Choke isn’t what it used to be. While the measurement of it has stayed the same, much has changed since 1931, when Major Sir Gerald Burrard wrote The Modern Shotgun and laid down the law with evidence of how to get the best out of a shotgun and shot charge. Since Burrard died in 1965, new wad materials, new powders and a host of other developments have all affected how a cartridge performs in any given barrel and choke.
Apart from anything else, Burrard never had to consider anything other than lead as the projectile. The rulebook has arguably been torn up. The introduction of multichokes in the 1970s took the question of choke away from professionals in the trade and put it in the hands of the public.
People generally fall into two camps when it comes to choke — the neurotic and the apathetic. The neurotic like to have control over any given situation, while the apathetic are
