Chokes

[brian randolph]

Dale Tate here in CA stripped and cleaned my VH, measured the chokes. Right is 27 thou. and left is 32 thou. A little tight for quail. Recommendations for choke and CA smith for the work?

[Dean Romig]

Recommend you use spreader loads rather than altering original chokes. If you load your own that should be really easy - if you don't there are a couple of manufacturers who do.

[John Campbell]

I view your situation as the perfect excuse to get another Parker. With open chokes!

[Bruce Day]

Sounds like you have a nice duck gun.

I just arranged the sale of a nice VH 20 ga with .004 and .008 chokes.....a good quail and dove gun.

You didn't say what gauge or weight your gun is, but if it is configured as an upland game gun, I think a good choke combination is full and IC and I would consider opening the first barrel under those circumstances. That was a very common Parker choke combination for upland guns.

[brian randolph]

Plain VH in 12 GA. No case color remaining, but not abused. 1 1/2 frame, wt about 8 lbs. I'm shooting 1 oz. 7 1/2 @ 1200-1250 fps. With the existing chokes the pattern board thinks I'm shooting a rifle. Thank you all for applying your experience to my question.

[Paul Harm]

Don't know of any Ca gunsmiths so no help there. If it were mine I'd open it up to what ever you wanted. Close shooting - skeet or IC. Be on that, Mod to Full.

[Daryl Corona]

Please don't mess the original chokes. Chokes that have been reamed out are a deal breaker if you ever want to sell the gun especially if they are 30" or longer. Parker chokes are wonderful and once removed cannot be replaced. You did'nt say what you plan to shoot with this gun. Please look into either loading or buying spreader loads or enjoy shooting tight chokes.

[Paul Harm]

Daryl, I respectfully disagree. Who knows what the chokes were ? It's also a VH, not a C,B, or A grade gun. People refinish stocks, restock em, redo the barrels, re-cut the checkering, so what's wrong with taking .005 or .010 out of the chokes ? I don't believe for a moment it's a deal breaker on a VH - at least it hasn't ever been for me. Now if there's no chokes left in the gun then I may try to get it for a cheaper price. I once bought a F grade Remington 1894 with no choke in the right barrel. Beat down the dealer and then took it home and " jug choked " it back to LM. I now have a nice shooting trap gun with LM and full. In my opinion, it's my gun and I'll do what I want with it like anyone else does. If it's a high end collectable gun then it would be a different story.

[Paul Harm]

I have a C grade 1894 Remington that would be like a C grade Parker. Summer thinks only about 200 were made, and the choke numbers are stamped on the barrel lugs - Full and Full. Because I'll never need Full chokes I took them out to skeet in and skeet out [ SK/LM ]. I think those are the perfect chokes for anything I'll ever hunt or shoot at for clays. It's my gun and I'd never enjoy shooting it with Full and Full. I called the fellow I bought it from about a year after I got it to tell him I won our Skeet Doubles league with it. He said he never could hit anything with it and that's why he sold it. That VH is a hunting gun and back in the day with paper wads tighter chokes were needed, especially if you were duck or goose hunting. If the originally owner was going to hunt birds in close a more open choke gun would have been ordered . If the present owner is going to then why not open them up like the original owner would have ordered ?

[paul stafford jr]

im with you paul most of these over choked guns aint worth a darn on the vintage skeet I shoot its a lot more fun to shoot them than it is to leave them in the back of the safe because there to tight and it doesn't bother me to open the chokes on higher grade guns, they look just as good and they shoot great. besides its my money and I love shooting old guns that look good.

[Daryl Corona]

Paul, I understand and certainly respect your opinion but I guess the bottom line for me is I like tight chokes. Whether I'm shooting clays or bird hunting I like to know that I have enough choke. Most 30" or longer guns, if not most of the guns of that era, did have lots of choke in them because of the lack of protective shot cup and high antimony shot that we now enjoy. I don't care if it's Trojan, a C grade fox or whatever, a gun with long barrels and original tight chokes will bring more money over one that has been reamed. If a gun has already been altered then I would'nt feel bad about doing that to a gun. Bottom line is all those altered guns just make the originals worth more money, regardless of grade or manufacture. By the way, nice shooting in the doubles league. I bet the gas gun / K-80 guys were beside themselves.

[John Campbell]

Well said. Once a double's choke is removed, it's impossible to put it back. If someone wants an open choke Parker, there are plenty of them out there to choose from. And... you get an excuse to buy another gun!