Send us a text

#65 What if your choke isn’t what’s holding you back—but how you understand it is? We sit down with Jimmy Muller of Muller Chokes, a master toolmaker and elite shooter who went from aerospace and defense machining to reinventing shotgun performance. Jimmy pulls back the curtain on why two “modified” chokes can pattern wildly differently, how taper, parallel, surface finish, and concentricity shape results, and why barrel harmonics make shotguns far more individual than most shooters realize.

From there, we dig into the physics you can feel in the blind. Jimmy explains gun-specific patterning geometry and the testing behind it—dozens of guns, bore diameters, and thousands of rounds on paper, water, mud, gel, and high-speed video. You’ll learn why stacked or blended shot sizes lead to mass separation and longer shot strings, how sphere packing inside the barrel creates pressure dynamics that change consistency, and where blended loads look fine at common ranges but fall apart when distance stretches. He’s blunt about what a choke can and can’t fix, and how to pick more uniform ammo that lets geometry shine.

Skill ties it all together. Jimmy’s method—“kill it with your eyes”—teaches you to control birds from the front, not panic from behind. We talk rangefinding to calibrate true 30 to 50 yard shots, using sporting clays to build mount and move, and adopting a modified pull-away or sustained-lead approach that matches speed, opens a clean gap, and finishes with confidence. Add smart gear choices, realistic velocities, and a choke designed for your gun’s harmonics, and you’ll see tighter patterns, shorter shot strings, and cleaner kills across ducks, upland, and clays.

If this deep dive helps your shooting, share it with a hunting buddy, tap follow, and leave a quick review so more shooters can find it. Got questions or a patterning win to share? Drop us a note and let’s keep learning together.

Gundog Nation is Proudly Sponsored by Waterstone Labradors.

Support the show

Gundog Nation is Proudly Sponsored by:

Purina Pro Plan

Cornerstone Gundog Academy

Retriever Training Supply

Migra Ammunitions

Waterstone Labradors

PhoLicious Foods