Shooting them?

[Stepmac]

I own a damascus GH made in 1896 that I posted pictures of here several years ago and discussed it with the experts. It had a broken part and looked as if it had sat in a closet for most of a hundred years. The rest of the gun was in good shape with shiny bores, but little color. I had the gun repaired and inspected by a smith who advertised being expert on old doubles. I then read everything that Sherman Bell wrote in Double Gun. I shot a couple boxes of RST thru it. Great! My issue is that it is choked full and full and I'm a skeet/clays shooter. I am never going to shoot ducks with this gun. I've been shooting old Fox and Ithaca doubles, but I'd like to shoot my Parker GH. Would it destroy it's value to open the left barrel to IC? The gun is not a prestine Parker, very little original color, but no cracks and great bores. What's a guy to do?

[Ron Scott]

Originally Posted by Steve McCarty

. Would it destroy it's value to open the left barrel to IC? The gun is not a prestine Parker, very little original color, but no cracks and great bores. What's a guy to do?

I can’t see how it would “destroy its value” by opening the right barrel to IC. I have a 16 gauge Damascus GH that is bored IC & Full and love hunting with it. I think that combination of chokes is very useful. On a recent quail hunt I used a 20 gauge choked IC and Full — shot a lot of birds and that full choke barrel came in very handy at times.

You might want to pattern the gun on paper before changing anything though — you might be surprised how open a full choke can be. Not all full chokes are created equal. Dean’s suggestion to use spreader loads is also a good idea as long as you plan on buying shells anyway. I reload and don’t like the additional step but that’s just me.

[Bill Murphy]

Using PC Post spreader wads in a loader that has a hollow wad seater (like a PW) does not require an extra step in loading. Just replace your regular wad with the PC Post, no fuss, no muss.

[Mike of the Mountain]

I make spreader loads for all my guns using Ballistic Products Dispersor-X spreader wads and X-Stream inserts. It may add an extra step to the reloading process but for the number of spreaders I make it really doesn't add that much time to the process.