Shotgun Choke and Shot Size Chart

Most choke charts are a table of constrictions someone copied off a Briley catalogue in 2009 and everyone has been reprinting since. They are usually correct and they are always incomplete, because they never answer the question that actually determines what you buy: what does the shell cost.

This is the chart, plus that.

What does each shotgun choke actually do?

A choke is a constriction at the muzzle end of the barrel. It squeezes the shot column on the way out, which delays how fast the pattern opens up. That is the whole mechanism.

Constrictions are quoted in thousandths of an inch relative to bore diameter. These are the conventional values for a 12 gauge:

Two things this table will not tell you, and no table can.

First, constriction is relative to your bore. Manufacturers do not all cut bores to the same diameter, and an "over-bored" barrel with a .020" tube is not producing the same squeeze as a standard barrel with a .020" tube. A tube marked Modified in one gun can pattern like Improved Cylinder in another.

Second, those percentages are the definitions the industry designs against, not results anybody measured in your gun.

Which choke should you use for trap, skeet, sporting or hunting?

If you own one gun and one tube, Improved Cylinder or Modified covers more situations badly-but-acceptably than anything else. That is not a ringing endorsement — it is the honest answer for most people who are not going to swap tubes on a station-by-station basis.

What do the shot size numbers actually mean?

Birdshot sizes run backwards from intuition: the higher the number, the smaller the pellet. These are the nominal US diameters.

Buckshot then reverses the convention again — more zeroes means a bigger pellet:

If you want the argument about which of these belongs in a house gun rather than the dimensions, we worked through it in birdshot vs buckshot vs slug and in detail for defensive use in best 12 gauge buckshot for home defense.

Shot size is one of the biggest drivers of what a shell costs

Here is the part the other charts do not have.

We classified every 12 gauge listing in our live catalog by the shot size in its product title and normalized the price to cost per shell. This is what the market actually charges:

The shape of that is the story. Everything from #7.5 down averages well under a dollar a shell. Everything from #6 up averages well over it. #4 shot averages roughly two and a half times what #8 averages. The pellets are not two and a half times more expensive to make.

What you are actually paying for above #6 is a different product category: heavier payloads, steel and bismuth and tungsten instead of plain lead, hunting-grade wads, and — critically — production volumes a fraction of the clays market. Nobody makes 250-shell flats of premium waterfowl steel.

The practical consequence: practising with the exact load you hunt with is an expensive habit. The usual advice to "pattern your hunting load" is correct, but it should be read as pattern it once, on paper, then train with clays loads. Ten boxes of #2 steel to build a swing costs multiples of ten boxes of #8.

Cheapest 12 Gauge Shells Right Now

Prices updated Sep 26, 2026

Estate Super Sport Competition Target Load 12 GA #7.5-Shot 1oz 200-Rounds 2.75

12 Gauge · 200 rds

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NORMA AMMO 12Ga Claystrike 2.75" #8 Shot 7/8oz 25rd

12 Gauge · 25 rds

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NORMA AMMO 12Ga Claystrike 2.75" #7.5 Shot 1oz 25rd

12 Gauge · 25 rds

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WINCHESTER AMMO 12Ga RE 2-3/4 LS 1-1/8 8 USA Valor 25rd

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WINCHESTER AMMO 12Ga RE 2-3/4 LS 1-1/8 7-1/2 USA Valor 25rd

12 Gauge · 25 rds

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NORMA AMMO 12Ga Claystrike 2.75" #7.5 Shot 7/8oz 25rd

12 Gauge · 25 rds

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See all matching deals →

Those blocks cover the whole 12 gauge market, which is why the average sits where it does — the top of the range includes premium non-toxic loads running many times the clays floor. For the volume-buying end of it specifically, see best 12 gauge target loads for clays, and browse everything on the 12 gauge caliber page.

Is it worth buying more choke tubes?

Cheaper than almost anything else you can do to a shotgun, is the short answer. The least expensive dedicated choke tube in our accessory catalog at the time of writing is under six dollars — less than a single box of clays shells.

That is the useful framing. A tube is a one-time cost against a consumable you buy every week. If you shoot enough that the choke matters, the tube has already paid for itself against the shells you will fire through it. What is not worth it is a drawer of eight tubes you never swap; two, covering open and tight, is where most people's real usage lands.

Thread patterns are gun-specific and not interchangeable between makers. Buy for your gun's pattern, not for the name on the box.

Do you actually need to pattern your shotgun?

Yes, and it is the single item on this page that no chart can substitute for.

Two shells with identical labels — same shot size, same payload, same shell length — can pattern very differently out of two barrels, and the same shell through the same tube can pattern differently at 20 yards than the chart implies at 40. Constriction interacts with wad design, pellet hardness, buffering and velocity in ways nobody can predict from a table.

The procedure is unglamorous: a sheet of butcher paper, an aiming mark, the distance you actually shoot at, and the load you actually intend to use. Count what is in a 30-inch circle. Do it once per load you care about.

This is the same argument that applies to live-fire generally — the reason volume matters is that it replaces assumptions with observations. We put numbers to that in how many rounds does it take to get good.

When should you buy shotshells?

Shotshell pricing does not spike the way defensive handgun and rifle ammunition does. It tracks lead and steel commodity costs, season — hunting loads climb into autumn — and the clays supply chain, which runs on predictable volume. The five forces behind those moves are laid out in why ammo prices move, weighted differently for shotgunning than for centrefire rifle.

Practically: buy clays loads at or near the tracked floor whenever you are low, and buy hunting loads before the season rather than during it. And if you are ordering by the case, check the rules for where you live first — ammunition shipping is restricted unevenly, and ammo shipping restrictions covers how to verify rather than guess.

AmmoSpotter earns a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never changes what you pay, and it never decides what we recommend — our picks are ranked on live cost-per-round data pulled from every retailer we track. Full disclosure.