Chokes what to do

[Leighton Stallones]

I have had a couple of guns sleeved choked . They work well and are invisible. Briley did mine,but there are others that do as well or better

[Double Lab]

I agree with Don that .018 is sufficient in the first barrel but I also am a lover of tight chokes so I can understand where Mark is coming from. If your bore is .732 why not ream it out to .728-.729 and you'll get the .020-.021 you are looking for. Don's load of 8's would work nicely as I routinely use 1 1/8 of 9's in the first barrel until the weather gets bitter cold. My first barrel to me is used to knock the bird down or slow it up until I can anchor it with my second barrel using premium 7 1/2's. The more I shoot the more I have come to the conclusion that people obsess too much about choke.

[Boxbirder]

I am trying to figure this out, if I was to ream the choke to say .729 would that be a clynder bore. Correct me If I am wrong on how I determine a choke.

I have a Stan Baker bore gauge. I zero it then find out what my bore is in this case .732 then I take my guage and zero to the bore, pull up to the choke and that gives me the constriction of the choke. So if I had a bore .732 and the choke went to .702 that would be 30 thou constriction? .692 40thou?

The biggest thing to me is the butcher job that was done already. For the most part I shoot Europe or into Mexico, I see very few US shooters over there? Of course that is a game of miss an OUT. Stakes are higher maybe it's a mental thing I dunno but I like to have my guns to what I consider perfect.

I have never seen a gun club in the US like this. Talk about a shoot when you see 300 shooters drop in a day.

[Double Lab]

That's correct. The difference between the bore diameter and the diameter at the muzzle is your choke constriction. Your best bet if this thing is going to drive you crazy is to send the barrels to a good barrel man and have him evaluate it. Then he would be able to tell you how you can get the most constriction from what you have. Good luck.

[Austin W Hogan]

Boxbirder; With respect to your choke constriction , see several of my PP and DGJ articles about the Super Fox and several Parker competition guns. Choke tapers, measured with a Stan Baker and a jig are shown.
Parker chokes were reamed and polished "to deliver" on the customer's request. Some look pretty bad but deliver tight patterns. It is not necessarily the actual diameter, but the rates of changes in diameter that make patterns.
I would not re cut that choke before counting at least 10 patterns on two days.

Best, Austin

[Austin W Hogan]

Boxbirder; To put a little more on the last note; the aerodynamics of spheres make the trajectory of any single pellet purely random. This allows the use of pure math statistics to estimate pattern variations. The random variation within a pattern is plus or minus the square root of the number of shot in the pattern.
There are 350 shot in an ounce of 7 1/2 shot. An 80% pattern of 1 to 1 1/4 ounce of 7 1/2 shot varies by about =/- 20 shot. A single pattern from a gun that averages a 75% pattern has an equal chance of being 70% or 80%. Don's experience and advice is very good.
Don't fret over choke dimensions; convince yourself you have a good gun by shooting patterns and picking the proper ammo match.

Best, Austin

[Dean Romig]

Isn't Austin a treasure!

Thanks Austin. Only you can put it into those words.

[John Truitt]

Box,

If you are otherwise happy with the gun, in everyother way, then send it to the barrel guy of your choice and have him put the choke in it that you want.
Make it your own. Dont worry about devaluing the gun. At that point it will be what you want and valuable to you. In a few years when you and if you decide to sell her you will be able to. Might not get your cost back for the barrel work but atleast a cost you could live with.
If for any other reason you dont like her now. Part with it. Move on and find another.
Good luck with your decision and good luck at the traps.
The other guys have given you some sound advice. IMHO I would just send it out to make it what I want if I were otherwise pleased with the gun.

[Bill Murphy]

Boxbirder, I think you misinterpreted Daryl's suggestion to ream out the bore to .729. I don't think he meant for you to go out the end with the reamer, as you suggest.