I use a Poly Wad Yellow solid disk spreader insert. Same powder charge and shot weight (3/4 oz) as my regular 20 G loads. Only difference a 7/8 oz wad which leaves a little room for the spreader disk. At the wad insert station I put the plastic regular wad in, throw the shot then use the PW 375 wad seater to insert the spreader disk. Only extra step is the 2nd wad on top insert It patterns very well at quail distances in my 28 inch F&M Parker Trojan. I just used that gun and load to qualify for a Parker "Doubles" pin on Quail. First shot was close, to make some time for a good 2nd. Quail was fine not torn up at all.

On altering, as has been said it's going to hurt value. I guess there are good choke opening gunsmith out there. However looking at Parker's with open chokes for several years now most are "messed up" to my standard this after checking with a dial indicator choke gauge. Number of guns ruined by poor choke work has hurt the value of any gun who's chokes have been altered.

Look at this video from Midway how to ruin a Parker in a few easy steps, by buying the tool from Midway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6yrnJIyjtU

William

Look at this video from Midway how to ruin a Parker in a few easy steps, by buying the tool from Midway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6yrnJIyjtU

William[/QUOTE]

:crying::banghead:

Larry,

I stand corrected. I checked a dozen of my higher condition Parkers and found two with 1/4 to 1/2" parallel sections in the choke. One was a Damascus barrel 34" DH from the 91,000 range and the other a Parker Steel PHE 10 from the 214,000 serial number range. The other guns measured were all Damascus barreled from early to late.

Albeit I was in err that some Parkers did have a parallel section, cutting a parallel section in a Parker with other than a tapered cutter will leave evidence. Oh, cut out .005" and polish it and who could tell that it wasn't cut in the factory. But cut more and think about it...

Parker chokes taper for let's say on average .030" over a length of 3 to 5 inches, removing even .010" choke will leave a parallel section of about 1 inch. Look at that from the muzzle and breach end and if not polished to a glass-like surface it will be easy to see the parallel. But then who is to say it didn't leave the factory that way?

Mark :)

I have a 20ga VH with .026 chokes in both barrels , I use factory Polywad Spreaders that work great, I also use RST spreaders. To my way of thinking you should not have any choke work done, by using spreaders you have a gun for close work and you can use plain shells for longer shooting. The worst thing would be choke tubes, I will not buy a gun with after market tubes.

Austins choke graph.

Another

Thanks Dave!

In the article and graph Austin refers to competition guns. Is there any research on Parker chokes for ordinary (dare I say "ordinary" referring to any Parker"?) Parkers? If would be interesting to measure and plot a sample set or at least 50 Parkers from each decade. This could be done by by distant members using a common reference data sheet such as measure and record each choke at every 1/8" from muzzle to point of no choke/bore diameter.

PS: The 34" 12 gauge DH Damascus in which I measured a parallel section of 1/2" was built on a #3 frame. I would consider it a special purpose, maybe a competition gun.

Mark,
My reply was not to in any way condone the altering of a Parker choke as that is something I personally would never do. Like you I also have what I believe to be unaltered chokes that have no parallel section. I think there was a typical boring that was done for the intended pattern but when the gun when for patterning testing they would then be adjusted as needed to meet the customers requirements. I obviously have no proof of this but that is how I have interpreted what I've read on this subject over the years.

Larry,

Your logic is perfect! For the average gunner the ogee curve of gradually increasing then relaxing the Parker choke would serve them well. For competition shooters, or later just to keep up with the performance or hype about the Super Fox (No disrespect the one of my favorite Fox guns) is makes sense that Parker skilled tradesmen would add parallel section to "regulate" the performance.

Mark

I agree with the pack here: don't alter the chokes. I had a 26" F/F VH12 opened up... by the wrong smith I might add.... and ended up with a paper thin muzzle on one side, out of round chokes, and +.004 choke on the right; that's right a slight blunderbuss choke. I'm afraid to pattern it. To say I feel bad would be a gross understatement; I actually feel like some kind of lurid criminal and will never forgive myself, or the smith for that matter, who is well known and should have known better and who when confronted was totally unrepentant. The gun is a gorgeous transition gun with a gorgeous SG blonde stock with perfect dimensions. The value of the gun is also severely diminished and I paid too much for it in the first place. Unless you have a chopped or beater gun with little value, which your G grade certainly is NOT, I wouldn't let anyone touch those chokes. Adjust some other way or just get used to dusting birds a bit more seriously than you might like or sell the gun to someone who wants a 20ga pheasant gun and get something different. Remember when it comes to mods: Do no harm.