I'm No Nash Buckingham!

[Theodore LeDurt]

Fifty-five years old and finally realized, I'm no Nash Buckingham. While my finest shooting is behind me, trying to hit a duck with my Parker full choke barrels (rt .041 and lft .043), has been humbling. More misses than I care to recall, I finally patterned the gun at 25 yards and found 95% of my pattern inside a 9" circle out of the left barrel.

While maybe perfect for 50 yard shooting, over decoys it is bit much. Thinking of opening my barrels to rt .009 and left .017. With this combo I can shoot any shell composite. Also my wood is replacement so hopefully value will not be effected.

Has any one else been forced to relieve their chokes for better shooting? The old adage about chokes lengthening your range but diminishing your bag seems to be true for me.

[Bruce Day]

Keep on shooting those full chokes until you dial in. Its fun to take the front end off a clays or hit a pheasant or duck only in the head.

[Opening Day]

I'm with Bruce, leave the chokes alone, if you need to try spreader loads from RST or Polywad.

[Don Kaas]

Well, personally, I use tight chokes on all my waterfowl guns but having just bought a rather rare #3 frame 34" DHE that someone put Brileys in as well as owning a Purdey pigeon gun someone did the same to (2 barrel set, though...) I like the versitility of being able to use Hevi-shot or Remington HD (or even steel if you are stuck without proper ammo in Alberta say...)in these old tube choked guns. While I doubt I would have tubed either of these guns myself in the first place, I am not as much a purist as Brothers Day and Eis. Your gun is likely not a collector's item. Do with it as you will. I would suggest .015/.030 as a starting point for decoyed ducks. In fact, that would be Mod/Full in many 12 gauge Model 21s. After spending the day on Friday shooting my 28" DH damascus 20 gauge whose chokes are .012/.024 I am sending it to Mike Orlen this week to take them to .005/.015 my standard 20g bird chokes. Will it diminish the value of the gun? No, it won't but I don't care if it did...

[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

Theodore,

You could open the chokes a little as Don suggests. I find that I shoot better when I know that I am using very tight chokes. Or you could do as I would buy another gun with open chokes!!!

Below is me with my best friend Radar and a new to me 34" #2 Frame DHE 12 gauge. It has constrictions of .040 in each barrel.

Notice those little wood ducks beside me? I missed them both on the first shot but niled them on the second. Open chokes would have probably provided for a couple one shot kills and maybe another drake to reach my limit...

[Old and Reliable]

The 'mold was broken' when Nash passed on to that big Beaver he loved so well back in March 1971. There are many gentleman sportsmen with the Southern gentility, inbreed good manners and safe gun handling habits extant even today- perhaps even a few members of this most august group-- BUT- taking a heavy 32" Full choked Fox HE 12 and smashing 98/100 skeet targets in 1928- the first time ever on a skeet field- that is, as they say- a "whole nother ball game indeed".

As Nash is my shotgunning hero (along with Paul A. Curtis, Ray P. Holland and Herb Parsons) I hearken back to his fine article "The Dove": F&S magazine Jan 1947 issue- "You've about had all the thrills possible when you blot out an almost overhead 50 yard dove and see your bird, well patterned, crumple."

That was written one year (almost) before he lost his prized Bo Whoop Fox HE, and about 15 years before his cataract eye surgery that diminished his ability to pick up incoming and long range targets. Except for possibly Fred Kimble, I doubt if we will ever see long range shooting on game birds like those two gentlemen of another era did- and with tight Full Chokes.

I would use spreaders, rather than destroy the old factory barrel boring masters' original chokes in fine doubles. To alter a Parker or any other fine double gun by cutting off the muzzles to "open the chokes" is a travesty- instead find one that is stocked and choked- barrel length, gauge, etc- non-withstanding.

I also must remember, that at age 70- like another of my "heroes": Gen. Chuck Yeager- I have been blessed with 20-15 distance vision, and can shoot from either shoulder (rifle) and have perfect depth perception. Maybe not quite like that of the late Ted "The Splendid Splinter" Williams, but I can see all the feet, colors and wing details of incoming or passing geese- and the best sounds from a successful foray for "dem ol' webfeets"- the thump of a big dead one hitting the deck- graveyard daid""__

I have a 2E 12 Smith with 32" Nitro barrels and factory ventilated rib (circa 1927 for the barrel retrofit at Fulton) and both tubes are choked tighter than Dick's hatband- I am not a clays shooter per se- but did find for a clays "pigeon ring" event, where a piece of colored masking tape is affixed to the clay disc) a RST or Polywad spreader worked fine for the right tube (front trigger) I have also shot many many geese and later season mallard with this shotgun, I use RST non-tox and it drops them like good money in a floating crap game-

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Francis Morin

The 'mold was broken' when Nash passed on to that big Beaver he loved so well back in March 1971. There are many gentleman sportsmen with the Southern gentility, inbreed good manners and safe gun handling habits extant even today- perhaps even a few members of this most august group-- BUT- taking a heavy 32" Full choked Fox HE 12 and smashing 98/100 skeet targets in 1928- the first time ever on a skeet field- that is, as they say- a "whole nother ball game indeed".

Ah yes I read that a number of years ago but just reread it a couple nights ago in George Bird Evan's book about Nash Bukingham's letters to John Bailey !

Over the years when I shot competitively I shot a fair number of 100 straights with the 12 , 20 and 28 and a large number of 98 or better with the 410 !

IF I'm not mistaken in Nash's letter to John Bailey he stated they were shooting light field/target loads when he did this feat . However if I'm not mistaken the constriction in his barrels would now be called extra full . Not to mention the shear weight of his Fox . I think my old Kreighoff K-32 with Kolar tubes barely weighed 9.5 pounds , I'm sure that fox was 10 or more !

I've often wished I could see in person a Burt Becker shotgun be it a quail gun or a magnum !
Thru reading about Nash I learned he actually had three Burt Becker choked guns !
BoWhoop , the second Becker magnum and a 12 gauge he had choked specifically for quail .