I have used Bachelder, Orlen and have a Repro with Eyster now. Orlen has done several barrels for me over the years and his work has been fine. Bachelder did a good job as well. Looking forward to Eysters work. We patterned the barrels first and made sure the gun fit me the way it should. His work is about 2x Orlen but I will pay that knowing exactly what I am getting. That being said, I regret opening the chokes on a couple of guns. Once done you can never go back.

My comments are coming from a rank Parker amateur, so take them for what it's worth. I finally shot my first Parker yesterday, a 16 gauge VH with 30" FxF barrels. I didn't break every clay out of the 50, but when I ran the first couple stations I was immediately relieved that I didn't open the chokes! (what a nice shooting gun!) The tight chokes seems to work just fine near or far. Mind you, I bought the gun for fun on the range and a duck hunt now and then, so my thinking might not apply to your needs.

I have come to appreciate tighter chokes esp in guns used for clay targets. You can tell where your hitting or chipping and when your right on it's impressive. A choke combination I have learned to appreciate in the uplands is IC/F especially for big birds like pheasant or later in the season when shots might be a bit further. A spreader in the left barrel will make that full choke more of a modified also.

Opening the chokes is like getting a tattoo it's there forever.

Despite what you've heard about Mike's work (and he does good work) he doesn't cut chokes like Parker Bros did with an ogee incorporating the beginning and the end of the taper. In fact, I don't know anybody that does.






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All I can say after 50+ years of shotgun shooting both hunting and clays is don't do it,leave those hundred year-old chokes alone. Don't believe that a open choke will make you a better shot,they won't.

Not to throw a wrench in the topic, but if at some point in time the barrel get honed doesn't that affect the choke? So you go from full to xtra full by barrels being honed, at that point would opening the chokes be beneficial?

To the OP:
Mike Orlen hands down, he has done it for me, I sent him a note, he called and we worked it out. I havent had any regrets! His prices are cheap but that doesn't mean shoddy work, sometimes expensive is just what it it is.....expensive.

I can't speak from experience since I've never had a barrel honed. I never saw a reason to take metal out of the barrels although it does make cleaning a bit easier. Corn cob bores don't bother me as long as they are safe to shoot. Honing will remove some of the shallow pits but I don't think removing any metal from inside the barrels is a good idea with any gun.

daniel the full choke gun that you cannot hit with gives you the chance to tell the wife you gona buy a gun with more open chokes since you cannot hit with a full choke gun...now you got 2 guns instead of one.....charlie

Only patterning it would give you the answer to that question.





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Maybe not relevant here, but in pigeon shooting, open chokes help a poor shooter, and hurt a good shooter.