To choke or not to choke?

[Austin W Hogan]

The .003 and .005 chokes you note are probably the remaining initial choke tapers after 2 inches was removed from the muzzle. You should pattern the barrels to be sure the point of impact has not been disturbed by cutting.
I would recomend this before changing chokes.
Find a friendly skeet club that will allow you to shoot some stations in reverse order, or shoot the outgoers and incomers at the point you choose. Take a few boxes of field 7 1/2 shot and try this.
Wait until high house 1 and 2 start to drop before shooting. You can get 35 to 45 shots by doing this. Reverse the order of shooting the doubles on sta 1,2,6 and 7. You can get 25 - 30 yard incomers, and 30 - 40 yard plus outgoers. Face the high house and ask for a double on sta 8. You will get a 10 yd incomer and 40 plus yard outgoer. Breaking these birds indicates no need for changing choke.

Best, Austin