Parker Reproduction chokes revisited

[crs]

Chris T,
Sounds right to me.

[Wilmurt]

I've mentioned this before, my 2 barrel 20 ga Repro, which I bought new, came 26" Q1/Q2 and 28" IC/F. For me, Q1/Q2 is deadly over pointed quail and in tight wooded grouse situations. Have shot multiple doubles time and time again. IC/Full is the perfect pheasant gun. Both configurations swing well and are light enough to carry all day. I have 10 guns in my safe and this Repro is my go to gun, fits like a glove.

[Gary Laudermilch]

I have two very different 20 ga repros that, in my view, are ideal for their intended purpose.

The first is a 26" splinter, pg, double trigger gun that I opened the chokes. Originally they were the standard IC/Mod but upon patterning checked out to more like Lt Mod/Imp Mod. Way too tight for a dedicated grouse gun so I opened them up to .004/.008, essentially the same as Q1/Q2. After 50 years of chasing grouse with about every conceivable gun possible I have to say this gun is as close to ideal as I've come. I practice with it quite a bit prior to the season and it amazes me at how well the tight barrel does on long clay targets. Targets much further out than I would ever shoot it at live game.

The second repro I bought as a dedicated clays gun. It is a 28" 20 with a beavertail, pg, and double triggers. A grouse gun it is not but at 7# it is a delight on the clays course. It came to me with Briley thin wall tubes installed with which I have had no trouble. Almost always I shoot the skeet/light mod tubes which cover the targets I encounter quite well. It took me over 5 years to find this gun but it was worth the wait.

So, two different guns, two different purposes, to which both are quite well suited.

[Dean Romig]

There's a LOT we can say about chokes and everyone has his favorite gun and his favorite choke combination but we need to remember that a more open pattern that will break clays at extreme distances will only cripple live birds at those distances. Gary alludes to this by saying he would never shoot live game that far out.... but some folks will attempt the impossible and wind up crippling birds that they may never find - even with the help of a good dog.
The wild game we are so lucky to be able to hunt is much too valuable to cripple and lose. Yes, it does happen to all of us even with the best of intentions and carefully chosen shots but we mustn't overshoot our guns' capabilities.

I do love the Q1/Q2 chokes on my Repro 28 for the first couple of weeks of the season but will switch to a more tightly choked gun after the birds have been hunted a bit. I used to have the choice of IC/MOD on my Repros but just sold the IC/MOD gun





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[Sheepherder]

Too True, and well said Dean !

[Gary Laudermilch]

Absolutely Dean! There is far too much to the equation of humanly killing a bird with a shotgun to cover here. It goes well beyond the choke in the end of a barrel but I tried to stick to the topic of the thread. Unfortunately, too many hunters do not take the time to fully understand the consequences of the variables at play. They shoot at anything and then say oops, missed another one, when in fact they did not. One less bird for the dogs to work the next time.

[MD*GSP]

Deans sentiment regarding ethics is one I suspect universal amongst members & frankly it is much of the motivation behind this thread..the topic while somewhat pointed bordering on scientific is free to go wherever it goes so far I’m concerned..I enjoy the discussion and always learn a lot.

I for one quit hunting yrs ago but for upland birds..don’t suspect that will ever change even in the face of a changing world that seems to be changing around me, just too hung up on bird dogs and the beauty of agriculture.

Remington Express shells have forged confidence in me while hunting regardless of gun and irrespective of gauge but for 28. An ounce of #5’s for birds larger than quail seem to be just about perfect.

28ga - the AA super sports (7.5’s), while a shade hot, seem to be very effective out of my 28ga PR but can still be a bit much even w/an IC choke over a dog…sts shells seem to soften things up a bit (Important to reemphasize ~ liberated Quails/WC hanging around the edges)

Tungsten Matrix shells are serious business & that seems to go against the grain of shot hardness/uniformity as the pellets themselves are none too pretty & quite soft if you should spend the couple-a-bucks it costs to cut one open.

At 25/30 yards one of those shells can put a lot of hurt on a wild Pheasant out of an IC choke & there is no pun intended in that comment whatsoever.

Seems like some days, even the widest of patterns is not enough & the gentle sound of wings sounds an awful lot like laughter

To a large extent, I’m reluctant to become too scientific and start sawing away on chokes, that’s why I’ve been mulling this over and have reached out for discussion from those that know.

All of the experience lent from everyone is much appreciated.

Keep it coming..


*Gary..I was sorely tempted by a 20ga that WLMoore recently advertised with a BT as the configuration offered would have dovetailed nicely into my modest collection..apparently someone else felt the same way.

[Bill Murphy]

I am just a bit apprehensive about shooting heavy loads of big shot out of my 28" 28 gauge Repro, because of the .039 constriction in the left barrel. Has anyone here bulged one of those 28 gauge full choke Repro barrels? If I want to shoot big shot, lead or otherwise, at big birds, I will use my IC and MOD barrels, which should shoot a good medium to long range pattern.

[SXS OHIO]

I have shot number 5 lead with no issue....DO NOT SHOOT STEEL OUT OF THE MOD/FULL SET! SXS Ohio....(-:

[Harry Sanders]

My 20 ga reproduction barrels that I've had Brian add a set of the Galazan 16 (Krieghoff) barrels and stock to my dims because the native claro stock broke while shooting though marked M/IC were NOT M/IC. I measured them and they were Left = 0.018 constriction and right 0.016 constriction.

I like to split the difference between IC and Skeet in right and M and IM in left. I've done this on paper and it has worked very well on farm pheasants and Woodcock and Grouse for me.

I typically lengthen cones if there's plenty of thickness unless it's a collector gun. I have seen the benefit on paper of this effort as well.