What is the deal with chokes on TC Contender barrels

[Wombat of Doom]

So I have an old contender barrel. It has a choke on it and I am wondering if it is fine and normal or if the choke needs to be removed before firing .357 or .38 special through this. I have never before seen such a thing.

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[bcp]

The choke must be removed before shooting bullets. It is to be used only with shot capsules or shot loads.

Cartridges loaded with shot capsules or shot spin the capsule or shot in the rifling and make poor patterns. The choke stops the spin and helps break up the capsule.

There were also some 45Colt/410 gauge barrels. The choke was used with the shotshells.

TC Contender .357 Hot Shots

Something else to be thankful for this past week! I picked up, as a gift, these neat rounds which I did not know anything about. Here are pics of the contents and the box. The cases with the box are Super Vel .357 but I have some extras that are in R-P cases. The overall lenth is 3...

forum.cartridgecollectors.org

Bruce

 

[Wombat of Doom]

So I guess I was right in my suspicion but 357 shotshells seem awfully niche.

 

[Spitpatch]

The chokes (removable) on Contender barrels work rather well toward their purposes and function as @bcp precisely advised. They allow a rifled barrel to deliver a birdshot payload nearly unaffected by scatter from the spin while constricted toward longer range.

In a .357, kills on Cottontails, Grouse or Quail are accomplished to 10-15 yards. (Impossible without the choke). For snakes, it allows a similar "safety margin" of distance for the shooter (though without a choke snakes are dispatched quite effectively and safely just beyond the range of a strike).

In the .45-.410 barrel, braked at the muzzle toward recoil, impressive and fun results can be obtained trap shooting, and a fair pistol shot can hold his own against shotguns on clay birds to 20-25 yards. Devastating on a close-flushing upland bird, one rooster Pheasant going "azz over teakettle" when hit in the posterior.

Close range rats and other rodents (especially in a confined space such as a barn or feed shed) are perhaps the best practical usage.

"Niche"? Okay, but more than one.

 

[Certaindeaf]

So I guess I was right in my suspicion but 357 shotshells seem awfully niche.

It is what it is, just like everything else.