We asked Gary Brooks, a member of ShootClay Forum, to tell us his views on Muller Chokes

Amongst any group of shooters, raising the subject of choke is akin to discussing religion or politics down your local; everybody has an opinion!

Equally, of those people who use multi-chokes, you will find a myriad of differing views over favourite brand; extended, ported, wad stripping and those who really don’t care because “If you point the gun in the right place, it’ll break!”.

I have never been much of a choke-changer, so I was happy using my standard Beretta chokes for sporting and had a pair of extended chokes for Skeet.  Can’t go wrong, surely?

Then one evening, whilst trawling the ShootClay Forum, I bumped into an old acquaintance from my paintballing days, Nick Truter.

I previously had no idea that he was also an avid shooter and the chat quickly turned to clay busting.  It turned out that Nick was now the official UK Distributor for Müller Chokes with his new company www.justchoking.co.uk.

“Muller…don’t they make yogurts or something?” 

Once Nick had recovered from my rapier wit, he duly informed me that in fact, they were a new and “different” extended choke tube from America.

Nick knows I am a “techy” person, so all he said was, “Trust me, you’ll love ‘em!  Check out the website.”  So I did…

MÜLLER Featherlite Chokes (to give them their full title) are the brainchild of this chap, Jimmy Muller.

Mr Muller has been a shooter all of his life, even reaching the dizzy heights of “Master Class” in the NSCA.  All this experience helped Jimmy to learn what he really wanted from a choke.  He loved the patterns that a fixed choke gives you, but wanted a multi-choke system, due to its obvious advantages.  What he didn’t want, were a couple of big heavy lumps on the end of his gun that would affect its swing and balance.

Fortunately for him (and us), not only did he know what he wanted from a choke, but being in the Aerospace and Defence manufacturing sector; also meant he had the knowledge AND the hi-tech “secret squirrel” materials to make his dream a reality … stroke of luck eh?!

So Jim spent the next few years, making, testing, altering and re-testing his own set of chokes, to give him the edge over his fellow shooters.  Thousands of patterns were shot, with every cartridge he could lay his hands on and the result is a truly remarkable Multi-Choke System, unlike anything else on the market today, in my humble opinion.

“Unlike ANYTHING else on the market?  But they are just chokes?”  I hear you cry.  A bold claim indeed, so I suppose I better back that up with something.

First up, how do they look?

 

Stunning, I would say!  Sleek black tubes and crisp white Ü logo.

Subtle grooves are there to help tighten these chokes by hand; no spanner needed because they don’t shoot loose!
The extended portion of the choke varies from gun to gun.  The much tested geometry of Müller Chokes, is applied to work with the particular bore size of each type of gun.  Some will require a 2 inch extension, like this Krieghoff K80.

Whilst another might only need a 1 inch extension, like these in my buddy’s, Optima bored Beretta.

That’s something new isn’t it?  Go look at some other choke manufacturers…different gun…same extension…hmmm.

So they look pretty, but this beauty is not just skin deep nor will it fade with time, or careless use of Sun Beds.

You remember I said these things were Hi-Tech?  Well that black coating is a “Proprietary Ceramic”…yup, ceramic.  Much like the ceramic brakes on your Ferrari 459, this coating is ridiculously hard wearing.  It is so hard you can’t cut it with a file!  So it won’t wear out any time soon, which means the geometry of the choke won’t change.

But wait, it gets better…ceramic dissipates heat very efficiently too, which is part of the reason why these chokes don’t shoot loose.  You would think that would be enough to have any “coating fetishist”  reaching for the Kleenex , but it still has one last trick up its choke hole.

The “Proprietary Ceramic” is infused with a high performance version of Teflon, the non-stick material, which offers very high “lubricity” – stop sniggering at the back!

The advantage of this is that “stuff” finds it pretty much impossible to stick to the choke.  So you get minimal plastic fouling, even after many hundreds of rounds and no carbon build-up.  Even after a couple of slabs, you could poke your finger in the choke and still have no qualms about picking your nose after!

These chokes are the cleanest you can get…period.

So what else?  I said these chokes don’t work their way loose, partly due to the awesome ceramic coating.  The main reason they don’t shoot loose is because of what they are made of; “Aerospace/Ballistic Aluminium”, which also happens to be very good at dissipating heat.  Your barrels stay cooler at the muzzle, so they don’t contract at different rates to the chokes… the chokes stay tight!

This leads me on to perhaps the most surprising, most commented upon aspect of the Müller Chokes physical makeup…they weigh almost nothing. The aluminium they are made of is 1/3rd the weight of Steel and ½ the weight of titanium.  The weight of a modest, steel extended choke might be 40g each.  Some of the big ported ones 70g each or more.  With a pair, that’s 80 -140g that you are trying to get moving at the end of your barrels.  A typical Müller Choke weighs only 12g.

These are the lightest extended chokes you can buy.

So what do we know about these chokes up to now?  Time for some bullet points I think!

  • They were developed to be the best chokes available, by a very smart man named Jim.
  • Jim’s special geometry is individually applied to work with the bore diameter of each gun.
  • They only need hand tightening and don’t shoot loose.
  • They are the hardest wearing choke you can buy.
  • They are the cleanest choke you can buy.
  • They are the lightest extended choke you can buy.

Looking pretty impressive so far, I think.  If these were the only improvements compared to other manufacturers chokes, Müllers would already have them all beat, but the main thing that defines a choke is the pattern performance that it provides.

I’m not about to give you a lesson on the finer details of choke, but we all have a basic understanding that a cylinder choke at a given distance, should throw a wider pattern than a full choke.  What many chokes do is throw a pattern that has a very large majority of the pellet strikes in the centre, but out on the “fringe” of the pattern, very few pellets are found; which leads to big gaps.  This is fine and dandy if you manage to centre or almost centre every shot, but what if you are off?  What if the wind has its wicked way with the clay at that critical moment…what then?  You might get a chip, or you might get a miss.
In those circumstances, you are going to wish that you didn’t have such a dense centre pattern.

Why do you need so many pellets in the middle?  You only need a dozen or so pellets to get a really good break.  Sure, it is great to get a ball of smoke where the clay used to be, but would you rather have 99 smokes and a miss, or 100 awesome “starburst” kills?  You know, when the fragments fly out from the clay like you hit it with a hammer?

Jim Muller is not interested in balls of dust at the expense of consistently good patterns.

With a Müller Choke, what you get is very even pellet distribution.  The super smooth ceramic and perfect geometry means that fewer pellets are damaged as they go through the choke, so they don’t become useless “flyers”.  These pellets are what make up your outer fringe.  So rather than having say, a 30 inch pattern with only 15 inches of it being of any consistent use, you get the full 30 inches – yeah baby!

It’s as simple as that really. These chokes hit hard, giving great breaks at distances you would not believe possible.

Choke Sizes

Did you notice the snazzy white markings?  ‘Course you did!  Müller Chokes come in 5 main sizes;   Ü0 to Ü4.

“Only five?  But my gun came with 10 chokes!”

Really, how fascinating…do you use them all?

“Does that target need a Light Modified, or a Modified?  If only I could use both in one barrel!”

Guess what?  You can!  I shall let Jim Muller himself tell you about this, as I only have Ü1’s and Ü2’s at the mo;

“Our U1 choke will give you a Skeet diameter outer fringe pattern, but break targets as far and hard as an I.C.  It is like having two traditional sized chokes in your barrel (but less expensive and more convenient!).  Likewise, the U2 gives you the results of an I.C and L.M. in the same barrel. The U3 does the job of both a L.M. and Mod.  And, our U4 is like having an I.M. and Extra Full in the same barrel.”
– Jim Muller, Müller Chokes.

Each choke is designed to work optimally at specific distances, but will work effectively at sensible distances either side of the optimum.  Look out!  More bullet points approaching from the West!

  • Ü0           .002 / Inch of Constriction                 Anything under 20 yards
  • Ü1           .006 / Inch of Constriction                 Optimal at 25 yards
  • Ü2           .012 / Inch of Constriction                 Optimal at 35 yards
  • Ü3           .022 / Inch of Constriction                 Optimal at 45 yards
  • Ü4           .035 / inch of Constriction                 Optimal at 60 yards

I know, without the slightest hesitation, that these chokes have improved my scores.

What more can I say?  Go out and buy some Müller Chokes?  Not bloody likely!

If I ever have to compete against you, I would rather you didn’t have them!

As Jim Muller says;

“Müller Choke Tubes are guaranteed to be the lightest, toughest, cleanest, most consistently patterning chokes you can put in your gun.”

I would have to agree with him.