Choke instalation

[Carl Erickson Jr]

I have just acquired a 1883 12 gauge hammer gun. It is a project gun and probably will never have much value except as a neat shooter. The problem is that at least 2 inches of the barrel were cut off leaving me with an open choked 30 inch barrelset. I would like to have improved chokes. It has a reasonable amount of barrel thickness. Ideas? :)
Carl Erickson

[Dennis V. Nix]

I know others can chime in with most likely better information than mine but I think a skilled gunsmith who does that kind of work can somehow rechoke the barrels to what you want. As only 2 inches were cut off possibly the barrels already shoot a pattern you would be happy with. I believe Briley in TX could install thin wall choke tubes and you could have a choice of chokes. I hope this helps.

[charlie cleveland]

shoot and pattern first as dennis advised..it may need nothing... charlie

[Dennis V. Nix]

Charlie I wonder if we aren't twins. Since I have a twin brother that would be triplets. Scary thought, huh?

Dennis

[Frank Cronin]

You could get it jug choked

[charlie cleveland]

could be dennis....triplets ...lord help this world.... charlie

[wayne goerres]

I am not an expert but are the barrels damascus or steel. Seems like I read someware that you will not be able to remove screw in chocks after they have been in the gun for a while. Something to do with dissimaler metals. I may be wrong Iam sure someone will correct me if i am.

[ed good]

ditto, re shoot it first to see how it patterns as is. ditto, re jug choking...tubes in an old gun jes dont seem right?

[will evans]

I inquired with Mike Orlen about installing chokes in damascus barrels not too long ago. He just flat out said it couldn't be done because the metal isn't strong enough to hold the threading, that I would wind up blowing the choke tubes loose. I didn't check with Briley, but would like to hear from anyone who has successfully had this operation performed on non-fluid steel barrels. I don't exactly view Mike Orlen as the end-all-be-all, but he was a better option than anyone locally.

[Carl Erickson Jr]

I have removed the stock from its bath in acetone. One of the past owners kept the gun well oiled and stored butt down.....
As soon as I can install a repaired stock I will fire a few RST rounds to see how it patterns.
If I need to have a choke installed I have enough wall thickness to have the gun jug choked. Any suggestions as to who can do the work if necessary? I live in Northern New Jersey.:)

[ed good]

if you cannot find a local smith, send me a private post and i will be happy to make a referral.

[Frank Cronin]

I have removed the stock from its bath in acetone. One of the past owners kept the gun well oiled and stored butt down.....
As soon as I can install a repaired stock I will fire a few RST rounds to see how it patterns.
If I need to have a choke installed I have enough wall thickness to have the gun jug choked. Any suggestions as to who can do the work if necessary? I live in Northern New Jersey.:)

Contact Mike Orlen. On my price sheet it is $85 dollars. To ship UPS from NJ to MA will take about 1 day.

79 Salem Street • Amherst, MA 01002 • (413) 256-1630 • fax (413) 253-5665
michael.orlen@verizon.net

[Chuck Heald]

Carl,
There's another option besides jug choking, which has limited effect. Choke sleeves can be soldered in the muzzle. As I understand the method, the muzzle is reamed slightly, then a sleeve is soldered in, then the choke is adjusted to the desired constriction by reaming and polishing. The installation is supposedly nearly invisible.

I don't know if Orlen does these anymore, but there's a guy in Ontario Canada that's from England that does this. Precision Gunsmithing is his business name. I bought a shotgun from him 8-10 yrs ago. Orlen's old price list from a few yrs ago shows them at $75 to install.

[Paul Harm]

You would be really surprised how shooting a light load like 3/4oz in a 12ga will give you a tighter pattern. At my club where we shoot three days a week a couple of us reload the 3/4oz load and hit clay birds solidly out to 35yds with skeet chokes. The shorter shot column has less distortion on the shot in the back of the column so you get less fliers and better patterns. You may have to do nothing. I have jug choked my own guns and it works very nicely. No, I don't want to do any other guns. Paul