Reversed chokes : Why?

[Mills Morrison]

I have at least one Parker with the tighter choke on the right, as opposed to the left, barrel. Mine is something like LH light full and RH tight full. I have noticed a few other vintage guns like this and was wondering what the purpose would be and, better yet, what such a configuration would be good for, shooting wise. :whistle:

[Rick Losey]

I have read that some driven shooting guns in the UK were choked that way

over here- assuming they are the original configuration - just a guess - maybe for doves or pass shooting.

[Mills Morrison]

I would think that hunting where the first shot is more of a balanced, aimed shot and the second shot is less so. Like turkey hunting or dove hunting where the bird is steady the first shot and trying to flurry or dodge on the second shot. Hopefully, the experts will chime in here.

[Dean Romig]

I have a set of 30" Damascus 2-Frame 10 gauge barrels I have fit to my 12 gauge DH and the right choke is IMod and the left is about ICyl. I believe this set of barrels was choked this way for decoying ducks and geese.

[Mills Morrison]

I have a set of 30" Damascus 2-Frame 10 gauge barrels I have fit to my 12 gauge DH and the right choke is IMod and the left is about ICyl. I believe this set of barrels was choked this way for decoying ducks and geese.

That makes a lot of sense

[Jeff Davis]

Would make sense on a driven shoot- never done one but don't the beaters drive the birds towards the shooters-first shot might be further away than the second. Someone above said English guns are sometimes done that way so perhaps that's why.

[Jay Gardner]

Dean is correct. I had a 12/30 DH choked full/mod. The gun was ordered by a gent in NY for waterfowl. The theory is waterfowl are often closer for the second shot when being shot over decoys.

[George Lang]

Dean and Setterman I agree wholeheartedly. The absolute best waterfowl guns I have had were a Fox F/IC(double trigger) and Ithaca F/IC( non selective single trigger). Deadly combo for all waterfowling, other than long range pass shooting. It eliminated the awkward trigger finger movement, back to front, when using std. choke setup.

[Jay Gardner]

On a related note, how did Fox do this on their HE "Super" grades?

[Bill Murphy]

Have any of you fellows with reverse choked gun requested a PGCA letter to confirm that the gun was made that way? Most Super Foxes were bored full in both barrels. Of course, the order card will tell how the gun was made originally.

[Mills Morrison]

My letter says full/full and that is what they are, but the fuller full is the right barrel.

I guess it could have been modified, but it still begs the question why would someone deliberately put the barrels in that configuration.

I have noticed a few other vintage guns in that configuration, so it seems there were a minority of people who liked the configuration for some reason.

[Bill Murphy]

Parker Brothers allegedly pattern tested guns to a specific number of pellets in the target. It is assumed that each barrel may have required a different amount of constriction to reach the required pattern.

[Jay Gardner]

Bill,

The one I owned was ordered that way. I sold the gun last year and the letter went with it. I'll see if I happened to keep a copy.

J

[Bob Brown]

I have a DH 12 with full right, cylinder left in the 30" barrels and it lettered that way. I've posted about it before. IIRC it was made for a pro shooter named Kellerman. I've often wondered why he ordered it with that choke configuration. It is a relatively light 7 lbs on a 1 1/2 frame.

[Bill Murphy]

I have a set of 26" Titanic barrels that are bored .040 in the right and .000 in the left. I don't have a letter to prove that it was bored that way at Parker Brothers. I may get a letter, although I don't have the rest of the gun.

[John Campbell]

I have a DH 12 with full right, cylinder left in the 30" barrels and it lettered that way. I've posted about it before. IIRC it was made for a pro shooter named Kellerman. I've often wondered why he ordered it with that choke configuration. It is a relatively light 7 lbs on a 1 1/2 frame.

This arrangement of chokes is advantageous when the first shot taken is often further out than the second. An example of this situation might be incoming waterfowl. It is wise to wait as they approach, take a distant bird, then swing onto a closer one. It also makes sense if you miss first shot on an incomer...

[Mills Morrison]

That seems to be the consensus on here. I am sure a large percentage of Parkers shot waterfowl back in the day

[Erick Dorr]

To stir the pot a bit, my 12 ga. DH with 25"bbls was ordered from the factory right hand modified and left hand cylinder and was shipped weighing in at 6#, 8 oz. This hardly seems to fit my concept of a waterfowl gun although I'll admit that I am not a waterfowler.

Ordered and shipped in 1906 it predates skeet.

One poster on that gun's thread suggested that the gentleman ordering the gun followed his preference to pull the back trigger first and the forward second which makes some sense to me.

My other thought on this particular gun is that the right bbl modified choke/front trigger was for upland birds and the left bbl cly choke/rear trigger is for deer or large game load, making it a dual purpose game gun. Anyone else with a historic sense sportsmen's preferences a century ago think this is reasonable or likely?

Best,
Erick

[John Dallas]

If the owner was left-handed, the chokes would be correct.

[Jerry Harlow]

Don't have to special order to get the gun to shoot tighter barrel first. Picked up a 16 SW. Put the shell in the right barrel to pattern it. Pulled trigger, nothing. Looked at shell, tried again, nothing. Put the shell in the left barrel, pulled trigger nothing. Eventually I'll catch on to stuff like this.

Someone had reconfigured the trigger locations for front trigger-left and back trigger-right. Not an accident I am sure.

[Bill Murphy]

As compared to obscure choke information, this is the ultimate. Many years ago, when I got around to measuring the bores and chokes of my Grandfather's 1887 Lefever pigeon gun, I was disappointed to find that one barrel was cylinder and the other was full. It took me years to figure out that those chokes were probably ordered by my Grandfather along with the backwards automatic pigeon safety. In his part of PA, pigeon shoots were one shot affairs. In addition, most pigeon guns doubled as grouse guns. There were no pheasants in Luzerne County in those days. That is a perfect explanation for a pigeon gun with one cylinder bored barrel. Even as prosperous as he was, my Grandfather hunted with the Lefever as well as using it for his dedicated pigeon gun. This was according to my Father, who was 26 when his Father passed away. When I get a letter on my cylinder and full Titanic Steel barrels, I may have even more evidence since these barrels also came from Northeast PA.