Choke opened DH-16....who to send it?

[Kenny Graft]

My new light O-frame DH-16 26" with short chambers. This was to be my "grouse gun" addvertized with open chokes turn out to be F/F .028/.029 Im thinking of opening the left barrel only........maybe .006 leave the right barrel alone. Who is the best person to preform this task???? Will be shooting 2 5/8" 1oz. hunting loads...This light gun is not my preferd choice for wild roosters anyway or would leave the F/F alone...thanks all SXS ohio....(-:

[Jay Gardner]

Mike Orlen in MA or Brad Bachelder in Grand Rapids, MI. Both have done work for me and both are excellent and reasonably priced.

[calvin humburg]

Don't know if the have 16 spreaders but i've shot them out my 10 full and killed phez withem haven't patterned them yet. best ch

[Mike Shepherd]

I am curious why you would open the left choke and not the right. I have never hunted grouse.

I have an O framed 16 VH 28" that I am very fond of.

Thanks,

Mike

[Jay Gardner]

Grouse take off like a bat out of he'll and can probably cover at least 15- yards by the time you get on the second trigger and re acquire your target. Most people need more choke for the scond shot than they think. Also, it's a lot easier to open a choke than it is to tighten one so better to start tight.

Spreaders are a good option. On a tightly choked gun I'll put a spreader in the right barrel and a regular load in the left. You just have to keep track of the different loads.

I agree with Jent and have your barrel man nake sure there is enough to hone out. I am sure both Mike and Brad would give you an idea of how much they could open the chokes before wall thickness wo uld become an issue. Also, might as well have the forcing cones opened while you are at it, again I there is enough metal to start with.

[Dave Suponski]

My main to grouse guns are a PH 16 that is choked CYL. and Full....Perfect. On a windy day I will shoot the full choke barrel with a regular 16 gauge load. If I think the birds may hold I will use a speader in the full choke barrel to open it to about Mod. The 20 gauge Trojan is choked MOD. and Full so I just use a spreader in both barrels.

I am not a real fan of messing with Parker chokes but if you must I prefer a gunsmith that hones them to open them up vs. a reamer. The hone will follow the original bore much better than taking the chance of a reamer cutting off axis resulting in an out of regulation bore.

[Kenny Graft]

Mike did a set of mine couple years ago, 20ga 28" M/F set repro's. I had the really full & fuller chokes opened to .010/.024 ...great job....guns still shoots point of aim...(-: I will most likly use mike....thanks all....

[Greg Baehman]

Kenny, you've got that 20/16-ga. Repro Bi-gauge set with the perfect for ruffed grouse Q1/Q2 chokes, why do you want to remove metal from this original Parker Bros. gun?

[Bob Jurewicz]

Ken,
Use speaders. I've used a number of different brands and been happy with performance.
Jent is right about ease of opening if your inclined. I've opened many a chokes with the basic reamers followed by polishing with a brake hone. None of them were Parkers however!!!!!
Bob Jurewicz

[charlie cleveland]

im with wild skies kenny...you can all ways buy plenty of parkers with open bore but hard to put the origanal choke back in a gun...you are given the right to do as you please since you are the given caretaker of this gun....most people will tell you not to cut the barrels off to open the choke almost sacureiigous on a parker...if it were mine i would just buy anotyer parker with open chokes or sell it and then buy the open bored gun..just my h. o.... charlie

[Angel Cruz]

Kenny how about some pictures and some details? I'll be looking for a D grade 16 next. BTW, man don't touch those chokes!!

[Dean Romig]

Mike Orlen is the man to send it to.

He is the only person I would trust to open the chokes on an original Parker shotgun.

[Frank Cronin]

+1 what Dean said. I have used Mike Orlen and he is very good. Quick turnaround too.

79 Salem Street
Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 256-1630
michael.orlen@verizon.net

[Rich Anderson]

Mike did the choke work on "The Money Pit" gun a GH 16 0 frame. He opened the damascuss barrels to .014 & .010. They are wonderfull and the birds hate it.:corn:

[John Dallas]

Kenny - Am I missing something? Why would you open up the left barrel (normally the second fired)?

[Daryl Corona]

Kenny,
Original Parker chokes are as important to the value of the gun as are barrel length to many of us and especially in the somewhat scarce O frame 16's. Call me a purist if you must but one of the key factors for me is a gun with original chokes. Parker took great pride in their chokes and for good reason. I really believe from many years of bird and target shooting that too many shooters drive themselves crazy over chokes. Remember that choke is what kills not the pellets. I routinely hunt wild pheasants with a mod and full 28 VH and have shot many winning scores with F/F in various gauges and don't even think about what choke I'm shooting. An O frame 16 really was designed to handle 7/8 loads so don't stress the gun or yourself, just stuff a 7/8oz. load of 7 1/2's in each barrel and and you will be surprised how well you can bring birds to bag. The more people modify these original guns the more my untouched Parkers, Foxes et al are worth. Why not try the gun for one season unmodified and see how you do. Just my opinion, thanks for listening. Daryl

[william faulk]

I shoot a lot of Sporting Clays with fixed full and xtra full.I see shooters spending more time deciding what chokes to screw in than studying the targets.The days I'm really on the targets are "smoked".If there is a target under 20 yards I do use spreaders.I have competition guns with screw in chokes but shoot 85% of my targets with the imp mod and light full.
Actual game under 20 yards should be shot with spreaders as a full pattern
at short distance sometimes leave skin and feathers.
Spend time developing proper shooting techniques and study of targets
IMHO....not on chokes.:nono:

[Kenny Graft]

Good pionts....Will put barrel work on hold and will try spredder loads at the board and see how that works first. I can compair paterns to my open choked guns....I have 16ga. Parker repro's choked .004 /.006 and a 2nd gun left barrel at .009 This will be a fun drill soon as the rain her in ohio ends. There is also a product called cubic shot...its little cubs that do not fly strait. Not a good choice for this gun as its only loaded full house 2 3/4" that I know of...This DH-16 only weighs 5lbs-14oz 2 5/8" RST loads of 7/8 or 1oz 7 1/2 shot will be the ticket....maybe they sell spredder loads? or will have to make my own? Thanks all SXS ohio...(-:

[Dean Romig]

Yes, the Cubic Shot Co. is right there in Jefferson in N.E. Ohio. I had a few good conversations with him last summer about his product and I had even convinced him to donate a couple of boxes for our Silent Auction at the Annual Banquet. For whatever reason, we never received any of his ammo. It would be very interesting to see how the various gauges and shot sizes pattern at specific distances. Does anyone know?

[Mike Shepherd]

Im thinking of opening the left barrel only........maybe .006 leave the right barrel alone(-:

Kenny you know the front trigger fires the RIGHT barrel don't you? Big D made the same point.

Just in case you decided the patterning with the spreader loads didn't work out and had the chokes opened I wanted to make sure you got the right (right) one.

Best,


Mike

[Bill Murphy]

RST has spreaders on their list. I'll sell you my VH 0 frame 28" 16 bored factory IC&MOD if you'll sell me your full choke DH. Dave Suponski just posted that the RST 16 spreaders are not ready yet.

[Dave Suponski]

I talked with Alex last Thursday. Their 16 gauge spreaders are not quite ready for market. To date they are only selling 12 gauge and 20 gauge spreader loads.

[william faulk]

Polywad Inc. makes 2.5" 16 ga Spreaders in #8 shot.This is a small speciality ammo company much like RST located in Georgia.They also sell the spreader inserts for the reloader.Like RST,they are great people to do business with.
Polywad.com or 1800-998-0669.
Bill Faulk :cheers:

[william faulk]

Polywad 16 ga spreaders are #16GADW8..sell for #10.00 box of 25.
16ga spreader insertsv for reloads sell for $16..bag of 500.
I shoot these in my VH..imp/mod and they devistate targets under 20 yards.
Work great on early season doves at the water tanks also.Their web has lots of information on the spreaders..load is called "Double Wides" and thats about correct!!:smiley7:

[Dave Suponski]

Jay Menefee is a great guy. I have been using their inserts for years now. If you are buying just the inserts you have to buy a minimum of 1000. No big deal though they cost $32.00 and Jay pays the shipping. After talking with Jay years ago I use one gauge smaller insert for the shell I am reloading.