Chokes

[Edward Yager]

Were all Parker shotguns available with choke in the barrels?If not when were they available. Thanks

[edgarspencer]

Choke boring started in England about 1873-4, and about a year later, American makers started offering choke boring.

[edgarspencer]

duplicate

[John Davis]

From The Life and Times of Fred Kimble:

November 12, 1868, the following advertisement began running in the Peoria Daily Transcript: “To Sportsmen, O. P. Secor, gun maker, corner of Madison and Hamilton streets, Peoria, manufacturer of superior fowling pieces, and repairer of all descriptions of fire arms, shotguns rebored to shoot close and strong. All work done promptly and warranted.” [Author’s Note: In J. W. Long’s 1879 revised edition of American Wild-Fowl Shooting, the author, of Boston, MA., gives his version of the “discovery” of choke boring. The whole affair began as part of a wager between Long and his good friend Fred Kimble. Each was to see who could come up with the closest shooting gun. Kimble commissioned O. P. Secor of Peoria to fashion his gun, while Long chose Joseph Tonks of Boston. Upon comparing the results of the two guns, Kimble wrote to Long and said, “Buy that gun, and send it to me sure.” Long did so “and that same act was a means of causing choke-bores to spread, as they never had spread before, even throughout the civilized world.” In 1931, William Hazelton published Supreme Duck Shooting Stories, a series of narratives by famous duck hunters and writers of the time. In this book, Kimble recounts these same events as follows: “I had a double-barrel muzzle-loader, built by O. P. Secor of Peoria, and a single-barrel muzzle-loader, built by Joseph Tonks of Boston. Joe (Joseph W. Long) had a breech-loader built by Tonks, and Doty had two muzzle-loaders. My two guns were the first guns ever coke-bored; Joe’s was the second. Doty’s two guns were open shooting guns. The barrels of my Secor gun were too thin to stand much of a choke, but the single gun had a good thick barrel, and Mr. Tonks made a great shooting gun out of it. I bought it because it out shot my double gun.”]


1879, J. W. Long published the revised and enlarged edition of his 1874 book, American Wild Fowl Shooting. In this edition, Long includes his version of the discovery of choke boring. [Author’s Note: As the reader will recall, Long tells the story of the wager he had with his good friend Fred Kimble to see who could come up with the closest shooting gun. When Kimble saw the results of the gun Long had found, he wrote to Long and said “Buy that gun, and send it to me sure.” Long did so “and that same act was a means of causing choke-bores to spread, as they never had spread before, even throughout the civilized world.” Long’s reference to “the civilized world” implies that it was Kimble’s gun which was responsible for spreading the word of choke-boring across the Atlantic. Joseph Long was an agent for Greener shotguns in America. Around 1874, Kimble’s 6-gauge, choke-bored shotgun was sent to W. W. Greener in England for testing and measuring. Thereafter, Greener claimed to have invented choke-boring as we know it today.]

1910, W. W. Greener published his 9th edition of The Gun and its Development. In this edition Mr. Greener left unchanged his comments relative to The Chicago Gun Field Trial of 1879 but deleted the story of the competition between Long and Kimble to obtain the closest shooting gun. He also added the following: “An American 6-bore muzzle-loading gun, the property of Fred Kimble, a companion of Long’s, was sent over to England for trial, and while it shot well with large shot it did not give regular results, making but one really good pattern out of every three shots, which would point to the conclusion that although the Americans were undoubtedly the pioneers of the choke-boring system, they had not really progressed far beyond the elementary stage, and their guns still continued to lead, threw irregular patterns, and did not shoot straight.” [Author’s Note: This is the same gun referred to in J. W. Long’s book, American Wildfowl Shooting, as “F. Kimble’s 6-gauge single-barreled muzzle-loader, 36 in. long, weight 12 lbs. J. Tonks, maker, bored by Kimble.” This is also the gun tested at The Chicago Gun Field Trial of 1879. In 1938, A. P. Curtis wrote an article entitled, “Choke-Its Origin and Functioning,” which appeared in The American Rifleman. Therein Mr. Curtis makes the following observation: “It is a well-known fact that Greener, who in England pioneered in choking as it is done today - claiming to ‘have been the first to successfully choke bore gun barrels in 1874,’ had had a gun sent to him by Kimble to have his choke measured and duplicated, before the year 1874. Further, when Greener in their last catalogue states that they ‘introduced choke boring in 1874,’ they refer to its introduction in England. Undoubtedly it was a duplicate of Kimble’s choke.” Fred Kimble’s version of the story was as follows: “He (Joe Long) wrote to Greener and told him about my gun. Back came the answer that my gun must be secured if possible and sent to him. Joe represented to me that it would give him a great pull with Greener if I boxed up the gun and sent it as requested. Five months later the gun was returned without comment and without thanks. Very shortly thereafter Mr. Greener began winning all the prizes at the English gun trials, also claiming all the credit for the discovery, though sometimes admitting that it was an American invention.” ]