[stumpstalker]

Yes, this an old topic, widely-covered in many retrievable threads. But, it is worth bringing back for discussion as it has enduring relevance as to why we bother to seek out vintage guns to collect and shoot, when there are many traditionally-styled guns being produced today with modern stock dimensions and multiple choke choices, all of which can offer an edge in hitting wild or clay birds.

To answer the original question: For me, opening chokes reduces monetary value, while it surely can enhance other values, utility being one.

I happen to be one consumer who was willing to pay a higher price for a factory open-choked 16-gauge, 0-framed VH. It is not a high-grade or high-condition piece; in fact, it had been restored. But, for me there is a significant distinction between restored and altered (surely another debate subject).

I could have saved a lot of money if I had just sent out my father’s full-choked 16-gauge, 1-framed VH for opening. It just meant a lot to me to keep that one original and buy another -- a gun that left Meriden in 1907 essentially as it was represented to me as being: "a New England bird gun”, cylinder and modified.