"Taper the chambers" refers to taking some metal out of the chamber ahead of the extreme front of the chamber at a bit of a taper, rather than starting the cut at the chamber mouth. It's a good theory, but doesn't do much to lower pressures. I don't measure my chambers and haven't for sixty years of shooting and buying shotguns. I use light loads in light shotguns and that seems to have eliminated any problems. When I bought my PHE 12 gauge trap gun, I used it as a pigeon gun, as have the previous owners, for roughly a century. I am sure that this gun has never shot many shells with less than 1 1/4 ounces of shot, because its previous owner was a competitive pigeon shooter and I have used this gun for a similar purpose. I have never measured the chambers, but I'm sure they are 2 5/8" or shorter as was specified in the stock book. It was proofed at PB with 1 1/4 ounces as I recall, but I'm not sure of the 2 5/8 and 1 1/4 ounces. I'll report back. I shot 50 rounds through it yesterday, and it is still undamaged.
|