Parker Chokes:How Tight Did They Come
 

Yesterday evening I was measuring a Parker 12 bore hammerless gun that had a constriction of .045 in the left tube, .027 in the right. The .045 is way tighter that any other 12 bore Parker I have. Next in line would be a .039/.039. Then Brian listed and sold a really nice Lefever that had chokes of .045 and .046 which got me to thinking. I am sure Parkers choked as such are out there but I don't recall any with both barrels that tight. Just out of curiosity what are your tightest choked 12 bore Parkers, how tight did they get ?

My 10 gauge 34" CH is choked .042/.041, that's my tightest Parker, I own a Super Fox that is choked .049/.049.

.049 in both barrels. That's shoppin in the Mens Department. Nice !

Parker GH 12 gauge .039 / .039

The gun with the tightest choke that I have is a LC Smith Ideal 10 gauge with Damascus barrels. .022 / .050

PARKER VH mfg. 1903

R = .042
L = .040

Tightest one I have with both barrels full.

Nice. What length are the barrels?

I had a GH number 235908 with .043” and .044” but sold it about a year ago before I could even try it out on turkeys.

Shoulda kept it....





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30"

DHE 30" .039/.044, Choked Dead and Buried.

Fox Sterly .044 in each barrels

Randy, the amount of constriction doesn't mean much as far as the original configuration goes. The bore diameter could have been changed over the years. What is the bore diameter of your tightly choked gun?

I think it's interesting and good to know what a gun's choke constriction is but my determination for how tight a gun shoots comes from pattern testing, a 30" circle at 40 yards. The amount of constriction gives a good idea what a gun should do but I have been surprised by some of my results on a pattern board. Examples; Remington 1900 12ga, .014 and .024 patterned 72% and 86%. Lefever F grade 10ga, .003 and .018, patterned 53% and 85%.

Agreed and I get that. Having said that I have measured both bores at .735 on this gun.

to the original Parker question, for me it's .039 in both in a 12ga 3 frame 32" V grade -

anything I have that's tighter than .045 isn't a 12ga Parker

Me to Rick as I have a gun with .039 in both barrels.

I have a 1912 vintage VHE with the left barrel choke constriction of .049. Both barrels measure .732. I'm pretty sure this is an original gun, and it matches the letter. I've not patterned it, but I can tell you it reaches out with that left barrel and will kill a pheasant stone dead at 45+ yards (and will miss them entirely at 20 yards when I'm not on them!).

i have not measured my lc smith long range gun but it will pattern 92 percent out of the left barrel and 85 percent out of the right barrel...thats at 40 yards 30 inch circle... i remember on here that a few people had parker guns with over 50 thousands choke...charlie

This 30" gun has a bore of .730, so unaltered.

My BHE live bird gun is .049 in both barrels which are 30 inches.

Oh my. I would love to have chokes such as those in a gun some day just to play with. :eek:

I have a 12ga GH with left barrel bore of .740 with a choke of .044 and right with .739 and .023 . Letter says it was shipped with mod and full. It is untouched as far as I can tell.

Rich, what is your bore diameter on the .049 gun? James, what is the serial number of your gun?

Bill its 178595 and it's VH not a GH I mixed it up with another and it has 28" barrels on a 1 frame.

Barnett currently has a Super Fox choked ,047/051:shock:

I am hoping to take this gun of mine turkey hunting this spring. What a combination with .027 in the right barrel when they get a little tight on you, and the .045 in the left barrel for the longer shot. It ought to be a good combination.

James, the serial number of your gun would indicate that it's a bit late for .740 bores. That size of bore was normally seen on guns made before the turn of the century. Most, I say most, 12 gauge guns in your serial number range were bored at about .729 to .732. Your gun may have been "cleaned up" a bit over the years.

Bill I have no idea of the bore diameter. The gun is listed for sale with Steve Barnett.

Bill I agree but it sure shows no sign of being cleaned up and the right barrel being .023 is what the letter says, mod.

James does the letter say "mod" or does it possibly offer a pellet count that you have extrapolated to be a "mod" ?

The letter says " The requested chokes were RH modified, LH full " . No pellet counts.

Remember folks, Parker never wasted old parts, (fishtail levers) so you cannot say a gun has been honed without seeing the gun.....As Bill knows well "you can never say never with a Parker"

Pellet counts were more often written on the hang tag for the gun and 99.9% of hang tags no longer exist.





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Super-Fox 32" 12ga .050/.050

Parker V 36" made in 1915.
Right barrel measures .736 with .043 constriction
Left barrel measures .737 with .044 constriction
I haven't patterned anything in this gun yet,but it's hard on tall mallards with 1 1/4 oz.bismuth.