Choke Question

[Robert Deveer]

So my Parker Letter says the chokes of my 1895 DH were patterned R and L 170 pellets of #8 shot in a 24" circle at 45 yards. I do not have a set of calipers but can get a dime in the right with no play (thanks dad), so know it has been modified.

So what was the original choke, and what has the right been modified too?

[Chuck Bishop]

Robert, an educated guess is that your gun was originally full and full. An examination of the patterning found in the stock books show Parker used a pattern of 18" x 24" in the real early years (distance not known) or a 24" circle at 45 yards. Patterning using a 24" circle at 45 yards was standard until about the time your gun was built. The vast majority of pellet counts for these guns were 170 pellets of size 8 shot. Parker would choke their new guns full and full unless specifically ordering different chokes. The other interesting thing is that in the same stock book, there are 12ga. guns with pellet counts of 250 pellets of size 7 shot but it was in a 30" circle at 40 yards. Later, the 30" circle at 40 yards was what Parker used but with either 7 or 8 shot. I think they might have used different circle dimensions and distance on 28ga. or .410 guns.

[Kevin McCormack]

A dime in the muzzle tells you jack (as in donkey) feces about the choke in the gun. But it tells you two things without reservation: You have a dime and a shotgun.

With the precision gauges available today, find a gunsmith near you with a set of good ones that knows how to use them (a BIG variable, believe me!) and have him measure your gun. By taking the measurement of the inner bore diameter at mid barrel and comparing it to the measurement at the muzzle, you have a precise reading of the amount of constriction (choke) in your gun.

Measuring in this way tells you some other interesting variables: inner bore diameter vs. factory standard (e.g, backboring), choke run to muzzle (length in inches from where the gauge detects more constriction than the inner bore diameter standard (for 12 ga., .729") and how far that constriction runs to the muzzle per inch. This tells you the length of the choke cones, which can run anywhere from 2 1/2 " to a full 5 1/2 " depending on the manufacturer and style of gun (e.g., light Fox upland bird gun to Parker SBT gun).

The basic message is STOP GUESSING! More has been learned, written about, and verified by proof testing (e.g., Damascus vs. fluid steel barrel bursting strength; effect of choke on patterns using different load components, etc.) in the last 5-7 years, mostly by private individuals eager to dispell alternative facts of folklore (the dime and the barrel) by persons like Sherman Bell, Drew Hause, Oscar Gaddy, Dave Suponski and others, that you essentially have a smorgasbord menu of particular data available on guns pretty much identical to yours. Find where it is and go for it!