Today the same can be said of Mike Orlen in Amherst MA.





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No doubt Mr Orlen has a good reputation...Especially with choke tubes.

However, in the day when fixed choke guns were the norm, Ken Eyester had a cult following. He honed the barrel and shot, honed some more and shot, added up percentages at the stated distance..And repeated the process until he consistently arrived at the desired result with that particular shell...

Addition: With choke tubes Ken only had three....He patterned one of each for....close-medium-far....

EZ to say that Gunsmith Tom, Dick or Harry is the "equal" of the late Ken Eyster if you haven’t spent 2 days watching Kenny in his shop while he tuned your bores and chokes for his #'s 1 - 2 - 3 patterns by checking POI, efficiencies, coverage and yield with multiple shots and followup lathe or Sunnen hone work. Nor if you haven’t shot one of his Eysterized guns. Nowadays many a gent sends his barrels to Gunsmith X,Y or Z and asks for IC or whatever choke(s), the barrels are returned quickly and then he shoots a few clays and pronounces the man's work is awesome, etc.

If you wanted a competition choke from Ken Eyester, the choking started at the forcing cones, traveled down the barrel and then the choke was shaped according to what worked.
And the gun was most likely shot over and over until he consistently got it right. He tuned forcing cones, bores and the choke and didn't just work on the actual choke.

You wanted a POI 6 inches high with a flat rib perception, he made it happen. You wanted it 3 inches high, he made it happen...

Thanks for the reminder they were 1-2-3...

If you want to have a fun day make an appointment with Ken Eyster's son Jim and take your gun and the shells you want to shoot and have him work on your chokes. As others have said you shoot it, take it to the bench and slowly move the pattern where you want it to be and open it to the desired pattern. Man learned from the best and a super nice man to work with.