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03-08-2019, 07:48 AM | #13 | ||||||
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As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate tighter chokes. At one time it was said that improved cylinder could do anything on a sporting clay course and I relieved the left barrel of a GH to .010 constriction. I regret it. Today my go to sporting clay's gun has .015 and .025 constriction. For wobble trap my VH has .030 and .042 constriction. A favorite quail gun is a #1 frame 12 gauge GH with .005 and .027 constriction shooting 7/8 oz of #8 shot. My point is to have different choked Parkers for different sports. Wouldn't a Parker with .040 and .044 constriction make a great turkey gun. However, if I were to re-choke a gun these would be the folks to do it: https://www.simmonsguns.biz
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The Following User Says Thank You to Harry Collins For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 09:20 AM | #14 | ||||||
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Thanks Mr Davis; Those are my thoughts also but how did Parker Bros do it when guns were returned?
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03-08-2019, 09:46 AM | #15 | ||||||
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I respectfully question the order of the barrel build. This is due mainly in part to my current project of fitting a set of 410 and 28 gauge model 21 barrels. Both sets of barrels were over sized externally and chambers were under size as well as the bore. No choke. Barrels were fit, struck and then sent to have chambers cut for proper fit and length. Bores opened to Winchester specs, and then choked.
Parker May have done things differently and I hope others can share there knowledge on the build process by Parker. Chokes can be perfectly recut with the right person using the proper equipment set up off the bore. |
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Phillip Carr For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 09:46 AM | #16 | ||||||
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They did it the same way other contemporary gunmakers of the time did it: return to the barrel shop, chock the barrels into whatever jig was used to align, center, bore and lap the individual choke cones and run of constriction to achieve pattern density, alignment, concentricity and distribution according to the customer's desired specifications. The Order Books are full of citations for guns returned with the notations, "open chokes", "make shoot straight", "pattern RB X%, LB Y%", "make shoot 6" high at 35 yards", and so forth an so on. No mystery or alchemy here (unlike things like case coloring and nitre bluing formulas); this was all mechanics and careful attention to detail.
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The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Kevin McCormack For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 10:59 AM | #17 | ||||||
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I have also come to appreciate tight chokes and original guns. I once owned a nice straight grip DHE 12 with 32 inch barrels. The right barrel would smash a clay target but I wasn't getting the smoke I expected. Turns out someone opened the right barrel to IC. I sold the gun.
I have two very nice 16's a Lefever and a Purdey that are choked IC/F. I have used spreader loads in the left barrels of both guns while grouse hunting and suffered no ill effects. It matters not to me if its a shooter VHE or a higher condition graded gun if the chokes are original to the gun then leave them the way there done by the experts at Parker.
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There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter...Earnest Hemingway |
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Rich Anderson For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 11:22 AM | #18 | ||||||
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I would have to guess how Parker opened a choke on finished guns. Agree with Kevin probably hand hone while checking pattern and point of impact as the opening progressed. Doubt if any gunsmith today is doing it that way.
If using a machine or hand turned reamer after the gun is finished problem is how the barrels were regulated. Regulation is bending with wedges wired in place with ribs laid to maintain regulation. How much was it bent were do you index the reamer ? The bore may be straight may not be. Don’t know about 21s guessing again they may have been set up like a Rifle or modern O/U shotgun regulation and bore interior dimensions set by precision not hand regulation. Willam |
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The Following User Says Thank You to William Davis For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 03:40 PM | #19 | ||||||
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Parker Brothers barrel making, chamber and forcing cone cutting, boring and choke cutting are all discussed in depth by Bill Furnish, Richard Hoover, Austin Hogan and others in early issues of Parker Pages.
The "Parker Pages Digital Archive" is indispensable in researching such topics. I have spent a couple of hours this afternoon re-reading a few of the articles by these authors who were consummate researchers on the subject of shotgun boring. A short reading list in the Digital Archive would be ... "History of Shotgun Chokes" by Richard Hoover and Bill Furnish, Parker Pages Vol. 3, Issue 4 July/Aug 1996 "Steel Archaeology" Parker Pages Vol. 3, Issue 5 July/Aug. 1996 Incidentally, the word "honing" gives me the chills.... "Cutting" and "polishing" are more appropriate terms for the boring and choke cutting processes Parker Brothers used. . "Parker Bores and Chambers" by Austin Hogan Parker Pages Vol. 18, Issue 4 Pg 30.
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"I'm a Setter man. Not because I think they're better than the other breeds, but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture." George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic. |
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The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Dean Romig For Your Post: |
03-08-2019, 06:24 PM | #20 | ||||||
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Anyone who has spent time on the doublegunshop.com website or any other shotgun website has come to the conclusion that barrel butchers are barrel butchers and opening or modifying chokes is a crapshoot and you are better off doing it yourself or not doing it at all. The best solution to opening chokes is to load spreaders or buy them. I am in my sixtieth year of buying double guns, shooting skeet, both Olympic and NSSA, trap, pigeons, sporting clays and wild birds, and, somehow, I have avoided ever modifying a choke, or even a chamber. Just my take on it.
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The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Bill Murphy For Your Post: |
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