Parker SBT choke profile

[WmRike]

Let me set this up. I have some experience with Ithaca trap guns. The typical Ithaca choke starts in earnest about 2 inches from the muzzle and finishes with no parallel. It's a dead giveaway for a factory choke, seemingly regardless of constriction (remember, these are trap guns I'm speaking of, not field guns or open chokes).

Of the four or five Parker doubles I have, nothing about the chokes jumps out at me as being anything out of the ordinary. My SC trap, however, has a long, slow choke that begins about six inches from the muzzle, starts to get warm with about 2.5 inches to go, and finishes with a half inch of parallel. So, the question is, have any of you arrived at a point where you think there is a house signature choke profile for Parker's singe trap guns?

[Dean Romig]

Parker Bros. choke profile has been described by Austin Hogan (and possibly others) as an "ogee choke". I have some of his plotting data here someplace. It has also been published in Parker Pages along with the plotting chart.

[Pa SxS]

My 1928 SC with 32" barrel has a bore of .735. The choke starts 4" from the muzzle and continues at the same rate until it's 1" from the muzzle. At that point there is about 1" of parallel. Final choke restriction is .040

[WmRike]

PA SxS. Hmm. My own has a 0.734 bore. At the time I bought it I don't think it had been fired for perhaps 40 years, which is to say some time before trapshooters got wound up on overboring. There's fuel for interesting speculation.

[Stepmac]

A gunsmith told me that my 1917 SC has a "tight full choke" and that is all I know about it. At my trap club most guys shoot with an improved modified choke at the 16 yd line. If I'm shooting a double with a mod and full, I shoot the modified tube close in.

Question: Did the trap shooters of old shoot mostly full choked guns? When I shoot my 12 gauge Superposed (which I like....its pretty beat up tho) I shoot the mod barrel at the 16 yd line and the full at 27. Is that pretty standard?

When I talk with the old geezers at my club, they just say, "Shoot what works".