Reversed chokes : Why?

[Bill Murphy]

As compared to obscure choke information, this is the ultimate. Many years ago, when I got around to measuring the bores and chokes of my Grandfather's 1887 Lefever pigeon gun, I was disappointed to find that one barrel was cylinder and the other was full. It took me years to figure out that those chokes were probably ordered by my Grandfather along with the backwards automatic pigeon safety. In his part of PA, pigeon shoots were one shot affairs. In addition, most pigeon guns doubled as grouse guns. There were no pheasants in Luzerne County in those days. That is a perfect explanation for a pigeon gun with one cylinder bored barrel. Even as prosperous as he was, my Grandfather hunted with the Lefever as well as using it for his dedicated pigeon gun. This was according to my Father, who was 26 when his Father passed away. When I get a letter on my cylinder and full Titanic Steel barrels, I may have even more evidence since these barrels also came from Northeast PA.