gun and I’ve seen flyers all around the birds especially when I’m trying to finish birds on the water. You can slow the video down to the point you can see the pellets flying through the air it’s an amazing tool to help you lean if your leading the birds correctly or not. Plus it gives you some cool footage of your hunts.

I have crematory choke tubes for my 20 gauge but only the factory and the new muller for the SPX4. I believe muller has better quality control I was reading another article about the pass or fail criteria for their tubes and their tolerances are tighter then the competition. I ordered straight from
the company so hopefully if there was any issues they would have been resolved by the time they shipped mine out. Mine is the Decoy tube with the least construction so I wouldn’t foresee any issues but we shall see.

I saw a video where muller had made a tube for a certain brand of shotgun and one of his customers bought a choke and it wouldn’t fit in the gun so muller asked him to ship him the barrel and choke and come to find out like you’ve mentioned the tolerance on the barrel was out enough that the choke worked in the shotgun he made the choke for but wouldn’t fit in the exact same barrel from the same company that made this customers shotgun. He had reached out to the manufacturer of the shotgun and asked them to improve their quality control.

I’ll be taking the choke tube out for a test run shortly and I will report back any conclusive finding I find.

[BowsUp]

Humbly suggest you pattern it. $Store table cloths cut in half, 30" circle and a centre dot is what I use. Three shots per choke. Gun could be shooting low. You'll know for sure the load and choke that patterns best. Results may surprise you.

[Dirty]

That’s pretty neat that you are able to use the shotkam to see your shots. I’m looking forward to seeing how the choke works. It would be neat to do a video comparison of how different the patterns look on the different chokes.

[silveragent]

Marc, I look forward to your results as I only just heard about Muller chokes. I didn't have the patience to watch the entirety of the Surviving Duck Season tests.

Shotkam is an amazing device to watch your failures and occasionally your perfect shots lol

[Marc]

Humbly suggest you pattern it. $Store table cloths cut in half, 30" circle and a centre dot is what I use. Three shots per choke. Gun could be shooting low. You'll know for sure the load and choke that patterns best. Results may surprise you.

Totally agree I need to get it checked on paper, I do not belong to a club at the moment but plan to join one in the new year. I also want to try different brand of shells and see how they pattern maybe the shells I'm using are crap for grouping.

[Marc]

Marc, I look forward to your results as I only just heard about Muller chokes. I didn't have the patience to watch the entirety of the Surviving Duck Season tests.

Shotkam is an amazing device to watch your failures and occasionally your perfect shots lol

I shot with it yesterday and it's night and day from the other choke I was using. The old choke had so many flyers I was getting birds I wasn't aiming for this one seems quite a bit tighter possibly less flyers out of the pattern. I will give a better report later on once I can upload some pictures of the birds I shot and review the shotcam video.

[silveragent]

Looking forward to it!

[Marc]

Well it isn't obvious looking at the cleaned birds as there are very little pellets to the body. I had actually shot 7 mallards but messed this up a little as I gifted two away to someone who was at the boat launch when I arrived there and was smiling from ear to ear and asked if they could buy some off of me and I said I legally can't sell them but I can gift you a couple if you want. Get me a piece of paper and a pen. Off he went and returned with a pen an paper.

Looking back it looks like I wasn't holding the shotgun correct as the dot in the shotkam videos was a little high on most of my shots so I probably caught these birds with the edge of the patter more so then a full on pattern which is probably a good thing lol.I will set the shotgun up and confirm that the dot is lined up with the shotgun and get back to you when I have daylight and can line it up to see.

I missed some shots but they were clean missed and I believe I know why I missed but when I connected there wasn't much chasing happening. It's going to take some practice with remembering not to lift my cheek to shoot(I was shooting in a long sleeve shit it was so hot) but I think once it all falls into place this is going to work great.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Skadi_and_her_ducks.jpg

So I have no idea what was shot on the two birds I gave away but this is the information on the 6 I kept.

Bird 1 (teal) 2 pellets in the wing, one pellet through the armpit straight through the other side.

Bird 2 1 pellet through the back leg multiple pellets in the head (think this was a bird flying away from me gaining altitude looking at the wound channels).

Bird 3 2 broken wings, one pellet through the armpit and out the other side.

Bird 4 2 pellets in the arse and 1 pellet lower breast heading towards vitals( looks like shot flying away)

Bird 5 one pellet in the upper chest pellet in the neck and another in the head.

Bird 6 Broken left wing, pellet high o the left shoulder multiple pellets neck and head.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/muller_choke_ducks.jpg

[silveragent]

Thanks for the report. I would love to see your Shotkam footage as well.

[FishandSticks]

Thanks for posting this , I reviewed the video and it swayed me to look at the non-ported kind.

[Marc]

I'm a little late posting this but better late than never. This hunt took place on the 30 November 2023. I shot a limit of 6 drake widgeon and two drake mallard. I was pleasantly shocked at how clean these birds turned out, starting to like and get the hang of the new choke. Here are the results after plucking and inspecting the birds.

Mallard #1 had 1 pellet through the neck and 3 pellets entered through the left armpit and one came out the right shoulder.

Mallard #2 had a broken left wing at the elbow and two pellets in the left top chest/shoulder area.

Widgeon #1 had one pellet in the neck and 3 pellets in the back and one in the arse.

Widgeon #2 had one pellet pellet behind the wing on the back

Widgeon #3 had a broken left wing between the armpit and elbow, two pellets lower left chest, one pellet between the armpit and thigh. One pellet in the abdomen.

Widgeon #4 had a pellet in the neck, one between the shoulder blades, another on the back just behind the leg and a broken left wing.

Widgeon #5 had one Pellet in the head, one in the upper neck, and another between the shoulder blades.

Widgeon #6 had one pellet in the back, one in the right leg and two in the neck.



https://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG_8932_reduced.jpg

https://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG_8953_reduced.jpg

[webley]

Hi Mark I have been using a muller passing choke for years, I use it for everything in my benelli legacy. Ducks, geese, sport clays, trap, Its in the barrel all the time and never have to change it.
It dose throw beautiful patterns. Steve!

[Marc]

Hi Mark I have been using a muller passing choke for years, I use it for everything in my benelli legacy. Ducks, geese, sport clays, trap, Its in the barrel all the time and never have to change it.
It dose throw beautiful patterns. Steve!

I'll have to throw some patterns on paper on the off season to see how it's performing with duck and goose loads but the results are promising so far. Might even pick up the Mueller UFO for those geese that want to play just outside the 30 yards mark with the educated birds.

[Dano]

I’ve heard good things about the Muller choke.
Here’s a link to a Youtube where chokes are tested.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSV9iYCXKgI&feature=youtu.be

[Dutch]

Did a patterning several years ago with my partner using different 3" duck loads #2 from 4 manufacturers .Identical guns A 400 Berettas. he had a patternmaster I had the factory beretta mod choke.All shots from identical Yardages was quite astounding truly. The Patternmaster he had put great groups together on the Winchester and Kents.The patterns with the Remington were poor and the federals were as bad.My factory choke worked great with the Kents and the Federals but was poor with both the Winchesters (dry lock) and the Remingtons.I would definitely try the loads on a patterning board ,my renegauge does not pattern well with these new Browning wicked wing but throughs a great pattern with the Score 1 1/8 .factory choke My .02 D