Winchester Model 21
 

I picked up my Model 21 Winchester yesterday. It has 26'' barrels with WS1 and WS1 chokes. I know the WS1 and WS2 are common skeet gun configurations. How common is WS1 and WS1?
P.S. I checked it with my bore gauge. How weird is this choke it goes from bore of .729'' tapered down to .724'' and then tapers open all the way to .750''
What is the idea behind this choke? Both barrels exactly the same.

Eldon:
Your chokes are essentially blunderbuss style. The funnel muzzle shape allows the charge to leave an essentially light choke, then expand as it leaves the gun, spread rapidly, and effect a wide "skeet pattern." I can't tell you if this is typical of Winchester M-21 skeet chokes. But... if it works for you, don't fret the results.

Eldon

Your chokes are Bell Chokes, designed to throw extra wide patterns. Winchester designed WS-1 for the best distribution at 20 yards, WS-2 for 30 yards. .005 is Winchesters designation for Imp. Cly..
A Bell choke causes early seperation of the shot cup from the shot column creating a much larger pattern. The down side is holes in the pattern resulting in poorer breaks. These conversions were popular in the 50's and 60's. Stan Baker lead the field in skeet choking.
Parker skeet in and skeet out are the same theory as WS-1 and WS-2.
Your Barrels have been modified.

Brad

Brad, why do you say Eldon's chokes are modified? It sounds like a standard WS1 choke to me.

Eldon, my m21 ws1 choke is identical to yours. It also has ws2 choke and is a standard choke of 8 thous. const.

While I was grouse hunting in Vermont last weekend I was asked to measure the chokes of a Weatherby O/U 20 ga. skeet gun and came up with similar chokes. I don't remember the exact .000" but I do remember that the last 3/4" or so belled similarly, though not quite as drastically.

The bell diameter sounds large to me. I would expect it to be in the .745 to .746 range.

Brad

While Winchester claimed a patent on such a choke, Savage's "Skeet Cylinder" and "Quarter Choke" they used in their A.H. Fox Skeet & Upland Game Guns measures pretty much the same as WS1 and WS2. Similarly Remington Arms Co., Inc.'s "SKEET" choke they used on their Models 31 & 32 and the "Sportsman" Skeet Guns, and an optional boring on other guns, was the same as WS1.

Your win 21 chokes are correct, I had a 12ga 21 choked ws1 and ws2. the ws1 choke was the same as yours and the ws2 choke was like a normal choke at .011

W 21
 

I've owned two model 21 shotguns marked skeet on the action bottom. Both were marked sk1 and sk2. Both had the Winchester bell chokes. I always thought them to be original.
Dave